Sometimes the thought of speaking to young people about newspapers can dull the senses – mine and theirs – especially when more than 20 have been corralled for a dose of civics. Asking a class of college students if they read The Courant and seeing nary a hand is harsh.
When I had the pleasure of posing the question to nearly 150 high school freshmen and sophomores during the first Ella Grasso Youth Action Conference at the state Capitol earlier this month, I was a bit giddy at the sight of quite a few hands in the air. Granted, the audience was stacked. The students from across Connecticut were hand-picked to attend the daylong program on civic engagement. Still, it did my heart good to realize that there’s at least one more generation of newspaper readers out there.
Maybe they were just being polite. But there is other evidence that newspaper readership is healthy among 12- to 17-years-olds. Teenage Research Unlimited reported last fall that 54 percent of 12- to 17-year-olds spend one or more hours reading a newspaper in a given week. The percentage grows to 63 percent among 15- to 17-year-olds.
According to Scarborough Research, a frequent source in the media industry, the percentage of 18- to 24-year-olds who read newspapers in an average week has declined from 42 percent to 38 percent over the past six years.
The assembly of students at the Capitol was uplifting; their opinions about the newspaper enlightening. And I was intrigued by their answers to my question: What – besides a current events assignment – would make you pick up a newspaper every day?
The written answers I received revealed that these students weren’t looking for back flips or blogs. Their expectations of the newspaper were similar to what parents have been telling me.
The most common request: news that relates to them.
Catharine Holcroft of Windham High School was among dozens who said that they would like a section for teens by teens. Budget considerations, however, have recently ended The Courant’s support of Metro Bridge, a newspaper by teens for teens in the Hartford area.
As one student wrote, “I think having a section in the newspaper that addresses teen issues would be good. Drugs, sex rate, teens having babies at a very young age could be put in. Besides the downfall of teens, good things could be put in such as teens who contribute to the community volunteering; teens who are ambitious and are going places.”
Teenage Research Unlimited reported that the top social concerns among 12- to 17-year-olds were education, child abuse, drinking and driving, racism, drug abuse, AIDS, war, terrorism, abortion and cigarette smoking. But it was a desire for positive news that the students at the conference talked about the most.
One student wrote: “Hartford is always on the map for something bad, especially Weaver High School. We have a lot of positive things that go on in Weaver but the newspaper only talks about the negative things.”
I couldn’t argue against the point. The students agreed that the city’s problems couldn’t be ignored, but they wanted more balance.
The industry’s future depends on finding a way to keep up with this particular audience. Certainly, more hands went up when I asked who among them logs on to myspace.com every day.
The greatest appeal that newspapers hold for young readers, according to Teenage Research Unlimited and the kids at the conference, is their comics. Forty-nine percent of the teens that the research firm surveyed said they turn to the comics the most. The sports section was next at 42 percent. The entertainment section was next at 41 percent. Those sections overshadowed interest in local news (32 percent) and national news (22 percent). But when teenagers tell me “I love the news” and “Reading the paper is just part of my daily routine because I want to be informed about current issues in my government and country,” I know our democracy is secure.
The Youth Action Conference was designed to inspire young people to become involved in civic and political leadership. The young people I met at the Capitol on April 6 sure inspired me.
