ARE CANONICAL NEWS VALUES STILL RELEVANT IN THE SOCIAL MEDIA AGE? AN EXPLORATORY STUDY ON ROMANIAN GEN Z
ARE CANONICAL NEWS VALUES STILL RELEVANT IN THE SOCIAL MEDIA AGE? AN EXPLORATORY STUDY ON ROMANIAN GEN Z

Summary/Abstract: The current study explores how Romanian Gen Zers define news values in the age of social media, testing the relevance of canonical frameworks in the context of a changing media ecosystem. As opposed to previous studies that used content analysis to asses news values, the current one employs audience reception methods, specifically focus group discussions with university students enrolled in Communication Science, thus observing how the generation of digital natives perceives newsworthiness. The findings demonstrate a mixture of core journalistic principles – such as impact, relevance, and timeliness – with emerging expectations connected to the digital platform environment, such as visual appeal, emotional resonance, and shareability. Most notably, respondents emphasize credibility, authenticity, and fact-checking, highlighting that misinformation has become a top concern in their media diet. The study points to the exploratory nature of understanding changing definitions of news values and the need to blend legacy media standards and audience-centered characteristics like engagement, interactivity, and accessibility in contemporary journalistic practice.

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