Don’t call it a comeback. Al Neuharth has been back in the news lately, this time kicking around some ideas for a national newspaper aimed at "kids." Although he has officially retired more times than Muhammad Ali, the founder of USA Today<\I> — and arguably the person most responsible for the changes seen in daily newspapers over the past 30 years — is still active. And the guy who named his autobiography Confessions of an S.O.B.<\I> is still quick with the wit and the blunt truth about newspapers.

"Newspapers need to keep pace with the other media as they change," he says from his Cocoa Beach, Fl., home and office. "The content and appearance need to change and adjust to compete with other media. Newspapers are not competing with each other. They are competing with other forms of media. They are competing for the time and attention of the general public."

Neuharth is hardly as arrogant these days as his reputation or his autobiography’s title would suggest. His phone manner is actually charming. He’s able to laugh at himself when it comes to his legendary career. His belief that newspapers need to compete for time and attention is not new. It is the foundation for the creation of USA Today<\I>, which Neuharth started in September 1982 when he was CEO of Gannett. Back then USA Today<\I> was officially born out of "two years of research on what readers wanted, what advertisers needed, and what technology permitted." This was before cable news was the dominating news factor it is today, and way before anybody had an email address. But Neuharth knew that the daily newspaper had to change. He came out with the controversial package of lots of color, lots of numbers, lots of celebrity reporting, lots of weather detail, and very, very short copy. By the end of 1983 USA Today<\I>’s circulation was 1.3 million. Today its daily circulation is approximately 2.3 million, making it the largest-selling daily newspaper in the nation.

"Oh, it definitely changed the business," he says. "I don’t know if it changed it for better or worse. Sometimes I can laugh with those who say it changed newspapers for the worse."

Still, with the almost universal adoption of color and more accessible layouts, it’s hard to argue that USA Today<\I> hasn’t improved daily newspapers. Neuharth’s formula made the news more accessible to a wider audience. Now he’s talking about doing that for a younger audience. He says the spate of recent articles speculating on his plans for a kids’ national newspaper stemmed from a series of meetings he had with several companies in April. Outside of Neuharth’s interest, the project doesn’t have much form yet. Neuharth has not settled on the exact age range the project should target, although pre-teens have been talked about the most. He’s not totally convinced that a project aimed at kids can work from a readership and advertising business perspective. He is sure that the newspaper business needs to build a better foundation with younger readers if it is to have a chance to grow in the future.

"This may or may not develop into a plan," he says. "We need to find out more about whether newspapers can attract young kids. At USA Today<\I> we tried a number of ways to get teens to read, but they didn’t have much advertising appeal. We need to instill the habit of reading a newspaper into kids somehow."

If he went ahead with it, would a kids’ national newspaper work? A recent report published in NAA’s Presstime<\I> says that the content areas that score big with young people are entertainment, sports, and civic journalism (or information that helps communities solve problems). According to John Bartolomeo, managing partner of content consultant Clark, Martire and Bartolomeo of Englewood Cliffs, N.J., the Internet holds much more promise with the young generation. But he also told a recent NAA conference that product improvements designed to attract younger readers "cannot be devised at the desks of editors in their 40s and 50s." Such improvements "must be researched and not assumed."

Research also shows that readership among younger adult demographics has dropped as much as 20 percent over the past five years. There’s not a lot of research to show whether teens or pre-teens would intend to read a print product aimed at them.

Neuharth is also aware, however, that newspapers, including his former company Gannett, are under tremendous pressure to increase circulation and ad revenue. Attracting a teen or pre-teen audience would be a step in the right direction. He is also aware that media planners and buyers have local ad options in a turf where print news once ruled. But newspapers, he says, still provide a unique and vital advertising vehicle.

"Daily newspapers still have the highest penetration of the local audience," he says. "It is the most accessible and most affordable way for people to get their news. No one TV program can command attention in a given community like newspapers can. Newspapers have to be heard."

A good deal of Neuharth’s current activity is associated with the Freedom Forum, a Washington, D.C.–based foundation dedicated to "free press, free speech, and free spirit" for all people. The Freedom Forum funds and operates the Newseum and the First Amendment Center. Neuharth says he is "surprised" at the success the Newseum has achieved. It has a physical location near the Pentagon, and its 1999 listing of the "Top 100 News Stories of the Millennium" generated debate, praise, and publicity for the organization. Its most recent notable effort is an exhibit of 100 front pages from around the country on Sept. 11 and 12, 2001.

And then there’s this notion of a national kids’ newspaper. It fits with his legacy of making news more accessible and pushing the envelope for the newspaper format. Time will tell whether the project will fly and whether he’ll come out of retirement to lead it. So don’t call it a comeback. Yet.

Sidebar: Al Neuharth Biography<\B> Al Neuharth was chairman of the Freedom Forum from 1986 to 1997, and was a trustee of the foundation and its predecessor, the Gannett Foundation, from 1965 to 1999.

Neuharth has authored eight books. His autobiography, “Confessions of an S.O.B.<\I>,” had a long run on The New York Times and other best-seller lists. The hardcover book had five printings by Doubleday. World paperback rights were sold and the book has been translated into five languages.

He writes a weekly column for the domestic and international editions of USA<\I> Today called "Plain Talk." It also appears in other newspapers.

He was born on March 22, 1924, in Eureka, S.D. At age 11, he took his first job as a newspaper carrier and later as a youth worked in the composing room at the weekly Alpena (S.D.) Journal. After graduating from Alpena High School, he served as a combat infantryman in World War II. He was awarded the Bronze Star.

After the war, attended the University of South Dakota, where he majored in journalism. When he graduated in 1950, he joined The Associated Press in Sioux Falls, S.D., as a reporter.

In 1952, he and a friend launched a statewide weekly tabloid called SoDak Sports<\I>. The newspaper failed financially. In 1954, broke and in debt, Neuharth got a job as a reporter on the Miami Herald<\I>. Over the next seven years, he was promoted from reporter through many editorial positions to assistant managing editor. In 1960, he was named assistant executive editor of the Detroit Free Press<\I>. Both are members of the Knight Ridder newspaper group.

Neuharth joined Gannett as general manager of its two Rochester, N.Y., newspapers in 1963. In 1966, he assumed the added role of president of Gannett Florida and started a new newspaper, TODAY<\I>, later renamed Florida TODAY<\I>. Neuharth resides in Cocoa Beach in a renovated log cabin called Pumpkin Center. He does his writing there in a beachside treehouse that overlooks the Kennedy Space Center launch pads.