Kids and newspapers are rarely seen together nowadays. Actually, now that I think about it, where they ever? I don’t ever remember seeing my classmates pick up the morning paper and bring it to school. And I bet my parents didn’t either. I like reading the printed paper now, but before college I never even thought of picking it up.
The death of the newspaper is currently a hot issue in the media world. Online media is grabbing the attention of the younger generation and not letting go. Why do we think newspapers are going to die because of a younger generation? They’ve never had a youthful audience, so why do they expect one now?
Papers and kids used to get along great. At the turn of the twentieth century, there was a newsie on every corner shouting "Extra, extra, read all about it!" Inside the paper, comics held an entire section. Hey, Hearst, want to sell papers to kids? Try cartoons!
I don’t think we’ll see the end of the printed newspaper in our generation, but who knows what technology lies beyond that. And for now, you’re not going to get young people to pick up a printed newspaper, so think of something better. And stop blaming us for your losses!
Wei Man Tang @ Wed, 03/29/2006 - 12:38pm
That is actually a good point; I rarely read newspapers when I was younger myself. The argument towards "death of the newspaper" needs a lot more than just showing us how few kids and teens read them. In fact newspapers rarely try to target a younger audience to begin with if you think about it, why do you think some publications create a kid version of their magazines?