The conference, organised by the World Association of Newspapers and hosted by the Newspaper Association of America Foundation, will feature case studies, research and a wide variety of strategic approaches to attract younger readers to newspapers.
Conference details are available at: www.wan-press.org/washington.
One session, dedicated to "Total Youth Think," will focus on moving news and information for young readers from the "ghetto" of special youth pages to the newspaper as a whole.
"News for and about young people must be placed among all other news -- on the front page, in the news pages, in sports, and in local pages," says Esben Seerup, Managing Editor of Fyens Stiftstidende, a regional newspaper in Odense, Denmark, which adopted a "Total Youth Think" strategy following a session on the subject at the World Young Reader Conference in 2005.
The challenge is to do this without alienating older readers, says Mr Seerup. "And the surprising thing is, it is possible and not very difficult," he said.
Mr Seerup will discuss his experiences at the Washington conference. Among them:
 The introduction of an "under 18" newsroom where eight to 10 teenage reporters write stories for the main news pages.
The creation of a network of "school reporters" from schools in Odense who provide news briefs to the newspaper.
The introduction of Mediacamp 2006, a summer camp for 17- to 19-year old aspiring journalists from across Denmark who spent a week in a workshop at the newspaper. The camp, which produced four broadsheet pages for the newspaper, will be expanded to other papers through the Danish Newspapers in Education programme.
The inclusion of reviews by children of computer games, music and film in the cultural section.
The creation of a "Medielab" where teen-age students can work as a journalist for a day.
"Our strategy towards young readers is two-sided: we need to produce stories for young people, written by young people, as much as possible in the main paper, and we need to reach the young audience with the media that young people use," said Mr Seerup.
This strategy has led to a multimedia expansion that now includes the Fyens Stiftstidende paper, with a daily circulation of 61,000, the web newspaper www.fyens.dk, which has 80,000 unique visitors a week and is growing rapidly, the free newspaper Xtra, and the commercial Radio 3, launched in 2004 and re-launched with a younger profile in 2005. It has 100,000 listeners a week.
Other conference sessions include:
Targeting age groups, which will examine what is working to attract different age groups: innovative editorial strategies, marketing initiatives, convergence techniques and newspapers in education projects.
New Research for a New Era, which will inaugurate the global "Young Reader DNA" study, the most extensive research yet on how young people use media -- and how newspapers can use this information to attract a new generation of readers. The study, undertaken for the World Association of Newspapers by Toronto-based D-Code, aims to develop better global and local strategies and tactics for reaching and delivering news and information content by news organisations to more young readers.
Roundtable sessions, in a variety of languages, in which delegates can share their young readership and newspapers in education strategies.
30 Great Ideas in 30 Minutes, a regular World Young Reader Conference event that collects the best young reader strategies from around the world and presents them -- rapidly.
How We Did It, which includes reports from World Young Reader Prize winners who were honoured for their innovative and successful young reader initiatives.
The Other Connections, which will present the lessons from other media and industries that have built strong relationships with young people.
Straight from the Source, in which young people from seven countries will share their thoughts on what special sections, in-school programmes and newspapers as a whole can do to better engage them and their peers.
And much more! Full details at www.wan-press.org/washington.
Simultaneous interpretation will be provided in English, French, German, and Spanish.
The 6th World Young Reader Conference is also supported by Norske Skog, the Norway-based international paper manufacturer, and by the Newspaper Association of America. It is also sponsored by leading US newspaper companies, including Schurz Communications Inc., Landmark Communications Inc., The Washington Post, Cox Newspapers,Inc. and Gannett Company Inc.
Sponsorship opportunities are still available: contact Donna Pentier, Director of WAN Training & Events, dpentier@wan.asso.fr.
The Paris-based WAN, the global organisation for the newspaper industry, represents 18,000 newspapers; its membership includes 76 national newspaper associations, newspaper companies and individual newspaper executives in 102 countries, 12 news agencies and 10 regional and world-wide press groups.
Inquiries to: Larry Kilman, Director of Communications, WAN, 7 rue Geoffroy St Hilaire, 75005 Paris France. Tel: +33 1 47 42 85 00. Fax: +33 1 47 42 49 48. Mobile: +33 6 10 28 97 36. E-mail: lkilman@wan.asso.fr. |
