How to Get People to Care About a School Paper

Pre-College Topics High School Life
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<p>This was inspired by the “School Newspaper” thread and some events today.</p>

<p>Today was career day at my school, and I was with my health class when we went to check the careers out. I was in a group with all friends except for one girl whom I absolutely hate (and she returns the feeling). We were watching one teacher take pictures of the people who were presenting the careers and interviewing them, and one girl said, “I wonder why he’s doing that.” The girl I hate looked at me and said, just to spite me, “Oh, he’s probably doing it for (insert name of school newspaper), that thing that nobody reads.” I ignored her, but this annoyed me.</p>

<p>It annoyed me because I am a writer and editor for the school paper, and am really passionate about it (which she knows). As much as that statement hurt, and as much as she was doing it just to insult me, she was right to an extent. Not a lot of people read the paper. They just don’t care about it. It is advertised, but people don’t seem to take the time to read it.</p>

<p>I don’t know why this is. We write about all sorts of stuff. There’s school news, reviews, opinions essays, an art and literature section, and even debate articles sometimes. Everyone who writes is talented. I noticed this with other things, such as the school news program that airs in the morning, and most of the clubs the school has-no one cares about them. The only thing that most people care about is sports. </p>

<p>So, my question is, how do we advertise the paper in a way to make it more appealing to everyone, and to get more people to take a look at it?</p>

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<p>Yeah, people talk through the announcements at my school as well. People don’t read the school paper because honestly they don’t really care about some kid-who-goes-to-their-school’s take on news or recent school events (especially not school events, all people care is where, when and what, not how well it went or anything like that). </p>

<p>In glancing at my school’s paper I’ve seen them try to cover everything from the election to movie reviews. It hurts me to read, it’s all just so bad, also because I know that I could write articles 10x better than what they write, but I have never taken interest in joining the paper because no one cares about.</p>

<p>Here is what you can do, and what all schools should do. Bring it online. right with the school’s site. Every student has to go to their school’s site at some point and if you mix in important school news (like exam dates, school event announcements… links to teacher sites, maybe even let teachers write stuff ) people will just end up reading the articles because they are there. </p>

<p>If it’s online and you write less school specific stuff, it may even get attention from an audience wider than your school. </p>

<p>Good Luck</p>

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<ol>
<li>Make sure the paper is proofread carefully. Most people won’t care, but your newspaper seems oriented towards intelligent people, and many intelligent people do care.</li>
<li>Improve the design if possible, but don’t overdo it.</li>
<li>I wouldn’t suggest doing this, but if you want more readers, try dumbing it down.</li>
<li>Make sure the articles are thought-provoking (although this conflicts with 3), and try to add only a little opinion in articles that aren’t meant to be opinions.</li>
<li>Have everybody read “The Elements of Style” by Strunk & White.</li>
</ol>

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<p>make your paper good. work on layout and design. choose better stories. for example my school paper tackles interesting topics like teen drinking, teen drug use, teen relationships, reviews movies and music, etc. remember who your audience is when designing layout and selecting stories.</p>

<p>oh yea and only do one every month and print it out like a newspaper. i know a lot of schools just print their “school newspaper” out like articles on regular paper. when they do this it just says “hey, this paper in unprofessional and probably sucks.”</p>

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<p>benellis-Our paper just went online in December, and the teachers do write articles in addition to the students, and a lot of the paper is about things other than school. Every issue has school related news, but there’s a lot of other stuff in there, so it’s a good mix. I myself have never written about school, actually…</p>

<p>proletariat2-The paper is read through by the editors, the faculty adviser, the guidance counselor, and the faculty adviser (again, just to be safe). I don’t think anyone would want to dumb it down, though having someone well known write an article might just do the trick. Chances are, if people read the article written by the well known person, they might be interested by some of the other articles. One problem is that people don’t even bother to look at the paper. </p>

<p>Newjack88-some of those interesting topics might work. We do tackle some interesting topics, but others are sort of off-limits due to us being a Catholic school. I’m not sure if drug use or drinking falls into that category, but someone wanted to do an article about gay rights and the faculty adviser wasn’t sure if it was allowed or not…I think they should print it anyway.</p>

<p>Another problem is that not a lot of people actually work with the paper. I’m the only sophomore writing for/editing the paper. There are some seniors and a handful of juniors, and one interested freshman, but we also need more people on the staff. Which won’t happen, unfortunately, until the paper gains popularity. </p>

<p>The faculty adviser was frustrated. To put it in his words, “You try to do everything you can to get people to care, but they just don’t care anyway.” Which is true.</p>

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<p>okay, most Americans do not read. It’s a sad fact. I think like 40% of Americans didn’t read anything, and the rest only read an average of like 3 books. Plus, how many teens do you know that do all the assigned reading for classes? a very small percentage! so it’s probably not you, it’s just reading in general. </p>

<p>the way people at my school read the paper is that there are a lot of reviews of pop culture-like Spice Girls concert, or whatever. They also really like photos.</p>

<p>(don’t feel bad about that witch girl who made fun of your paper-that happened to me when I was on my yearbook staff-just don’t worry about jealous losers)</p>

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<p>also remember word-of-mouth => tell all your friends to read it, they’ll do it because they care about you. then maybe they’ll tell their friends.</p>

<p>helps if you’re popular.</p>

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<p>

i go to a conservative jesuit school in the midwest and our lastest paper had a story about gay rights etc.</p>

<p>another thing you should do is make the sports the BEST section. it’s probably the section that is most likely to be read by students; if you do a good job there then people will be more inclined to check out other sections of the paper.</p>

<p>another idea is to get the students more involved. conduct a “general election” at your school; see who’s voting for whom. politics is something that would definitely pique the interests of most students. in addition, do something fun like a best dressed edition every year. have people nominate students, get a popular teacher to judge the finalists, etc. something like this would totally revamp your newspaper.</p>

<p>if you are going to use any of these ideas make sure that you create a NEW layout/design. if you don’t do this people will assume it’s the same old newspaper from before and all your hard work will go to waste. basically, your newspaper needs to be completely redone. (if it’s anything like our paper, it will take until next year to complete this task.)</p>

<p>just curious, is this an actual broadsheet newspaper or is it like a magazine?</p>

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<p>You could try adding a games/crossword or funnies section. Nothing beats doing a Sudoku in class for most students. Heck, they may even read the articles after.</p>

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<p>I know it sounds mean but dumb it down. If you’re covering art, the paper might be over the heads of the majority of students who don’t give a damn about art.</p>

<p>Cover things that interest kids our age regardless of their interests. Stuff like facebook, colleges, fashion, movies, elections, weird news, TV shows… The list goes on and on.</p>

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<p>TONS of people read our school paper… Some of the reasons are, I think:</p>

<p>-It looks good (like someone else said, it looks like a newspaper)
-It is related mostly to school (people like reading about people that they know)
-There are a lot of opinion pieces (sometimes it can get a bit controversial)
-It’s easily available (all you have to do is pick it up outside the lunch room)</p>

<p>Other than that, I’m not sure. I think the last on the list is a big factor.</p>

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<p>Hmm…
I’m the editor of our school paper and I know these comments and I know how much they hurt… because it’s your baby…</p>

<p>When I started being the editor 5 years ago, our paper sucked. (which was probably the reason such a young and unexperienced person could become an editor…)
Well, I was naive and I wanted to change things. I met with some friends and we sat down and talked and researched and prepared, and the summer hols went by.</p>

<p>There was something we have never been: A newspaper.</p>

<p>For a newspaper you write articles.
You are not a language class.
You don’t write pro-con-essays or stuff like that. You don’t write beautiful sentences.
This isn’t English. This is journalism.</p>

<p>Simple, populistic language doesn’t mean that the paper is not sophisticated.
Look into big boulevard papers: I have never seen better journalists than there…
Your goal is not to show that you are good at writing. Your goal is to get readers.</p>

<p>Wanna know what my first headline was?
“This paper sucks.”
There was just this headline on a barely G-rated picture, which showed a couple in a bed.</p>

<p>I will never forget the astonished looks of my classmates…
and everyone opened that paper.
“says our football star Adam X.”</p>

<p>This was our moment. It was risky, it was daring, but we got our chance: They looked into the paper. They wanted to know what this article was about.
Of course, this is something you can only pull off once. It has to work - and it gives you a chance to introduce a revamped paper. One single chance.</p>

<p>Our paper sucked, so we changed everything. We changed the way we wrote (populistic, with strong opinions, entertaining -not facts, but fun).
We changed the selection of our articles (Who reads book reviews? Our paper was written for the masses - and the masses wanted links to funny youtube videos and …).
We changed our layout (short articles, lots of pictures with people you recognize, catchy headlines).
And we started to see the paper as a two-way thing:
We started to have opinion polls online, which we published, we printed reactions from readers (even a lot of negative stuff), we started a photo contest (topic: boys dressed as girls), we started to give awards for the stupidest homework assignment of the month, the funniest quote from a teacher, the student with the most detentions ,…
It sounds a bit drastic, and I only remember thinking: It’s happening! It’s really happening!
Of course, the attention faded, when it wasn’t new any more. They still discussed our articles and they still sent angry emails and teachers still complained…
This is enough for us.
If somebody gets angry about us, we managed to raise his emotions. That’s great. We don’t want to please them. We just want them to read.</p>

<p>My post is getting longer and longer… Let me just give you a few tips on the selection:
People like recurring things. They like their monthly
comment by the editor, especially if it’s sarcastic and funny and witty. They love sarcasm and witty things. </p>

<p>They hate to read known facts.
Let me give an example: There was a huge discussion about discipline in our school. Everybody knows that students are allowed to do this and that some think they should have more rights and some don’t and …
that’s boring.
I read the newspaper because I want to be entertained.
I want to feel something, I want to listen to somebodys’ anger or I want to smile about somebodys ideas or I want to get angry because that stupid guy writes such bull****.
I want opinions, I want to know what the cutest football player (whom everybody knows) thinks about the new rules, I want to know why the class president thinks he is being unfairly treated…
I don’t like articles in my papers, which say: “On the one hand… on the other hand…”
Known facts belong into a fact box, as simply as that. They don’t need to bore people.
Unknown facts (that covers articles about which aren’t school-related) can be written into articles, but again, numbers and stuff like that doesn’t belong in there. Look at the big newspapers…</p>

<p>People don’t care about the activities in which they aren’t involved.
<em>Nerdy nerd</em> has won some <em>nerdy contest</em>. We are happy.
I always tell my journalists: There is no sex in it!
Ever read an article about the oscars?
Ever tried adapting that concept to a nerd contest?
It does work.</p>

<p>Finally, every article should have a message and an emotion-goal.
What do I mean with message? Imagine you are sitting in your classroom and somebody shouts from the door: What are you reading? And you look up and shout back: You know that strange kid which always sits alone? Imagine this - he won a chess contest - and only got a f***ing t-shirt!
If you read an article and can’t shout back the message, your article is probably not very clear.
The second thing I mentioned was the emotion-goal: What to you want people to feel after reading your article? Astonishment? Amusement? Anger?
It may be anything - but: I want them to feel informed. That’s no feeling…</p>

<p>Claire
(sorry for my grammar - I’m German)</p>

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<p>The next issue of the school paper is coming out tomorrow!</p>

<p>Thanks for all the advise. I don’t think anyone on the paper would agree to dumbing it down. Our school is actually pretty smart, it’s just getting them to care. I think that some people think being smart isn’t cool. </p>

<p>We’re working on getting more controversial, but as this paper is new it’ll have a few challenges, especially since the guy running the school is a (strict) priest. But I think we should be entitled to our opinions, even if it goes against the Church. I’ve seen past articles written in protest to some religious aspects, which is progress.</p>

<p>claire18-I was talking to my friend and she gave me advice similar to yours. I agree that we should get people more involved. We’ve actually added a feature where you can ask our editors anything and they’ll answer it in the next issue. Also, we might try to get more “mainstream”, but the newspaper itself must be better before we start asking the popular kids for their opinions. Though we might do something like take random surveys of students.</p>

<p>Also, my friend suggested handing out the paper in homeroom. I’m not sure about this one, but putting it in more places for people to pick up an issue would open up the audience more. </p>

<p>I think that perhaps taking a survey of what students would like to read in the paper might also be good for us.</p>

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<p>

well yea. you probably should do that. kids would probably rather read the paper than pay attention during first hour.</p>

<p>EDIT:
you still haven’t answered this question, “is this an actual broadsheet newspaper or is it like a magazine?” this makes a huge difference in the students’ perception of the newspaper’s quality.</p>

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<p>It’s more like a magazine.</p>

<p>The paper actually didn’t come out today, but I have no clue why. I think the faculty adviser had an issue with something else that got in the way…or issues with a few things. </p>

<p>I hope to bring this topic up at the next meeting.</p>

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<p>I have the same problem at my school. Students refuse to read the paper I help publish and tell me they use it as toilet paper (pretty mean). Also, there is a great deal of controversy between the advisor and the principal ie. opinion articles. I can’t stand it…:-(</p>

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<p>

find a way to print on broadsheet so that the paper looks more legitimate. it makes a HUGE difference.</p>

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<p>Yeah, I have no input to add on improving your paper because I’m one of those people who doesn’t read my school newspaper for anything but the Sports section, and that just to find out how teams are doing. Sorry; I don’t tend to read the newspaper either, have no time in the morning and it feels weird to read a paper at night when reading the paper in the morning was the tradition I saw my parents perform every day in elementary school.</p>

<p>I can make a minor point about claire18’s advice though, (which is absolutely fantastic, btw) people really don’t care about nerd events. I’m on the science team as well as the track team, and when we won Science Olympiad and went to Nationals, pretty much no one cared, even though it was in the announcement and in the newspaper. But it didn’t even make the front page of our school newspaper. =( But when our track team went to nationals, it was HUUUUGEEEE. And when basketball won our state tournament… And football… just in general… even though our team isn’t that great… So yeah. From my limited expertise: sports sells, nerdy stuff like math and english can be tossed out. Pictures are nice.</p>

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<p>This issue is supposidly supposed to have a lot of sports stuff. Actually, no one really writes about “nerdy” events. Other than sports, they write about theater, but that’s actually a pretty big part of our school as well…Apparently the sports articles came in late, which is one of the reasons why the paper is out late…</p>