Young Newspaper Readers

A survey of 3,500 teenagers in the US, Netherlands and Finland showed:
found that:

- Young people are interested in news and see the value of being informed.

- Loyal newspaper readers are more informed, engaged and connected to
community than non-readers.

- Parents (especially mothers) and teachers have successfully influenced
young people to become newspaper readers. ­ Peers are not influential.

- Newspapers must start earlier to establish how the brand of news
emanating from newspapers is different from and superior to other media
options. This strategy should be multi-platform, accentuating content, not
format.

- Young people leaving home provides an important opportunity for
newspapers. The study shows a significant drop in readership at this
life-stage at a time when interest in news is peaking.

- Newspaper editorial content, in general, is disconnected from youth
interests -- and when it is about youth, it is mostly negative. Music and
film top the list of interests while politics ranked in the lower than 30th.

- Social networks can be allies of newspapers, not the enemy. Social network
users are more supportive of all media generally, but also show a higher
increase of support for newspapers than non users.