Take Ten

Exceptionals to the Rule

Ten teen sections and NIE departments go a little out of their way to do good journalism.

By Elissa Barry Moriarty

Where are tomorrow’s newspaper reporters? They may still be in high school and middle school, but their voices can be found in NIE pages and youth sections. The newspapers that sponsor youth journalism and NIE programs nurture future journalists and deserve credit for the informative and cutting-edge work they publish.

1. NeXt, a teen publication from The Buffalo News, rocks readers with an investigation of six teens and their expectations of the opposite sex, relationships and stereotypical gender misconceptions. This raw and revealing look at teens and their relationships is a brutally honest account of what teens look for in the opposite sex.
   www.buffalonews.com (Click on NeXt, under weekly features.)
   
2. The Des Moines Register’s NIE program offers the Iowa Patchwork, a youth publication that looks into Iowan politicians, heroes, famous journalists and artists, exceptional athletes, innovative scientists and doctors, famous entertainers, and the land they all inhabit. The publication is youth responsive and extremely informative, teaching Iowa’s children their state’s achievements.
   desmoinesregister.com/extras/iowans/
   
3. Want to know more about theater before it tours in your town? The Daily Hampshire Gazette in Northampton, Mass., with help from the University of Massachusetts Fine Arts Center, highlights Shakespeare’s tragedy Othello. It explains the plot, assesses the touring company, discusses the debate as to whether Shakespeare actually wrote the play, and suggests some after-viewing activities.
   nie.gazettenet.com
   
4. In Fresh, a special Sunday Herald magazine for teens in Glasgow, Scotland, young writer Edd McCracken asks why under-18s are excluded from music venues when teenagers are the music industry’s staple audience. Fresh not only covers the need-to-know about rock venues–calling your first gig a “rite of passage”–but also allowances, Prime Minister Tony Blair’s view on the war in Iraq, new laws on anti-social behavior, and the 2004 summer Olympics.
   www.fresh.sh
   
5. “Curse of the Curfew,” an article in The Edge, the teen section of The Roanoke (Va.) Times, explores the multidimensional sides of a Virginia curfew law that affects the state’s under-18 year-olds. Teen writer Erin Venier weaves the pros and cons as she recounts the responses of teens, parents and law enforcement officers to the curfew law. A must-read for every Virginia teen, the debate is far from over.
   roanoke.com/theedge/
   
6. Page One, from the Tribune Chronicle in Warren, Ohio, invites teen readers with its fresh, teen-friendly page design. Its Speak Out section offers teens the opportunity to answer open-ended questions, e.g. “What is on the other side of the rainbow?” Large pictures feature “Rock Off,” a local battle of the bands contest. The page also piques teen interests with articles covering scholarships for asthmatic athletes to local teens acting in The Diary of Anne Frank.
   www.pageoneonline.net
   
7. A young writers contest always makes a splash, especially in The West Australian’s publication, ed magazine, from Perth, which highlights writers as young as 5 years old. The publication includes poems, plays and prose. Anna Dunnill’s poem, “Tall Glass,” won her the Young Writer of the Year award in the 2003 contest.
   www.thewest.com.au
   
8. Voices, a teen tabloid from the Reading (Pa.) Eagle, engages teen readers using an up-close teen profiling tactic–In Your Face, an interview with a teen by a teen. A teen-response section follows, asking young adults their thoughts about the war in Iraq. Voices includes charts of concert tickets, an opinion page discussing the possible loss of a concert hall and skate park, teen insecurities and a nearby amusement park.
   voices.readingeagle.com
   
9. HEY–Health Education for Youth is an NIE section of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, conceived to give young adults facts about getting and staying healthy. They can even learn how to take their body mass index (body fat) in order to tell whether they are under or overweight.
   jsonline.com/nie/
   
10. The NIE program of The News-Times in Danbury, Conn., turns 20 and celebrates with a writing, cover and advertising design contest. The section highlights the Dr. Seuss writing contest that features drawings of hats that could be in a Dr. Seuss story, a crazy Seuss-style weather forecast, and a silly new food in a Seuss-style verse.
    nie.newstimes.com

NAA Foundation intern Elissa Barry Moriarty is a senior at Arizona State University, seeking a BFA degree in Dance Education and a Writing Certificate.