Feature Story

Fund-raising is rarely a concern for youth editors, and the concept of having dedicated pages written by and for young people is much more recent than Newspaper In Education at most newspapers. But other concerns of youth content editors are very similar to those of NIE professionals and could soon lead to retention problems.

By Don Williamson

Some reporters and editors just don’t take youth pages seriously,” says Chante Warren, who works half of her time as teen editor at The Advocate in Baton Rouge, La., and the other half as a general assignment reporter. “It makes me angry when they say my reporting assignments are more important than the teen page.”

Warren, who works at a paper where the youth pages and NIE department receive tremendous support from management, says that The Advocate has had a youth page since the 1940s; it now appears as a four-color back page of the Saturday Faith and Values section.

“There are 60,000 students in our public schools, and never enough space [in the paper],” Warren says. “We need to put more emphasis on getting young people into the paper covering the issues they want covered. Lots of folks [in Youth Editorial Alliance] have the same frustrations and challenges. They’re fighting to keep their pages and letting everyone know the need to include young people in the paper every day and not just one day a week.”

 

Ramiro Montoya

"It's difficult to keep people in that slot."

Amid this battle for space and respect, some papers are struggling to find people to run youth sections. Ramiro Montoya is news editor at the Laredo (Texas) Morning Times, which has a youth page but has had no youth editor for a year.

“We hired a youth editor fresh from college and had even given that person a scholarship,” Montoya says. “She came on board and was doing a great job. We print the page once a week during the school year, and the youth editor coordinates with reporters from each school and assigns cameras and notebooks to them. She spent a year doing it and moved on to a public information job with government. It’s difficult to keep people in that slot.”

Montoya says the job is now passed from editor to editor while a new youth editor is sought. The special sections editor is currently in charge.

‘A Big Help’ to Go to Conference

Hiring a youth editor is just the beginning. Then comes deciding how to operate in what is unknown territory for many newspapers.

 

Natalie Martinez

"You feel lonely because no one else here is doing what you do."

“We launched the page in March 2004, and it’s been a definite challenge,” says Natalie Martinez, youth page editor at the San Jose Mercury News. That was true even though Martinez had edited a youth page at The Californian in Salinas before coming to San Jose.

“Not only did I have to revisit curriculum and materials from my old job, now I have three times as many kids and am published weekly rather than biweekly,” she says. “It’s still a learning process and a challenge every week. Sometimes, it barely happens. But the reception in the newsroom and the community has been great.

“The first thing that took me by surprise was that all the kids are plugged into instant messaging. There’s a constant flow of information, and I could spend eight hours a day answering their e-mails and getting curriculum down. In Salinas, I met once a week with eight kids. Now it’s once a month for 1-1/2 hours with 25 kids from 18–20 different schools in the region.”

Martinez says the job would be less stressful for newcomers and veterans alike if youth editors had a curriculum bank like that of the Journalism Education Association. Fortunately, the NAA Foundation has just issued a revised Getting Started book.

“I’m not a teacher,” Martinez says. “Thank goodness, I had things in my old files like letters to parents, timelines for orientation and a rough outline. You feel lonely because no one else here is doing what you do. I’m lucky to have a colleague here at the paper who has done this before and completely understands and helps me. It would be pretty isolated without that support.”

Although Martinez’s page is relatively new, her students won three awards at last year’s national YEA conference. But there was no budget for her to attend the conference, another ongoing issue for many YEA professionals. They are isolated, doing work that very few people completely understand. Conferences present a prime opportunity for valuable training and exchange of ideas but are usually unavailable due to budgetary considerations.

Going to the national YEA meeting was among the first things Becky Cairns did after being hired as the second editor of TX (Teen Examiner) at the Standard-Examiner in Ogden, Utah. Her predecessor launched the section and ran it for 3-1/2 years.

 

Becky Cairns

"Juggling different responsibilitites can be a major frustration for youth editors who have other jobs as writers or editors."

“It was a big help going to the conference, meeting all of the other editors and finding out how they handle things,” Cairns says. “One thing I came away with was the realization that there are so many different kinds of sections and no one right way to do it. As I talked to people, it reinforced that there are a variety of ways to do things, and it gave me more confidence that I could do it.”

Cairns has been with the Standard-Examiner for 20 years, primarily as a part-time feature writer. She has been a full-time employee since becoming section editor four years ago and continues to write features half-time.

“Juggling different responsibilities can be a major frustration for youth editors who have other jobs as writers or editors,” Cairns says. “Working with teens can be stressful, especially if you’re trying to get a new section started. Lack of support from their newspapers is one complaint I hear from a lot of youth editors. There is a strong commitment from the paper for this page to go on, but I have noticed editors who left and papers have decided to shut down the section.”

Down and Out

In December, Eric Elkins quit after five years as youth content editor at the Denver Newspaper Agency, working with The Denver Post and the Rocky Mountain News. His primary responsibility was The Post’s Colorado Kids section because the News provided syndicated content for its youth page.

Elkins expresses concerns about lack of coordination with the newsroom, inconsistent support and not enough pay. He was not replaced, and The Post now purchases youth content from a vendor. Elkins recruited youngsters from the classroom, wrote curriculum, worked with young writers and produced weekly youth content.

 

Eric Elkins

"Being a youth content editor was the best job I ever had, feeling I was doing something worthwhile for the newspaper and the community."

“Being a youth content editor was the best job I ever had, feeling I was doing something worthwhile for the newspaper and the community,” Elkins says. “The hardest part of my leaving was telling the youth staff that there wouldn’t be an outlet for their writing anymore. I wish there had been a way to keep the kids’ voice in there. They ask questions and use language that other kids respond to.”

Most youth editors interviewed say they believe their papers would continue publishing youth sections if they decide to leave. But that is no certainty, especially at papers where the section is run by someone with other job responsibilities and a different job title.

April Helmer, arts and entertainment editor at The Express-Times in Easton, Pa., works with 21 students and publishes a youth section every other Monday. Her frustration is that she wants the newsroom to be more passionate about youth content.

 

April Helmer

"If it wasn't for journalism, I would never have been a school teacher."

“I feel so enthusiastic and excited, and I want everyone else to feel it,” Helmer says. “But I guess if they did, they wouldn’t be newspaper people. They’d be school teachers. If it wasn’t for journalism, I would have been a school teacher. I want to spend time teaching these kids to write. I do it because I love to do it. I don’t have a youth content editor title, but I hope if I left tomorrow that the section would continue.”

Helmer also sees a natural partnership between youth content and Newspaper In Education. She notes that initial conversations with the NIE coordinator at her paper encouraged her to talk to editors and get a commitment to publish a youth section. Her page appears on Monday, and the NIE serial runs on Tuesday.

“For me, NIE and youth content go hand in hand,” Helmer says. “Here, we do something for teens on Monday and then something for younger children on Tuesday. NIE has all the connections in the schools. When I’m looking for more students to come into my program, I look for my NIE coordinator to help me. Our NIE coordinator has a teaching background, and I don’t. So if I have a problem, she is a great resource for me.”

That relationship is not the norm. Often, NIE and youth content have no connection at many newspapers. Creating better lines of communication is one of the primary reasons that the national conferences of NIE and YEA are being combined into the Young Readers Conference in St. Louis in July 2006.

Advocate Presents Shining Example Reporters, editors and NIE employees at The Advocate in Baton Rouge, La., work together to both spotlight area youth and to educate them about the community and world surrounding them. In the Saturday editions, the Teen News and Kids Avenue staff writers feature accomplishments, trends and news stories about area kids and teens. The NIE team runs children’s views about various topics and issues, and highlights child artists and classroom projects and activities happening throughout the Baton Rouge area. Also included in that Saturday section is a feature called Li’l Lagniappe that is produced by the Advocate’s Newspaper In Education Department. Li’l Lagniappe translates into “a little something extra,” and that’s what this weekly offering provides for youngsters in the Baton Rouge area. It’s also an example of the communication that goes on between the youth pages and NIE at this newspaper. “Our pages are sandwiched together (Kids Avenue, Teen News and Li’l Lagniappe), and it creates a nice package for the kids to look at,” says Molly Manson, education partnership coordinator at the Advocate. “We also try to keep each other [NIE and the youth pages] apprised of big projects we’re working on. “Right now, we’re in the middle of a program promoting an upcoming appearance of the Harlem Globetrotters here in Baton Rouge. We’re having a contest and one aspect is a junior reporter contest,” says Manson. “One of the prizes is for the winner to sit at the press table during the Globetrotter game and write an article. That sports story will be printed on the Kids Page. We have our own space in the paper and put out four features a week and could have put the article there. But we thought it would be a little added something for the winner to actually have his or her article on Kids Avenue. Whenever possible, we try to work together that way.” That adds more people power to the youth effort and creates a team that includes Manson, Judy Rushing, assistant NIE director, Steve Fitzgerald, educational services manager, Barbara Schlichtman, youth and religion page editor, Relma Hargus, Kids Avenue staff writer and Chante Warren, Teen News writer.

Award-winning journalist Don Williamson can be reached at donw222@aol.com.

 

Published Apr 25, 2005