Making Newspapers Interesting to Young People

“A lot of young people perceive newspapers as being utterly, utterly boring. That’s our target group, that’s our audience,” says Mr Fordyn.

Setting out to change that perception is the goal of his organisation, which is the newspaper association for Flemish language newspapers in Belgium.

And they, along with the Education Ministry and other sponsors, spend a lot for doing so - 2.4 million Euros annually on educational materials and 1.2 million on promotion - primarily for Newspapers in Education programmes. “We focus very much on schools and teachers as mediators. They’re very important in influencing youngsters,” says Mr Fordyn.

Among the resources provided:

 Daily print newspapers for two weeks every year - two million copies.

 reaching one in three 10- to 12-year olds and one in five 12- to 18-year olds in their classrooms.

 Professional online tools so that schools and classes can create their own newspapers - 60 percent of all Flemish schools have one or more school papers.

 Online resources, including a daily quiz to be used with the newspaper.

 Textbooks that refer to print and online news sites.

 Newspaper content in participating newspapers focused on young people - such content has more than doubled in the past decade. “How do you attract young readers if you don’t write about subjects of interest to them?”

The results? Eight in 10 students who use the materials were more positive about newspapers. More than six in 10 liked reading newspapers more than they did before. And about half are actually reading more newspapers. The percentage of 12- to 18-year olds reading daily newspapers rose from 40 percent to 45 percent in the five years since the program began.

New Evidence at NIE Builds Democracy

A study of 1,000 Argentineans students aged 11- to 15-years old found that students who read newspapers in their schools were more likely to engage in debate and hold democratic values than those who did not.

The study, conducted in five Argentinean cities from March to September 2008, found the students who participated in Newspapers in Education programmes were significantly more likely to talk about current events, believe in that multiparty democracy is better than other forms of government and that taking bribes was wrong. They were also more likely to continue to read newspapers outside of school.

Here are some of the questions, and the results:

 Do you read a newspaper at home? Those who had newspapers in schools: 75 percent. Those who didn’t: 60 percent.

 Do you talk about what goes on in the country/world? NIE: 80 percent. No NIE: 65 percent.

 Is it OK to pay a bribe? NIE: 75 percent said no. No NIE: 65 percent said no.

 Democracy is the best form of government for our country/world? NIE: 70 percent said yes always or sometimes. No NIE: 45 percent said yes always or sometimes.

 In Democracy, is it the same if any party wins? NIE: 70 percent said no, every party has different ideas. No NIE: 60 percent said no.

 What is the best way to participate in a democracy? NIE: 55 percent said being informed. No NIE: 40 percent said being informed.

For more information on the study and how to use the findings for NIE advocacy, consult www.me.gov.ar/escuelaymedios or e-mail escuelaymedios@me.gov.ar.

Some great ideas for engaging the young in hard times

A traditional end to the Young Reader Conference, the “30 Great Ideas in 30 Minutes” presentation contains easy, cost-effective strategies for young readers that are easy to implement. Here are some of them:

 Ask classes to suggest a theme for a full-page infographic. Le Journal de Montreal lets winners create it with the newspaper staff.

 Classes in the newspaper project of Jydske Vestkysten of Denmark can “hire” a journalist (without cost) to help them to prepare their own newspaper pages. The students can ask for advice on the web.

 The Border Mail in Australia organized “News’vember” to encourage kids to read the newspaper 10 minutes every day in November.

 Zero Hora in Brazil does summaries for children next to news stories.

 Welt am Sontag in Germany produces a supplement, six times a year, to explain to kids complex economic topics and problems in a way that is easily accessible for young readers starting from 12 years.

 Het Belang van Limburg from Belgium publishes photos every year of all the new primary school classes (8-year-olds). It is the second best sold edition of the year.

 The Lima News invites student designers under the age of 21 to cut, fold, weave, and even sew a bridal gown using the newspaper as their fabric. All entries were to be judged by local retail and design professionals.

 In its Etameko project in Namibia, the local paper used excess newsprint to produce 1 million “scrapbooks” of blank pages for writing and drawing, and partnered with a local grocery store to distribute them to schools in rural and disadvantaged areas around the country.