Suddenly, Youth Papers Are Hot

By: Lucia Moses The latest attempt to hook young readers took the shape of a free commuter paper last week, while publishing executives elsewhere are at work on their own standalone papers.

Critics pounced on The Washington Post's new Express, now the third commuter paper (others are in Boston and Philadelphia), calling it brief, bland, and lacking local news. Publisher Christopher Ma said the quick-read approach allows readers to catch up on the news and helps develop a daily reading habit among young people. "I think a free digest product can complement a major metro in a very nice way," he said.

In State College, Pa., the Centre Daily Times plans to launch Sept. 2 a weekday tabloid that will be wrapped around the regular paper and distributed downtown, on the Penn State campus, and at apartment buildings heavily populated by young people. The tab is projected to run 24 pages and will be called "Blue," a reference to Penn State's blue and white colors. The target audience: 18- to 34-year-olds, with an emphasis on the younger end. "It is going to be really cool and really different," said Henry Haitz, publisher of Knight Ridder's Daily Times.

Some Gannett Co. Inc. papers are investigating free weeklies like those started last year by the chain's Lansing, Mich., and Boise, Idaho, dailies. The Cincinnati Enquirer is looking at launching a free weekly for 25- to 34-year-olds by year's end, and the Indianapolis Star is examining the potential for a weekly spinoff, said Kevin Poortinga, assistant managing editor for planning. The News Journal in Wilmington, Del. is "exploring the process of doing a separate publication," said Joni L. Silverstein, vice president of market development. And the Louisville, Ky., Courier-Journal reportedly plans to launch a free paper focusing on lifestyle and entertainment news.

Gannett has so far favored freebies. Younger readers don't seem interested in daily papers and definitely don't want to pay for content, Newspaper Division President Gary L. Watson told the California Newspaper Publishers Association's annual meeting in June, according to the Associated Press.

The Chicago Tribune's RedEye is sticking to its plans to convert to paid, even though that has meant cutting distribution roughly in half since the fall 2002 launch. "Obviously, there are readers who are buying the paper," said spokeswoman Patty Wetli. "The goal is to get more of them to do it more often."

But Chicago Sun-Times Vice President John Cruickshank doubts either RedEye or his own Red Streak can get much of an audience by charging. "The real business case was predicated on charging," he said. "It has not emerged, for us as well. It's tough, selling to this age category."