Thinking Young

By Becky Cairns

First Published: Summer 2007

Journalists must come down from the “pressroom pulpit” and let readers into the newspaper.

That is the philosophy behind El Correo’s award-winning citizen journalism project – and a philosophy that also attracts young readers to newspapers, said Monserrat Lluis, editor of the Spanish newspaper’s EnlaCe project. Lluis and Esben Seerup, managing editor of Fyens Stiftstidende in Denmark, spoke on “Total Youth Think,” or ways newspapers can appeal to young readers throughout their pages, at the World Young Reader Conference.

EnlaCe means “link,” a link from the newspaper to reader-citizens who have opinions and are informed, said Lluis, whose project was the winner of a 2007 World Young Reader Prize. Stepping down from the pressroom pulpit means realizing a photograph taken by a pedestrian at the scene of an accident may be better than one taken by a newspaper photographer who arrives after the ambulance has transported the victims, said Lluis, speaking through an interpreter.

Reader photos, film critiques and question-and-answer columns are some of the many ways the Spanish newspaper promotes citizen participation. One regular feature is “The Album,” where photographs from social events – weddings, anniversaries, retirement parties – may be posted. “It’s an opportunity for the newspaper to accompany the reader in the important moments of his life,” Lluis said. She added that the paper also uses technologies such as text messaging and e-mail, and strives to be dynamic.

“We always try to give priority to a younger reader rather than an older reader,” she said. During the project’s first year, more than 100,000 readers participated, Lluis said, and 75 percent of them were less than 40 years of age. Often, newspapers “seem to forget young people,” Seerup said, noting that one reason is “you don’t have young people in the newsroom, so you forget to speak to them.” After attending the 2005 World Young Reader Conference, Seerup said he realized “what we had for [youth] was not enough.”

His paper, the third oldest in Denmark, now uses a three-pronged strategy for attracting younger readers, he said. New media platforms are one part of the strategy, Seerup said. Besides its print edition, Fyens Stiftstidende offers a free commuter paper read mostly by ages 20-24, a Web newspaper that attracts ages 40-44 and a radio program that draws people in their mid-30s. Content for young readers is also key, he added. “The platform is not enough. If you don’t have any content for them, why should they go there?”

Young people write reviews of PC games, Seerup said, and school reporters turn in articles. The newspaper also has the goal of focusing on teenage life in one of its pages each day in 2007. Getting to know young readers is the final step because “it’s not enough to write to them,” he said. The Media Lab at the paper attracts school classes regularly, he said, and a summer Media Camp gives 20 teenagers an internship experience, creating pages for the newspaper.

“We’ve only just started,” said Seerup, noting that the paper has ideas for new platforms and ways to bond with the young. Like older readers, young readers want to know what’s in it for them, he said. “If you write something they can use every day, they will read it.” Targeting young people has been well accepted by the newspaper’s older readers, some of whom are parents and grandparents of the youth contributors, Seerup said. “They love it. I haven’t had a single complaint about young stories in the paper,” he added.

Becky Cairns, editor of TX. at the Standard- Examiner in Ogden, Utah, can be reached at 801.625.4276 or bcairns@standard.net.