My generation (gap)

It’s our annual teen issue. This year, teenagers from Reno High School wrote the cover package and shot the pictures. I think that’s really cool. I’m amazed and pleased at the quality of the work these people turned in.

You know what I like about how the News & Review handles the annual teen issue? Our whole point is to let teenagers speak for themselves, to attempt to remove some of the filters that are often seen in newspapers and other media that are “covering teens.” The idea is not to write about teens as though they are an event or a phenomenon (except for here in the Editor’s note, of course).

Unfortunately, that’s not how most newspapers do it, which is a problem. All over the country, readership of newspapers has fallen off, and if you look at the age demographics, you’ll see that it’s the youthful readers who are missing. And every day, more regular readers die.

Why don’t many young people read newspapers? I know they’re concerned about the goings-on in the world. Believe me, I’ve got a couple at home. Mine, however, do read newspapers—this one, anyway. So what’s the difference between my teens and many of those young people out there?

It’s the personal connection. My position at this newspaper makes it relevant to my teenagers.

Does having teenagers write the cover story make teenagers more inclined to pick this issue up? I think so, especially when it’s about an area where teenaged opinions have been virtually ignored by the media. But does it also mean that our main readership, the 35-45 set, will be less likely to pick it up this week? Hard to say. I won’t know for sure until returns are in.

But, that’s the crux of the issue; if the lion’s share of a newspaper is devoted to people who’ve passed the big 2-0, are teens disinterested? And more to the point, if a newspaper targets teens, have our older readers heard it all before?