Step into a classroom while students are reading the newspaper, and you see all kinds of positive interaction. So the assumption that these young people would grow up to read the newspaper might be a natural oneto make.

That assumption has now been proven.

A just-completed study concludes that structured, well-designed NIE programs create loyal newspaper readers. Period. The key, according to the study, is for newspapers
to make the commitment to create effective programs that students will remember.

The study was conducted for the Newspaper Association of America Foundation by Clark, Martire & Bartolomeo, Inc., an independent research group not connected to the newspaper industry.

One of the most significant findings is that 62 percent of young adults ages 18-34 who had newspapers distributed as part of the curriculum while they were in school now read a weekday newspaper. Of those who say they had no exposure to newspapers in school, only 38 percent say they are regular newspaper readers.

It is also surprising to discover that a majority of 18–34-year-olds began reading newspapers at age 13. That is approximately sixth grade and indicates that media usage decisions are being made much earlier than many media experts have projected. A focus on middle school appears to be critical for developing readers beyond the current generation.

“This is the first comprehensive study that tries to answer the question, does using a newspaper as a youth lead to newspaper readership when the student enters the 18–34-year age group,” says Jim Abbott, vice president, NAA Foundation. “This is the age bracket that many publishers and advertisers really want to reach, and the results are better than any of us could have expected.”

In the study, titled “Growing Lifelong Readers,” questions were asked of 1,500 18–34-year-olds with samples weighted to reflect gender, age, race and region of the more than 67 million young adults in the United States.

“The choice in my mind is a simple one: Spend the time and money needed to develop quality NIE, youth content and student journalism programs and recruit 62 percent of current 13 -18 year-olds,” says Margaret Vassilikos, senior vice president of the NAA Foundation. “Or run programs that are simply designed to push current circulation and end up with only 38 percent of the students as future readers. Can any newspaper survive with only 38 percent of the next generation being loyal readers?”

The Time Is Now

It was easier when there was less media to compete for the nation’s attention and more leisure time for people to sit back and read their daily papers.

“All media are competing for the available time and attention of young readers with more media, including video games, the Web, cell phones, you name it,” says Gregg Jones, NAA chairman and co-publisher of The Greeneville (Tenn.) Sun. “It’s a very busy world, full of new electronic ways to spend time.

“There are two possible avenues of response. We can shrug our shoulders and accept having fewer young readers who are generally less informed. Or, we can think a little better and work a little harder to keep newspapers in the mix with the very powerful and very good things they do for young people.

“I choose the latter, and I urge my colleagues at newspapers around the country to make a similar choice. This new readership study indicates that we can make a significant difference in the futures of our newspapers and our readers,” says Jones. “The focus on creating quality content for young people in local newspapers, supporting school newspapers and working newspapers into school curricula through the Newspaper In Education program must become a priority at newspapers large and small, daily, weekly and monthly.”

"This new readership study
indicates that we can make a
significant difference in the
futures of our newsapers and
our readers," says Gregg Jones,
NAA chairman and co-publisher
of the Greeneville (Tenn.) Sun.

Jones is emphatic about the need for smaller newspapers to step up to the challenge of engaging and energizing a whole new generation of readers.

“I know about operating a small newspaper,” he says, referring to his 15,000-circulation Greeneville, Tenn., paper. “It is just as necessary and just as possible for a newspaper with 10,000 circulation to be dedicated to attracting and retaining youth readership as it is at papers with 100,000, 200,000 or 500,000 readers. It goes back to thinking better and working harder, because the benefits are there.”
.

This is not a new concept. In the 1930s and ‘40s, several U.S. newspapers including The New York Times and the Milwaukee Journal decided that the nation’s classrooms were the key to future readership. They provided free newspapers, curriculum guides and teaching aids for teachers and students from elementary schools to colleges.

Over 70 years of growth and development under a variety of organizations, this initial effort has become Newspaper In Education and is overseen by the Newspaper Association of America Foundation. There are now NIE programs in close to 1,000 newspapers across the nation. The concept also has grown to encompass youth content efforts and ongoing support of school newspapers.

The results have been impressive. NIE reaches 40 percent of all school-aged children in the U.S. More than 10,000 schools are involved with 390,000 participating teachers and 14.4 million participating students. NIE currently accounts for 2.4 percent of all newspapers sold in the United States, and NIE circulation has grown 290 percent in just six years. At the same time, however, U.S. newspapers have the potential to reach 94 percent of all school-aged children and while 30 percent of all current NIE programs did not exist in 1992, the total number of NIE programs across the country has declined.

The consistent theme of NIE and other NAA Foundation outreach is that if children are exposed to newspapers as a learning and informational tool early in their development, they will become faithful, better informed, life-long readers and will seek out newspapers as a primary choice for information.

The just-completed study supports that long-standing assumption.

Seventy-five percent said the papers are a welcome change, and 92 percent recall positive experiences using the newspaper in school.

Of those students with high exposure to newspapers during school, 54 percent prefer newspapers as their source of local ads compared to 44 percent of students with low exposure to newspapers. Television advertising came in at 24 percent, radio 11 percent and the Internet 8 percent.

Training Also Important

But there is more to reaching young readers than just putting newspapers in the same building or classroom where they may or may not be used effectively.

“The key thing to remember is that the results of this study are based on young adults who remember using the newspaper as an integral part of their school curriculum.
A bundle of newspapers delivered to a school that is not opened will not generate any future readers,” says NAA Foundation’s Abbott. “An untrained teacher who does not know what to do with the newspaper will not generate any future readers.”

The NAA Foundation has developed the NIE Tool Kit to help local newspapers conduct a self-evaluation of their NIE program that uses national benchmarks. The Tool Kit shows the type of program that is proving successful and indicates how close your NIE department is to meeting those benchmarks. It is research-based and available on the NAA Web site at no cost. Download the Tool Kit at www.naa.org/artpage.cfm?AID=6474&SID=87.

“If we are serious about developing a new generation of newspaper readers, the industry must be willing to support quality NIE programs, quality youth editorial content and quality school newspapers,” says Abbott. “The managers of those programs must be given the time and resources necessary to develop memorable programs. Programs that are run on the cheap cannot expect to see large numbers of new young adult readers. No training of teachers, no quality curriculum materials, no support of NIE professionals will result in students who do not remember using the newspaper.”

Award-winning journalist Don Williamson has written for several newspapers and industry publications. He can be reached at donw222@aol.com.

Sources
Jim Abbottabboj@naa.org
Margaret Vassilikosvassm@naa.org
Gregg Jonesgjones@xtn.net