Paper

To attract young readers, media companies are publishing free newspapers that capsulize the news and emphasize jazzy graphics. New York Times reporter Jacques Steinberg describes what research studies say young readers want and how new papers like Quick, published by Belo Corporation in Dallas, and the 5 Minute Herald, published by Knight-Ridder in Miami, seek to address their needs and capture advertising dollars.

"If you want your newspaper to appeal to young people, you must be willing to print the word 'fuck,'" says Eric Celeste, and Dallas' new, competing commuter tabs Quick and A.M. Journal Express apparently fail the test. Plus, they're not "smartly written," nor do they "reflect the world young people live in," violating two more Celeste rules for reaching the 18- to 34- year-old reader. But all is not lost, says Celeste: The papers do have some "utility."

The Gannett paper that arguably started the trend reports on the daily newspaper industry's response to its ongoing readership decline. Newspaper analyst John Morton claims the industry's new quick-read publications "shout 'this is not your father's newspaper.''' AAN's Richard Karpel says they're "just dumbed-down news" and complains, ''(a)t a time when 70% of the public thinks Saddam Hussein was behind 9/11, the last thing we need is dumber newspapers."

The launch of the Cincinnati Enquirer's free weekly is the news hook around which the Wall Street Journal wraps its look at the daily newspaper industry's efforts "to hook the MTV generation on newspapers." WSJ reports that in a recent conference call, the Tribune Co.'s CFO said that its RedEye has attracted about 250 new advertising clients that haven't previously advertised in the Chicago Tribune.

The media conglomerate's corporate Web site is advertising jobs for "soon-to-be launched weekly" newspapers in Indianapolis, where its INtake is set to appear on Dec. 11; Cincinnati; Louisville, Ky.; and Palm Springs, Calif., according to E&P's Lucia Moses. Cincinnati CityBeat Editor and Co- Publisher John Fox tells E&P that he's not overly concerned with the new competition. "We've been around for nine years," he said. "We have numbers, we have relationships. I think we're going to be fine."

Seeking to "hook young people on the newspaper habit, with the hope that they might eventually graduate to more substantive, established fare," the Tribune Company's amNew York debuted in Manhattan on Friday. Free dailies like amNew York face a number of daunting challenges, says Jacques Steinberg, like distribution issues, lack of profitability and cannibalization of existing dailies in the same market. "But perhaps the biggest uncertainty surrounding such publications is how much attention busy young people will pay to newspapers whose short articles ... are in many instances supplied by news agencies like The Associated Press," notes Steinberg.

In a message originally sent to an AAN listserv, Cincinnati CityBeat Editor and Co-Publisher John Fox tells AAN News that a kickoff party for the Cincinnati Enquirer's "faux alt weekly" was held last week. The new paper, which hits the streets Oct. 29, has been christened Cin. Fox speculates about the meaning of "Cin" and says a 64-page, four-color prototype, "Looks a lot like Thrive in Boise, where the Enquirer's new publisher came from -- similar layout and flow, with 10 pages of daily classifieds in the back. Not a single story jumps."