In my national service, one of my duties involves sitting in a control room for 12 hours. In this room, I can decide to watch two things: security footage or the television provided. You might think that the decision is simple - of course I would watch television over the security footage.
But here’s the catch: the television only tunes to one single news channel, and I am on the night shift, when the news channel is off the air, looping pre-recorded content from the day before every 30 minutes instead. Thus over time, I began to find the footage of bare ocean waves more interesting than the news.
At this point it would seem fitting for me to segue into the similarities between my anecdote and the youth of today, who find meaningless content on Facebook, or rather, TikTok, more interesting than news. But I will not do that. For one, TikTok isn’t meaningless. But more importantly, youths are equally invested in news today as they were before. Throughout the pandemic, my friends and I were always on top of the latest developments, number of cases, and emergent clusters, both locally and abroad. Amidst the recent Israel-Palestine conflict, many friends have also spoken against hostilities in Gaza, sympathising with the plight of innocent civilians.
The youth will always be invested in issues that concern them, but we don't necessarily see traditional media as the only way to do this anymore. The way in which news is delivered and the speed in which new content is generated has changed.
Similarly, the topics debated in this year’s iteration of SMUN are pertinent. Amid conflict in Gaza, the UNSC is discussing the use of ceasefires. Amid covid-19, the ICAO is tackling disruptions to the aviation industry. The list goes on. And by being a part of this conference, delegates have shown that they truly care about what is going on in the world around them.
Why then is there this perception that youths do not engage as critically with the news as before? The difference in news consumption today lies not in the amount of news in which we consume, but in the mode in which we consume news content. The youth will always be invested in issues that concern them, but we don’t necessarily see traditional media as the only way to do this anymore. The way in which news is delivered and the speed in which new content is generated has changed.
Behold, social media has become the predominant medium in which the news experience is optimised to meet our demand for quick, concentrated and accessible pieces of information. News is presented through videos and interactive infographics, not only catching our attention but providing us with the option to react to, comment on and share them in real-time. It marks a shift from news consumption to news participation.
It marks a shift from news consumption to news participation
This year’s press corps aims to model the real-world paradigm shift towards new multimedia formats of news presentation. Look forward to seeing not only news content from a range of multinational agencies reporting on exciting committee happenings, but a diverse range of multimedia news content ranging from TORCH Online, to video and social media posts. Expect to be featured on polls and forums too. Our flagship publication, TORCH, is here to stay of course, but with new columns that hope to reel you in. Expect to see two delegates representing the same agency as well - not only to produce better content, but to simulate the dynamics of a real press agency.
If you’ve made it this far into my letter, at least I’ve succeeded in avoiding the same fate as the television set in the control room. And I hope that this year’s Press Corps will do so too.
Here’s wishing everyone an enjoyable SMUN 2021!
Yours sincerely,
Gabriel Miju Yap
Editor-in-Chief
On behalf of the Press Corps