Whats the News? - A Study of Senior Citizens Television

The desire to be entertained or informed, the driving forces of routine or habit, the need for companionship and the alleviation of loneliness- nearly all people can relate to experiencing one or another of these motivations for media consumption at some point. Inspired by the expansion of television news programming and growth in the number of US citizens living well beyond the age of 65, this study qualitatively explores what uses and gratifications seniors get from Television news. The questions within the study concern seniors television news programming choices, what uses and gratifications they get from the programs that they choose, and what their program choices say about how they define television news. The results of this study reveal a range of uses and gratifications associated with seniors consumption of news programming. Particularly valuable to TV journalists, this study has implications for the future of all media as populations age and technology advances. There is also opportunity for Communication researchers to explore and challenge these results in subsequent studies.