Yet many analysts, perhaps most, now think McCaughey's article was totally wrongheaded. Sorry about that. Low interest in mainstream reporting among the young is tied, in part, to the rise of computers. There's a gender gap, too. Many women are rejecting male-defined hard news in favor of more personal and emotional stories that men usually dismiss as fluff.
More women watch tabloidy news shows.
The Diana story produced a huge gender gap. Whatever the reason, American news consumption is casual by the standards of previous generations. The Pew polls list only 31 news stories since 1986 that more than half of Americans say they followed very closely. The Challenger explosion was first. Diana's death came in 18th.