Last Updated: May 26, 1999
Printer-friendly version
The ASNE Reporter
The ASNE Reporter: A sun of journalistic fire
Young writers, editors and photographers have a lot
to offer America’s newspapers, and judging from the latest ASNE study,
they need it
By Peter Hong
Newspaper editors today are bewildered by their failure to attract younger
readers.
What bewilders me is that those serving as the public’s eyes are blind
to the obvious: Young people don’t like newspapers because newspapers don’t
like young people.
Coverage of young adults is infrequent and patronizing, and those in
their 20s and 30s are increasingly shutout of newsrooms. According to ASNE’s
latest newsroom survey, "The newspaper journalists of the ’90s," the number
of journalists under 30 has been shrinking since 1988 while the ranks of
40-and-overs are swelling.
It doesn’t take Bob Woodward to figure out the problem. Those under
40 have less influence over the content of newspapers, hence newspapers
are less credible, influential and attractive to young people.
The newspaper establishment needs a wake-up call. While it sleeps, generation
gaps are widening and circulation is shrinking.
That’s why I volunteered to be managing editor of The ASNE Reporter,
the daily student-staffed paper covering ASNE’s convention. I thought the
paper might give students a chance to splash some cold water in the drowsy
faces of the powers that be. I wanted to help fill the bucket.
I was not disappointed. The 17 students who came to Washington from
around the country to work on the Reporter differed in many ways. But they
were alike in one: All were on fire. They were passionate about putting
together a paper that would reflect the interests and sensibilities of
their generation.
With sharp writing and striking photography, they came through. They
also showed that young people can contribute to all parts of a newspaper
— news, features and commentary.
That’s not always recognized by "real newspapers," as Emerson College
student Michael Logan pointed out in a Reporter column.
Logan wrote of his ambivalence toward a weekly Boston Globe section
called "Whatever," featuring writers in their 20s. He praised the newspaper’s
effort at outreach, but noted that the title undermined the credibility
of the young writers.
And "Why,’’ he asked, must the paper "marginalize young readers by ceding
off a special forum just for them?’’
Indeed.
ASNE has taken an important step forward in encouraging young journalists
through projects like The ASNE Reporter. Its members, however, must
follow up by seeing to it that the better of these students don’t languish
in obscure assignments for too long after they begin their careers.
I’ve worked with many journalists who as very young men had great chances
to speak to the world. Peter Jennings, Ted Koppel, Shelby Coffey III, Len
Downie and Bob Kaiser are some of them.
Putting young reporters on some of the biggest stories of the day wasn’t
simply a shallow attempt to cater to a market slice. It was good journalism.
David Halberstam covered the Vietnam War differently than Homer Bigart
would have. Reporters in their 20s covered the civil rights movement differently
than reporters in their 50s. We are all better off because of their work.
"The newspaper journalists of the ’90s" study also revealed a growing
number of journalists who said their papers are getting worse, and the
group believing their papers are improving is dwindling.
Being middle-aged isn’t a problem on its own. It becomes a problem when
it makes us middle-minded.
Another shot of youthful irreverence would make us more passionate and
provocative. What newspapers need is not more colorful pictures and graphics,
but writing that is sharper, more black and white — and less gray.
Hong, a staff writer for the Los Angeles Times, was managing editor
of The ASNE Reporter.
