Download issue (PDF) - Nieman Foundation - Harvard University

Young Readersalso gets and sends e-mails, takes picturesand sends them immediately, listensto music, watches videos, andchecks his schedule as if it was a palmtop.If he wants to, he can watch thenews. He can even use it as a telephone.How much more multimedia can aperson be? And in a multimedia worldsuch as this, with gadgets that are alsofun to use, what becomes of the role ofprint media? In this boy’s life, paperhas become almost nonexistent. Why?In part, it’s because young people don’tlike the way we write, andthey don’t like the look ofour pages. In print, we’vebeen doing basically thesame thing for decades, andthis generation is letting usknow it will not accept theway we do our job.We are “monomedia”when they are “multimedia.”These kids want us tobe multimedia, too, and toreach them we will need tostop thinking in ways thatare monomedia.Prestigious brands andcredible publications haveto engage young readersboth in print and on theWeb, using different media to offerwhat they expect from us. Young peopleshould be able to get whatever information,analysis, or opinion they needor want from their favorite paper/electronicpublication as part of a largemultimedia system. The paper and electronicpublications must complementeach other, but doing this can provedifficult since younger brains do nottend to relate to words and images inthe same way older brains do. While wetend to separate out the ways in whichinformation is delivered, youngerbrains tend to blend these various components—paper,online, news, messages—togetherwith less effort thanwe do.With kids’ minds and experiencesbeing so different from ours, we’ll neversucceed without inviting them to joinus in figuring out ways to bridge thegap between the paper generation andthe electronic one. To try to understandthe way they think, we ought towatch them as they write, “uozzzup,bro?” and read their Weblogs. We’llneed to follow their discussions aboutissues that concern them as we try tocapture a sense of their needs andinterests, and many times they do thisonline. Then we can produce vehiclesfor them, done in ways they understandand not in the way we think theyshould understand.It is important to remember thatdifferences between paper readers andAn image from the Colorado Kids Web site.electronic readers are much more thanabout how they read. There is a culturalgap between us that is perhapslarger than the technological gap thatseparates us. Technology is availableto all of us, but in the ways we relate toit we are very far apart. Nor will weattract younger people by using objectsthey are rejecting, mostly newspapersbut magazines, too.I see little experimentation beingdone with the younger crowd concerningjournalism, but there are a fewgood examples. Though I’ve said thatsupplements for young readers don’tusually work, what The Denver Postdoes is an exception. It publishes asupplement called Colorado Kids, doneby a staff of kids seven to 13 years old.They do the interviews, asking questionsadults would not. And they writethe text. Other teens instantly recognizethat these pieces were not writtenby adults and that adds credibility tothe stories.Maybe we shouldn’t care so muchabout paper. Is our real concernwhether magazines and newspapersdisappear, or is it that we want kids toread? Does it really matter if they readfrom a paper page or on a screen orbehind a piece of plastic? To me, if theyread, then the object in which theyexercise their intellect is of no importance.As long as they read.This will not be a simple challengeto solve, but it is not impossible, either.An electronic newspaperand the electronic magazinetargeted for a youngaudience are still waitingto be invented. As we oldereditors continue to try toattract younger peoplewith our paper objects andWeb sites, I suspect theyare still waiting for an electronicpublication that willcombine newspapers,magazines and what we call“the rest” and will feel likeit belongs, like it fits, intheir lives.Either we invent thispublication, or they willdo it without our help. Andthis second option is what terrifies me.Are we, editors, condemned to a differentmission? If so, what is going tohappen to our role as the eyes andwatchdog of the society? But this isanother serious discussion.Uót’u tink, bro? ■Thomaz Souto Corrêa, a Brazilianjournalist, worked for 40 years aseditor and editorial director for thelargest magazine publishing companyin Latin America, the AbrilGroup. He is an editorial consultantand member of the ManagementBoard of the International Federationof the Periodical Press.TCorrea@abril.com.brNieman Reports / Winter 2003 11