The youth market is one of the most important in helping to stop newspapers' declining circulation. In fact, market analysts now warn that newspaper editors who fail to take steps to attract that segment of the population do so "at their own peril."1

Only in recent years have a large number of newspapers begun to produce special sections to attract the youth audience. Now some newspapers have taken that content online because Web sites can be customized based on individual interests of specific age groups, and the sites can provide seemingly endless links to additional information. They also can provide color, entertainment and navigability the younger generation finds missing from the regular newspaper. Yet, Web sites also can still be tied to the brand name and believability of the newspaper.2

This present study looks at a sample of Web sites for teens and preteens sponsored by daily newspapers. The list posted by the Youth Editorial Alliance in 2003, an organization of youth editors at U. S. newspapers under the umbrella of the Newspaper Association of American Foundation, and an earlier 1999 survey of 165 newspapers with print sections for youth, is not exhaustive. Yet the sample of 40 newspaper Web sites provides some initial insights into online newspaper content targeting the estimated 41 million young Americans between the ages of 10 and 19.3

Literature Review

As early as 1991, consultants advised editors to produce special youth sections because teenagers want publications tailored for their age groups.4 Even The New York Times revived its push to reach high school students with its Newspaper in Education program and Times publisher Arthur Ochs Sulzberger said: "A lot of us have come to the conclusion that if you hook 'em young, you can keep them with you."5

The need to pursue the teen audience aggressively and to "hook 'em young," was echoed a decade later by Michael P. Smith, managing director of the Media Management Center at Northwestern University. "Something happens to a young person before 18 that will develop the newspaper reading habit or won't," he said. "It's hard to change that habit after 18."6