BOZEMAN — On the campus of Montana State University we spoke to students about where they get their news from, and the answers may shock you.
“I get my news from social media,” said Regan Lafontaine.
The platforms he uses? Instagram and X, formerly known as Twitter. That's the answer we assumed many of these young college students to respond with, but to our surprise the students gave us a diverse array of news sources.
“I use ground news," explains Ty Murray, who proceeded to tell us that Ground News is an online platform that makes it easier to compare news sources, read between the lines of media bias, and break free from algorithms.
Another student, Jeff Zelkin, explains how he takes a simpler approach to getting his news.
“Mostly word of mouth,” Zelkin said.
And this type of self-sourcing seems to be a popular way of receiving news.
Nick Tumazi says, “Just occasionally walking around campus you'll see something random or on the newspapers on campus.”
The Exponent is a student-led newspaper on campus that has been informing students about news in their area for more than 125 years—but do students really follow it?
“I don't really listen to news, honestly,” said Mickell Geise.
But as most students rely on word of mouth or ignore the news altogether, there are still some students who say they stay up to date with what's going on in their community.
Elizabeth Cronin tells us she gets her news from “local stations” and she seems to be one of the few students we spoke to who is still invested in finding local news.
