Why YEA?
The Importance of Youth Content
Young people are current readers and consumers, and possible future subscribers to newspapers.
The proliferation of youth-oriented magazines, movies, radio stations and web sites is proof that savvy marketers are marketing teens.
The way to get young people to read is to give them content they can relate to, as written by young people or those who understand them. In some cases, this means an editorial team of teens and young adults writing to others like themselves. Often, it means experienced newspaper journalists working with young writers to create material that speaks to this unique group.
These youth-oriented pages offer value to the reading audience, to the newspapers who publish them, and to the advertisers who want to reach this vital demographic group.
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WHAT THE RESEARCH SHOWS
Youth newspaper readership is declining. "The Age of Indifference," a study by the Times Mirror Center for People and the Press, found that young Americans know less and care less about news and public affairs than any other generation of Americans in the past 50 years.
Newspapers must target young readers. An American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE)/Poynter Institute for Media Studies research project recommended that newspaper attract readers by increasing coverage of teens and teen activities and publishing news and features for youths.
Newspapers must cover youth issues. Kylie A. Lang, Rotary International Fellow, University of Iowa, tells editors to respect youth and not to write down to them. She tells papers to show youth that their issues are as important in a paper's coverage as adults ones.
Newspapers must involve young people. Dorothea E. Howe, Research Associate, University of Memphis, says youth want to read about events that affect them and that more stories on political, social and global events should be included in content for youth. She encourages editors to involve young people in producing the newspaper.
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A youth content section is a great investment in the future of your newspaper. It's an investment different from other products, and may take time to reveal its benefits, but the payoff is tremendous.
