Motown Blazes Way in Teen Journalism + The Environment

How do you get urban teens interested in journalism? And to make it an even taller order – in environmental journalism, math and science?

We can all learn from what they’re doing in Detroit. The lessons drawn from the 3rd annual city-wide high school journalism conference (“Steroids, Makeup and Polar Bears: Journalism and the Environment”) that took place Wed. Feb. 27 read like a How To:

* First, invite some 200 DPS students and their journalism advisors/chaperones to take a day away from school
* Host the event at the very impressive Detroit Zoo, which has a great educational facility and interactive exhibits and an amazing array of guest ‘speakers’ from amphibians of all kinds to polar bears and arctic foxes
* Ask a group of high energy experts to organize and manage the program. In this case, vision and leadership came from committed people like Jim Detjen (director of Michigan StateUniversity’s Knight Center for Environmental Journalism), Cheryl Pell (director of the Michigan Interscholastic Press Association) and Emilia Askari of the Detroit Free Press
* Shape the agenda around topics that are relevant and news worthy to teen reporters, such as - steroids use, environmental justice, the dangers of make up, global warming and teen depression
* Invite local anchors like Carolyn Clifford and meteorologist Andrew Humphrey to provide truly inspirational opening remarks
* Ask eager young reporters like Chris Lau and Kirkland Crawford of the Detroit Free Press (who aren’t that far removed from high school themselves) to moderate sessions
* Oh, and finally have the whole thing piggyback on the steady coaching and nurturing of local talent by the likes of Erin Hill of the Detroit Free Press who heads the newspaper's inspired high school journalism initiative

Then add the energy, curiosity and giddiness of more than 200 high school students and you’ve got the mix for a winner. The high points of such an event are numerous but one stood out for me. At the end of his talk meteorologist Humphrey asked how many of the seniors in the audience were registered to vote. He then opened his bag and had voter registration forms distributed to all those that weren't.

Successful youth journalism programs like this are, after all, about much more than journalism alone. They're about inspiring young minds and opening up career possibilities but also about kick-starting interest in our communities and country and civic participation in our democratic society.

But what a great place to start.

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WeMedia 2008: It's Live Now

Trying to get a handle on social and digital media? You don't have to be one of the lucky ones in Miami to reap the benefits of WeMedia 2008: They're streaming video and blogging live on their Web site. http://ifocos.org/we-media-miami-2008

Organized by MTF grantee iFOCOS, WeMedia brings together a couple hundred bloggers, journalists, academics, investors and techies annually to brainstorm and discuss the digital landscape.

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Editors Need Not Apply

Meredith Publishing Group president Jack Griffin says the upheaval in the magazine industry has prompted the company to redefine its editorial hiring approach. "We don't hire editors anymore," Griffin said in his keynote remarks at the 2008 FOLIO: Publishing Summit. "We hire content strategists."

Des Moines-based Meredith publishes more than 200 subscription and special interest magazines, including Better Homes and Gardens, which Griffin said had its best year ever in 2007. "In this age of splintering, there are ways to revitalize a big, important brand," he said. The company has spent about $600 million since 2002 on interactive launches, digital acquisitions and expansions of existing Web sites.

(Read more about Meredith Publishing here.)

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Numbers Guy Says Online Picture Less Rosy for Newspaper

The Wall Street Journal's Numbers Guy, Carl Bialik, claims in a recent blog posting that newspaper Web site audiences really aren't growing at the banner pace claimed by the Newspaper Association of America (NAA) - at least in the context of growing overall Web surfing by Americans.

The NAA recently released a press release touting the record growing audience for newspaper Web sites in 2007 (http://www.naa.org/PressCenter/SearchPressReleases/2008/Online-Newspaper-Viewership.aspx). According to the trade group, average monthly unique visitors for newspaper Web sites grew by more than 3.6 million last year.

But Bialik wanted a little more context for these numbers given the general rise in Internet usage and engagement seen in the U.S. Using his famed mathematical tricks, Bialik consulted usage numbers (monthly average unique Internet audience, page views, etc.) from the NAA and Nielsen online to figure out that newspapers "were losing share of the average reader's total Web activity."

During 2007, adults spent a lot more time online (the average user loaded 51 percent more pages in 2007 and spent 23 percent more time online) in general, Bialik notes. But newspapers only saw a rise of 24 percent in increased web page loading and a 20 percent increase in time on newspaper web sites, so comparatively they’re losing share.

For the full explanation, check out: http://blogs.wsj.com/numbersguy/how-good-was-2007-for-newspaper-web-sites-276/?mod=googlenews_wsj

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More Bad News for Newspapers

If the message hasn't gotten through yet: Newspapers are in big trouble. Countless stories have chronicled the different editorial and business woes, but The New York Times' media writer Richard Perez-Pena did an excellent trends piece on the situation recently. He provides a good overview of the different market forces affecting revenues (Craigslist, anyone?), while providing some context for the whole shift.

The bottom line? Newspapers are hemorrhaging profits at an alarming rate, slashing staffs and trying to ride out the problem of not adapting to online markets fast enough. Factor in the regular recession tide and fall, and you've got a wave of newspaper sell offs.

To read "An Industry Imperiled by Falling Profits and Shrinking Ads," visit:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/07/business/media/07paper.html?_r=1&scp=3&sq=newspapers&st=nyt&oref=slogin

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LA Youth: Exploring Teen Issues for 20 Years

A story in the Los Angeles Times over the weekend praises the work of MTF grantee LA Youth (http://www.layouth.com), a city-wide teen paper that has celebrated youth perspectives for 20 years. Founded by teacher and mother of three Donna Myrow after the U.S. Supreme Court gave principals the right to censor school papers, LA Youth is described as a ‘confessional of sorts’ and even something of an ‘emotional repository’ for teens. But for grown-ups, the piece says, LA Youth ‘is a peek into a parallel universe – a display of unflinching adolescent honesty and our region’s dizzying diversity.” The teen reporting in LA Youth over the years has raised a number of issues dealing with teen mental health and also included investigative pieces on kids wrongly confined in mental hospitals and manhandled by local police.

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