« Anonymous sources: editors at Time Inc. offer reassurances to reporters | Main | USA: WashingtonPost.com to launch dual homepages »
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
How to Make Newspapers Essential for Teachers and Students
If you are looking for the next generation of newspaper readers, look to western Australia, where teachers are willing to pay to have newspapers delivered to their classrooms and students and their parents complain if
their newspaper is delivered late.
How The West Australian newspaper helped create this admirable situation will be the subject of a presentation at the 6th World Young Reader Conference, to be held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, from 18 to 21 September
next.
Lynn Cahill, the Newspapers in Education Manager at The West Australian, will show how her newspaper has helped schools create valid educational programmes using newspapers -- programmes that have also helped The West Australian to increase its circulation.
She says that many teachers actually pay for the NIE materials out of their own pockets if school funds aren't available. And parents complain to the newspaper when deliveries are late because their children wake them up at 6 a.m. when they can't find their newspaper.
"Today's kids are used to getting a response -- communication is a two-way process," she says. "So at the West Australian, NIE responds to kids and encourages them to be committed to the newspaper and to value their contributions and opinions."
Ms Cahill will focus on successful NIE programmes for children under 12 and will present publications and activities that have led a majority of schools in the region to use newspapers in the classroom. More than 2,000 teachers in Western Australia have attended workshops after school to find out how they can get the most from the newspaper with their students.
Similar presentations will focus on reaching teen-agers and on reaching young adults.
These are just a few of the sessions that will examine the latest research, case studies and strategies for reaching young readers that will be presented at the World Young Reader Conference, organised by the World Association of Newspapers. For the evolving conference programme and on-line registration information, consult http://www.wan-press.org/argentina2005
Other highlights include:
- A presentation on the "journalist for a day" program at Der Standard in Austria, which brought teen-agers into the reporting process and lowered the average age of loyal readers. The presentation will be made by Bettina Reicher, who has lowered the average age of the newspaper's staff all by
herself-- she joined Der Standard seven years ago at the age of 15 and has
been running the paper's student pages since she was 16.
- A session on "The Front Page project", in which some of the world's leading newspapers changed page one to appeal to 10-year olds. The presentation will be made by Fran?ois DuFour, Editor in Chief of Play Bac Presse newspapers in France, and Aralynn McMane, Director of Education and Development at WAN.
- An examination of Argentina's "Investigative Journalist for a Day" project that united Buenos Aires' competing papers, spread to the whole country, and touched and hearts and minds of students.
- How the Bolivian daily "Mi Super Diario" has grown and prospered through its audience of 7- for 7 to 12-year olds. Carlos Echeverry, the paper's editor and publisher, will make the presentation.
- A presentation on how Gannett Co. Inc. in the United States focuses on young readers through a task force, a manual for all its newspapers and through free newspapers targeted at young adults, by Jennifer Carroll,
Director of News Development.
- Study visits to learn more about Argentina's rich NIE experience, hosted by the Education Ministry and the Buenos Aires Herald, which has exercises for Spanish speakers who want to improve their English.
- Presentation of the 2005 World Young Reader Prize, and an examination of the successful strategies that led to the award.
- An outstanding social programme to help participants network with their colleagues from around the world.
- And much more. Consult http://www.wan-press.org/argentina2005 for full conference information.
Simultaneous interpretation will be provided in English, French, German, Portuguese and Spanish.
The 6th World Young Reader Conference is supported by Norske Skog, the Norway-based international paper manufacturer, by the Argentinean newspaper Clarin, and by the Brazilian Association of Newspapers, ANJ. Sponsorship opportunities are still available: contact Donna Pentier, Director of WAN Training & Events, [email protected].
The Paris-based WAN, the global organisation for the newspaper industry
represents 18,000 newspapers; its membership includes 72 national newspaper associations, individual newspaper executives in 102 countries, 11 news agencies and nine regional and world-wide press groups.
Inquiries to: Larry Kilman, Director of Communications, WAN, 7 rue Geoffroy
St Hilaire, 75005 Paris France. Tel: +33 1 47 42 85 00. Fax: +33 1 47 42 49
48. Mobile: +33 6 10 28 97 36. E-mail: [email protected]
Posted by john burke on July 13, 2005 at 03:38 PM in h. Young readers / New readers, l. Conferences and awards | Permalink
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
https://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d8341e0b0f53ef00e55052d8d68833
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference How to Make Newspapers Essential for Teachers and Students: