Shoptalk: Reaching Teens 101

By: Lee Kravitz Over the years I have developed magazines, new media, and youth-empowerment campaigns for two generations of America's teenagers. Many of my journalist colleagues wonder why an adult now in his 50s has tried so hard to reach out to what they consider the most distant, self-absorbed, and inscrutable of audiences. It's because I've never wavered in my respect for teenagers ? and because, over the years, they've taught me nearly everything I know about engaging readers of all ages. You and your newspaper can attract teen readers, but it won't happen by declaring yourself

"hipper" and "more colorful" or by running more stories on teen topics and heartthrobs. Attracting teenage readers must be a mission and mindset for those entrusted with the task ? hence, these 10 guiding principles: 1. Don't pander, don't preach. 2. Respect their far-from-monolithic culture. 3. Celebrate good kids and their achievements but not too much, and not exclusively. 4. Truly give voice to young people. 5. Don't fear controversy. 6. Never report a problem without suggesting solutions and/or resources. 7. In presenting stories, color, energetic photos, playful graphics, and variety on every page help. 8. Make stories interactive. 9. Ask and your teen readers will respond. 10. Use your Web site and newspaper together to create a dynamic community.

You may ask, "Won't all this emphasis on teens turn off adults and dumb-down my newspaper?"

No. To attract teen readers, you don't need to train all your editors and reporters to be teen-sensitive and savvy ? and you don't need to fill your news pages with stories about teens. But you do need to begin a conscious process of including teen voices in news stories that are relevant to teen lives ? and you should consider carving out one or more areas of the paper that celebrate and give voice to teenagers.

News stories: If you are publishing a news report on challenges facing the local public schools, be sure to interview teens along with the education experts, school board members, teachers and parents. Include teen voices in the fabric of the news story or in a separate box. By letting teens speak out, you engage and empower them. For most reporters, this is the hard part. To let teens speak for themselves ? to let their voices shine through ? you must lessen the tone of objective reporting that pervades most news writing. And you must minimize what I call the "adult glue" that holds most news stories together.

Teen pages/special sections: Dozens of newspapers have developed their own teen pages and sections; the best include reporting and contributions by teenagers. There is a growing body of shared information on strategies that work. The Youth Editorial Alliance (http://www.naa.org/foundation/ yea/) is a good resource.

The Web: Make the most of it. Begin a debate in the paper and continue it on the Web; play back some of the best Web answers in print.

Going the extra mile: A few years ago, with funding from the Pew Center for Civic Journalism, the Portland Press Herald in Maine assigned a young reporter to the teen beat. For a year, Barbara Walsh observed and interviewed hundreds of teens at schools, at malls and in places adults seldom venture. Then she wrote about them in prose that captured the informal, often staccato rhythms of teen speech.

Walsh's five-part series, "On the Verge," painted as honest a portrait of teens that I've read in a newspaper. It also provoked an extraordinary dialogue between parents, teachers and young people in the pages of the newspaper, on the paper's Web site, and in forums throughout the community. For the Press Herald, understanding and attracting teen readers was a commitment fully embraced by the paper's top news and business executives. It paid off. You can learn more at http://www.institutodeprensa.com/ponencias/below.asp.

Who should report and lead your paper's coverage of young people? Not the likely candidates. I always caution editors to think twice before assigning parents or former teachers to the task. Why? They have a tendency to preach. Instead, look for reporters like Barbara Walsh who are authentically interested in young people, who share their idealism and who truly want to listen to, champion and help them. Some of the best writers and editors for the teen audience are stuck in adolescence. Don't be afraid of that fact; exploit it.

And when your paper writes compellingly about teens and gives them voice, guess what? You'll attract at least three other audiences: parents who want to understand them; grandparents who love them and remember their own teen years through them; and younger siblings who aspire to be like them.