Consuming the news and building civic participation

This article argues that there is a connection between civic cultures and literacy levels and that this relation is enhanced by knowledge, a willingness to be informed and civic participation. It is considered that those who are educated towards the news possess a greater awareness of information and news on civic life (Moeller, 2009) and on participation (Milner, 2009:187). To understand the social implications of the modern mediatized society and the repercussions for civic participation better, we used a sample of twelve youngsters with different types and intensities of participation and news consumption in Portugal. By understanding their journalistic and participative characters, we can better perceive their social contexts. In considering this, we have established two main questions: What is the youngsters’ level of news consumption and what is its relationship to their participation activities? How do both of these aspects relate to social relationships and the youngsters’ ability to interact and deal with news media? Keywords: Young people, news, participation, literacy