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Germany

Old Media Teens: German Youth Reading More Print Media and Books

A new study about adolescents in Germany finds reading on the rise, with 42% of teens polled saying they read a daily paper. Still, while e-books have yet to break through, Internet consumption dominates overall.

Old Media Teens: German Youth Reading More Print Media and Books

*NEWSBITES

MANNHEIM - "The Internet is crushing all other media…" That or something similar is the operative assumption as most experts look at the future of television, radio, books and newspapers.

But that conventional wisdom is upended by the latest edition of an annual study just presented in Mannheim by pedagogical media research center Südwest. Young people avail themselves of all media, the study says. In fact, reading newspapers and books right now is ‘in."

Some 1,200 subjects aged 12 to 19 years of age participated in the study called "im-Studie 2011 "Jugend, Information, (Multi)Media." Results show that 44% are regular readers – up from 38% in 1998. Girls read more books than boys. Surprisingly, e-books played virtually no role, with only 1% saying they read them. Roughly 42% of participants said they read a daily paper, with 18% reading an online edition. Asked about credibility of sources, daily papers came in first, followed by television, radio and only then the Internet.

However, the Internet was by far and away the most frequently used medium – 89% said they used it daily or several times a week. Participants said they spent more than two hours a day online (virtually the same as in 2010) and also watched TV on average for 113 minutes. And 78% (up from 74% in 2010) said they listened to the radio regularly.

The Internet was mainly used by the young people for communication, particular via social networks: 78% are members of social media sites, the most popular of which is Facebook. Use of Facebook nearly doubled to 78% over the previous year. The previous favorite, SchülerVZ, a German site for school kids, was only used by 29% of participants.

According to the researchers, one positive sign was that more and more youngsters are wary of giving out too much information about themselves on social media. Four-fifths have limited the availability of their data to friends only. And finally, the average number of social media "friends' is 206.

Read the original article in full in German

Photo - Time.Captured.

*Newsbites are digest items, not direct translations

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FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War

Zelensky And Putin Agree On One Big Thing Right Now

Even with the war at a stalemate, and as far away as victory may be for both sides, negotiations are an absolute non-starter for both the presidents of Ukraine and Russia.

photo of zelensky looking tired

Zelensky in Kyiv on Dec. 6 to honor those killed in the war.

Pool /Ukrainian Presidentia/Planet Pix via ZUMA
Yuri Fedorov

Updated Dec. 6, 2023 at 7:20 p.m.

-Analysis-

The Russian-Ukrainian war appears to have reached a strategic impasse — a veritable stalemate. Neither side is in a position at this point to achieve a fundamental change on the ground in their favor. Inevitably, this has triggered no shortage of analysts and politicians saying it's time for negotiations.

Stay up-to-date with the latest on the Russia-Ukraine war, with our exclusive international coverage.

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These conversations especially intensified after the results of the summer-autumn counteroffensive were analyzed by the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valerii Zaluzhny, with not very optimistic details.

Though there are advances of the Ukrainian army, it is mostly “stuck in minefields under attacks from Russian artillery and drones,” and there is a increasing prospect of trench warfare that “could drag on for years and exhaust the Ukrainian state.”

Zaluzhny concluded: “Russia should not be underestimated. It suffered heavy losses and used up a lot of ammunition, but it will have an advantage in weapons, equipment, missiles and ammunition for a long time," he said. "Our NATO partners are also dramatically increasing their production capacity, but this requires at least a year, and in some cases, such as aircraft and control systems, two years.”

For the Ukrainian army to truly succeed, it needs air superiority, highly effective electronic and counter-battery warfare, new technologies for mining and crossing minefields, and the ability to mobilize and train more reserves.

China and most countries of the so-called global South have expressed their support for negotiations between Russia and Ukraine. Meanwhile in the West, certain influential voices are pushing for negotiations, guided by a purely pragmatic principle that if military victory is impossible, it is necessary to move on to diplomacy.

The position of the allies is crucial: Ukraine’s ability to fight a long war of attrition and eventually change the situation at the front in its favor depends on the military, economic and political support of the West. And this support, at least on the scale necessary for victory, is not guaranteed.

Still, the question of negotiations is no less complicated, as the positions of Russia and Ukraine today are so irreconcilable that it is difficult to imagine productive negotiations.

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