BuzzMachine

The media pundit's pundit. Written by NYC insider Jeff Jarvis, BuzzMachine covers news, media, journalism, and politics.

A favor

9 comments on A favor

A favor
: Do me a favor: I was so impressed with what Rob Curley is doing in Lawrence, KS with a siet and paper that speak to university students — something established newspaper companies have never succeeded at doing — that I want to look at the good and bad of what other companies are doing.

Please leave me comments about any new products you see coming from newspaper or other media companies in your market, whether aimed at youth or commuters or anybody else. If it’s new or different — good or especially bad — I want to know about it.

I already know about the two Chicago allegedly youth-oriented tabs. I know about Metro in Boston and Philly. I have seen, unfortunately, AM New York. I’d like to get copies of the Dallas papers (anybody there?).

What else? I’d like to end up with a list. Thanks for the help.

: But I can save all that effort and just read the advice of Eric Celeste in the Dallas Observer [via Blogistan]. He has one word of advice for big media companies trying to reach young readers. And it’s a word I can’t print.

Actually, he has more than that and it’s good advice:

…three qualities that young people demand, things few dailies have: 1) They’re smartly written, because kids are smarter than you think; 2) they’re useful, while much of what is in newspapers can be found easily and quickly online; and 3) they reflect the world young people live in….

Which brings us to No. 3. This is key. Young people want the world as they see it: without filters. It’s why they love The Daily Show. Because it’s smart, informed, crude and passionate.”

I’ll spare you the obvious blogcentric analysis of tomorrow’s media…

9 responses to “A favor”

  1. Scott Chaffin Avatar
    Scott Chaffin

    I was gonna point you at the two-week old “commuter paper war” in Dallas, but you’ve already found it. For more, go to the Scrolldown and D Magazine’s FrontBurner.
    For my money, it’s more of a “free tabloids blowing down the street & clogging up the sewers war”. I don’t see how either of them will make it. But I’m not their demographic, and I only read dead-trees when I find the sports page at Starbucks these days, anyhoo.

  2. hugh macleod Avatar
    hugh macleod

    Heh. This is a subject DEAR to my heart.
    When I was Creative Director of Raygun Magazine, we were trying to figure out what we wanted to do with Raygun.com (assuming we got the finance, which we didn’t in the end, sadly).
    Back then (pre-blogging) we’d look at RollingStone.com and go, “Why?”
    I mean, be a younger, hipper version of RS.com? An utterly pointless exercise.
    Anyway, I ended up writing a memo to the CEO, something along the lines of “unless our average customer exits a Raygun brand interface (online or offline, content or molecular, core or peripheral, it doesn’t matter) feeling more empowered than when he entered, then we’re not going to make any money.”
    I think this is what youth brands are about- the successful ones make their user believe that interacting with the brand makes him/her more “Alpha” than not using it.
    Youth brands tend to be shamelessly Darwinian.
    But that’s always been the trouble with “Alpha” brands- what to do with it once the Betas and the Gammas get wind of it.

  3. JorgXMcKie Avatar
    JorgXMcKie

    Personally, as an old fart, I don’t know why Celeste’s advice doesn’t fit me, too. I don’t need edgy or attitude very much, but I do need quick, useful info with links to additional stuff in case I want more. A decent level of writing doesn’t hurt, either. What the Hell’s so hard about that? The Daily Show is great for the same reason some other stuff is: it offers what I want. Duh.
    “First thing let’s do, let’s demolish all the j-schools.” (I’m sorry, but I think that is a slight misquote.)

  4. hugh macleod Avatar
    hugh macleod

    I agree with you, Jorg. Media is not “entertainment” or “information”. Media is an interface. Interface implies action. I leave Buzzmachine more switched on than when I entered. So for me, there’s an actual kinetic quality about visiting here. The same should be true (but mostly isn’t) for ABC, CBS, The NYT, Nickelodeon, MTV etc etc. I want the benefit of interacting with any given media brand I use to be more flamingly obvious, less vague and elitist.

  5. br Avatar
    br

    This is unrelated, but there is something eerily familiar about the following site:
    http://buzz.zibili.com/

  6. hugh macleod Avatar
    hugh macleod

    imitation is the sincerest form of flattery ;-)

  7. Howard Avatar
    Howard

    Channel One has always been controversial but does provide a quality daily newscast and Web site designed for highschool kids.
    They’re the outfit (owned by Primedia – my former employer)that beams news and advertising to thousands of highschool kids each morning in classrooms across the U.S. The advertising has been the source of concern among some.
    This isn’t a newspaper-backed enterprise but they’ve found a way to hit the right tone in their coverage while appealing to kids.
    You may be looking at an older demographic but if the news doesn’t have this edge, you won’t reach young adults either.
    I also think MTV does a good job providing news to 20 somethings. I don’t think it is a coincidence that some of the better news organizations appealing to a younger audience are affiliated with television programming = attention span, digital culture, etc.
    Finally, gurl.com is serious and irreverant at the same time. FWIW

  8. br Avatar
    br

    “Imitation is the sincerest of flattery.” It is one of those sayings that are consistently bastardized along with “blood, toil, tears, and sweat.” My apologies, but you can blame this trite quibble on John McWhorter..

  9. Rich Gordon Avatar
    Rich Gordon

    Last spring, the Medill School of Journalism’s Media Management Project class (a full-quarter immersion in product development for a partner/client newspaper) developed ideas for reaching 18-34-year-olds in print and online … working with the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. The ideas were well received but have not been implemented (yet) — largely becaust the J-S folks were distracted by their company’s IPO earlier this year.
    Anyway, information about the project (and the prototypes) can be found here:
    http://www.medill.northwestern.edu/journalism/newmedia/studentwork/capstonework.html
    Rich Gordon