Commentary
You Can Lead a Kid To The Newspaper, But...
- by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, October 5, 2009
According to the World Association of Newspapers' recent report on the French government's decision to give free, one-day-a-week newspaper subscriptions to every 18- to 24-year old in the country as a way to encourage newspaper reading and civic participation, the publishers say it works, though the free giveaway is not the only factor.
Jeanne-Emmanuelle Hutin, a member of the Directors Committee at Ouest France, speaking at the World Young Reader Conference in Prague, Czech Republic, said "Ouest France, the nation's largest general interest newspaper, increased the number of regular readers among 18- to 24-year olds by 22,000 in 3 years, with 12% re-subscribing after their free subscriptions ended. And 65% of the young subscribers continue to read Ouest France at least once a week after their free subscriptions end."
However, the study concedes that the newspapers must succeed in interesting the young in the news, with relevant content and approaches, by investing in other platforms and by strengthening links with them.
A marketing campaign using new media had to be created, and special content added for young people -- traditional marketing didn't really work, says the report. And a strategy to move the free subscribers to paid subscriptions had to be planned. In Ouest France's case, a two-day-a-week paid subscription was offered after the one-day-a-week free subscription expired.
Government subsidies are part of a package of measures recommended after a three-month government study of the French press last year. Other measures include:
- Tax breaks to investors in online journalism
- Doubling of government advertising in print and online news media
- An increase in the number of distribution points
- Government support in negotiations with printing unions
"Free subscriptions are not a cure-all remedy, especially if there is nothing of interest to young readers in the newspaper. But it is the backbone of several initiatives to meet the needs of the youth," concludes Ms Hutin.
For more information about this study, please go to the summaries of the conference presentations here.
Jack Loechner is the Editor of The Center for Media Research's daily Research Brief. You can reach him at jack@mediapost.com.
Great program. It's cool to see that different players are contributing to what will benefit us all over the long-run. You could perhaps even call it a civic marketing program.
I applaud the program and its intent to develop newspaper readers. However, as Howard Schneider, journalism department chair at Stony Brook University said in a 2003 article: "You start reaching Generation Y at [age] 7, not at 17." A 2004 NAA study showed more than half of today's 18-34 year olds who today are regular newspaper readers picked up the habit by age 14 -- many before age 10.
The World Association of Newspaper's Young Readers program targets ages THREE to 25.
My master's thesis/project as a Knight Fellow in Community Journalism through the University of Alabama (2008) is titled "Cultivating Tomorrow's News Consumers Today: Reaching Children in Grades 2 through 8." Anyone interested in learning more about my findings, including annotations on how I developed a prototype page of real news -- government meetings, community events, community issues . . . beyond puzzles and games -- with a readability score of from 2nd to 5th grade is welcome to email me at aander8130@gmail.com.