Young Adults Overwhelmed by Election News

For this week's "Worth A Look," I chose a story published by Northwestern University, which I found on Poynter Online through the "Jim Romenesko's Media News" link. Here is a link to the story:

http://www.northwestern.edu/newscenter/stories/2008/09/mmcstudy.html

I chose to blog about this story for a few reasons. First, the headline caught my attention because I certainly can sympathize with young people feeling overwhelmed by all the election coverage in the media -- after all, this topic dominates our news at the moment. As a young person, I do feel that it can be a bit overwhelming to sift through it all and attempt to take a stand or formulate an opinion; whether it be about a party, a presidential candidate or a running-mate/potential vice-president. And, while it is said that young people are the most important voters and have the most at stake and the most to say, this article posits that many young people are steering clear of 2008 election news on the internet because they feel bombarded with information and choices. I also chose this story for another reason: I feel that it relates to our reading thus far and our discussions of the elements of journalism -- specifically, element #2: "It's (journalism's) first loyalty is to citizens."

Bearing this in mind, journalists have a duty and an obligation to bring the news to the people. It is our job to inform people about that which they need and have a desire -- and also, have a right -- to know. If you look at this story in terms of this important element of journalism, it creates an interesting dichotomy between telling the people what they want and need to know, and telling them too much -- in essence, overwhelming them with information. While it is true that the majority of us, as Americans, feel a desire and a need to know what is going on with the election, is there a line to be drawn? Is there a such thing as too much information, just as there can be too little information? Is there a point where enough is enough; where we are being fed more than we need to know about the candidates, their running mates, and so forth (for instance, all the controversy about Bristol Palin's pregnancy)? Are Americans perhaps growing tired of all the election hubbub and therefore getting to the point where we almost don't care anymore? And, being both journalists AND citizens, do we look at this differently from those two standpoints? In other words, as journalists, do we feel the intense media coverage of the election is okay because it is "necessary" information, but as American citizens do we feel that it is overwhelming and just too much to process?