Reimagining TV News for the Visual Generation: An Experimental Case Study in Visual Storytelling,Narrative Strategies,and Youth Engagement

Abstract

This article examines how television news can be redesigned to engage the “Visual Generation” aged 18–25, who mostly encounter news in mobile feeds rather than scheduled broadcasts. It draws on a university-based “live lab” project in which journalism students produced A/B versions of environmental TV stories that were then discussed in eight focus groups with 64 young viewers. We ask which audiovisual formats and storytelling techniques they find most engaging, how they perceive constructive or solutions-oriented elements, and which pedagogical arrangements best prepare students to design such formats. Findings show that young viewers favor fact-based over sensational tone, visual explanations and device-native pacing, clear contextual background, and protagonists and “solutions” that involve credible actors, concrete actions, and realistic options. The study specifies these engagement cues in observable terms and demonstrates journalism education as a structured testing ground for evidence-based format innovation in collaboration with broadcasters that can inform newsroom practice.