Study says papers not reaching teens

By: Jennifer Saba After two years of innovative efforts to reach young readers, the industry clearly has a long way to go. A new readership study released at the annual Newspaper Association of America's convention on April 20 declared that newspapers are doing a better job in reaching elementary and college students, but they need to find "a better way to engage with teens," said Randy Bennett, NAA Vice President of Readership Integration.

For the study, a marketing research firm held a series a focus groups in four cities with young people of high school age. The teens said they did not want the news dumbed-down, but they do want it more concise with more bullet points. And contrary to what many currently believe, their parents' reading habits do influence them. But newspapers still have a serous image problem. When researchers displayed pictures of teens reading newspapers, those in the focus groups tended to snicker. Some said the kids in the picture were nerdy; others said they were merely showing off.