報紙業(yè)的新一輪出擊

　早在1972年，每十個澳大利亞人中，年齡在18歲擁有表決權的和30歲以下人中，就有5位年齡介于18至29歲的人表示，他們每天都閱讀報紙。而今天，這個數字已變?yōu)?：5，專家說這個數字將在2010年下降到1：10。
編輯對出版商：我們有一個問題
針對全世界的青年讀者群進行的“戰(zhàn)役”正在謀劃，討論和關鍵性的試驗當階段。這場戰(zhàn)斗并不輕松：年輕人拒絕與日常的報紙進行“交戰(zhàn)”，他們對閱讀沒有多少興趣。這是因為受互聯網中提供的扣人心弦的圖片，電腦，游戲以及電視的誘惑嗎？亦或是他們對新聞就沒有任何興趣－他們對那些內容枯燥，說教性質的東西越來越感到乏味，對外界漠不關心？
或者兩者兼而有之，或許是與其它因素相結合而綜合作用的結果？
不管答案是什么，問題的確存在。一項對1991年至2002年澳大利亞Morgan讀者傾向性所做的調查顯示，年輕的報紙讀者們的數量占讀者總人數的比例正在穩(wěn)步地下降，尤其是介于14至24歲年齡段的人數。在過去的十年間，周一到周五的讀者降低了30%，周六為16%，周日為11%。
25－34歲和35－44歲的人群當中，平時報紙讀者的流失量為19%。這兩個年齡段在周六的讀者流失率極為接近，為5%和4%。

令人高興的是25－34歲的周日讀者人數保持穩(wěn)定，而且35－44歲讀者還增加了12%。
面對這個全球基本相似的數字，來自倫敦，墨爾本和芝加哥的英文報紙的出版商們正密切觀注著事態(tài)的發(fā)展，并在尋求“爭取日益衰退的年輕讀者的興趣”的良方。
英國聯合報業(yè)的《倫敦都會報》是最成熟的具有時尚風格的出版物，它于1999年為抵制由Swedish Modern Times Group創(chuàng)辦的《地鐵報》而克隆發(fā)行出版的。
過去《每日郵報》的發(fā)行商處于領先地位，而如今《地鐵報》發(fā)行量達82.5萬份，運往倫敦，曼徹斯特，伯明翰，紐卡斯爾，格拉斯哥以及愛丁堡，它與市場中年齡在44歲以下的77%的年輕辦公人員有著緊密的聯系，其中有81%的在職者通常很難有機會與經銷商打交道，即便如此，目前它還是處于贏利之中。
在墨爾本，News Limited's Herald與Weekly Times出版了MX，這是一份充滿活力并且色彩艷麗的小報，每個下午免費發(fā)行9萬份。MX剔除了對早報的競爭－由Fairfax出版的《墨爾本快報》，在第一年里，它恰到好處地把握住豐富的市場目標（年輕人），約有68%的讀者年齡在34歲以下，有超過一半的人是全職工作者。MX在上周為它的第二個周年紀念進行了慶祝，盡管還在虧損，但很快就能看到收益。
在芝加哥，作為本地市場的先鋒，《芝加哥論談》在去年十月已經預備了一個名為Red Eye作為其分枝的報紙，其對手《太陽時代報》為與其相針鋒相對，開辦了針對年輕人的名為Red Streak的新報紙，直到今天，雖然已經撕下了“年輕人至上”的標簽，但他們仍然在一決高下。看來，在芝加哥他們將網羅任何一位讀者成為其觀眾。
Herald Sun的主編Peter Blunden說，MX并非是在國外的一個克隆產物，但是越來越多的機會將會填補市場的缺口，而且試驗性的出版計劃將觸及年輕讀者的心弦，使他們?yōu)橹�心動�?br />他將MX定義為一份不把自己弄得過于真誠的報紙，遠離陰暗和死亡，熱衷于讓人捧腹的小故事，不必假裝成一份記錄性報紙，始終觸及流行文化，不懼怕冒險行為。
“如果給予年輕人以挑戰(zhàn)的機會，他們的所作所為將會是讓人感到震驚的事�！� Blunden說，“這樣做沒什么不好�！�
MX是一份完全準備就緒的報紙，25位編輯當中有13位是助理編輯，他們的工作就是將六位記者的報導或一些非傳統(tǒng)的原始資料去粗取精，并進行刪減，小的修改以及潤色。
編輯Mark Gardy說：“我們希望它快捷而顯而易見。我們希望它的日常新聞輕松，歡快，積極和諧而且信息廣博。至于我們的晚間讀者－我們提供電視中的有價值的信息，電影訊息以及在哪有最好的酒吧�！�
“在這里沒有評論，沒有領導者，沒有演講。最重要的是我們無需對讀者們進行說教，因為他們無需接受說教�！�
評論家們在Salon.com中寫文章，認為他們夸張且并不令人興奮，Jack Shafer說：“有關這兩份報的消息，評論越少越好。在糟糕與最糟之間，還是應該有一個嬴家的。”
Joe Knowles告訴媒體：“我們迫切想要吸引年輕讀者，所以我們不一再為18－34歲的人群謀劃些什么了，讓讀者們自己來決定Red Eye是否適合他們�！�
“我們在有關于流行文化方面的文章和新聞中更傾向于年輕人的視角，因為那些文章有助于將我們與Tribune相區(qū)分，Tribune用很大的篇幅刊登有關于美術，爵士樂，戲劇等的信息。但我們不想被想象成像Kiddie Trib或是Tribune。我們不愿意被看成是讓人施舍的，虛偽的，憂心忡忡的乞憐者。這痤城市的人們的清楚地知道－如果你試圖變得冷漠，那么只有死亡。人們的感覺十分敏銳，他們很快就能察覺到。”

   
報紙業(yè)的新一輪出擊 　
Knowles現在將他的報紙定義為為那些沒有時間享用全套服務的讀者們提供的報紙，并且希望以此能吸引年輕讀者，越多越好。
自從創(chuàng)辦之初，Gardy和Knowles都認為要在編輯這個核心環(huán)節(jié)精益求精。Gardy說，他現在想將重要新聞都放置于首頁，“畢竟我們仍然屬于報紙，一旦有重大新聞，我們就會盡快售出我們所有的報紙。”
Knowles說，Red Eye在廣告內容上已經走在了前頭，但他補充說：“我并不想說它是資金運作的一個成功典范，但是，Tribune讓它找到了自己的實質問題。這是沒有時間限制的�！�
Gardy說：“MX已經如我們所預期的那樣運營了，并將在三年之內贏利。并且當你走進墨爾本的地鐵車站，看到鋪天蓋地的MX時，你會有一種非常樂觀的感覺�！�
“我們將潛在的廣告客戶定位在那些火車乘客當中，在從一座城市到South Yarra的火車中,他們發(fā)現乘客們將MX仔細看了個遍。對于那些需要做廣告的客戶尤其是對我們的市場來說，將大有作為。我們正在與電信運營商，銀行以及墨爾本CBD的零售商聯手合作。”
對年青讀者的吸引并不是局限于像《地鐵報》，MX和Reds這樣的具有超前的實踐經驗，主流報紙－日報或周末報的編輯們所面臨的任務是要瞄準對全部人口的全方位的服務。
論文報紙業(yè)的新一輪出擊來自

Jeni Cooper是居悉尼報紙銷售量榜首的《星期日電訊報》的編輯，她說，四年前當她接手這項工作時，介于18－34歲的女性人群讀者明顯不足，“我們沒能擁有這一群體的大多數，我們失去了本該屬于我們的�！�
她對Body and Soul的反應是，專注對健康，美容，生命力的的話題，“有很強的可視性，大篇幅整版的畫面。”Cooper說：“在過去的幾年間，我們已擁有了二萬三千名18－34歲的女性讀者，并且還有大量的男性讀者。他們看Body and Soul，是因為它的內容精彩，充滿活力，而且他們喜歡看圖片。
《星期日電訊報》也在與它的競敵Fairfax的Sun-Herald展開激戰(zhàn)，他們的競爭市場定位在7－13歲的孩子，發(fā)行商們希望孩子們在早期就養(yǎng)成讀報的習慣。去年，Cooper對喜劇部分進行了更新之后，作為回擊Sun-Herald著手開辦了被稱為K-Zone（夾帶在報紙中的報紙）的報紙。編輯Phil McLean表示，與K-Zone月刊雜志的發(fā)行商Pacific Magazines達成特權協議，出售十五萬份。
“我們計劃為孩子們開辟一個新的部分，我去廣告客戶那里試圖獲得它們的承諾，我一直聽他們說，你需要的是夾帶在報紙中的那種報，直到我厭倦了，所以我去他們那里成交了一件很劃算的生意�！�
McLean承認“追擊”那些 13－18歲的孩子來說是很困難的�！叭绻�你置身于大眾市場，你將無法對他們進行分類定位，不過，每個周日的報紙都能增加閑談內容來吸引他們這些年輕讀者們的注意力�！�
Greg Hywood,是Fairfax的The Age在墨爾本的發(fā)行商，他進行的一個長期觀察的結果表明，那部分流失的成人青年讀者屬于周期性讀者群。“當那些年輕人在家中與他們的父母在一起的時候，他們就養(yǎng)成了讀報的習慣，一旦他們離開家就將注意力轉向別的事而丟掉了這個習慣。”他還說：“確實，當他們有了屬于自己的家，有了孩子和責任感的時候，他們又會重新找回這個習慣�！�
“這就是所謂的鞏固階段，正是目前正在進行的狀態(tài)，人們結婚，然后擁有了家庭，然后在他們穩(wěn)定下來之前又得花費大量的時間來搬家。研究表明，這些讀者并未流失，他們當中的90%在每周都會讀報，而且他們的閱讀習慣興趣仍然十分強烈。但這一年齡段的人并不會經常性的閱讀�！�
“發(fā)行商的出版物需要確保只要報紙不是在育高峰期出生的人的掌管之下，你就不會放下它－今天編輯部大多數的領導人都是在生育高峰時期出生的，我們希望他們真實地反映對我們的評價，但我們同樣也希望他們能施展影響力，表述觀點�！�
“那全都是具有實用性且與之相關的內容。我們的目標人群是那些從事社區(qū)工作的人，并且我們搜索與這些人有關的高質量的新聞素材。而不是什么腦外科手術這類的東西。”
（來源： The Australian.news.com.au 中華傳媒網譯）
The new paper chase
By Mark Day 　February 20, 2003
WAY back in 1972, before most 18-year-olds had the vote and anyone under 30 had been born, almost five in 10 Australians aged between 18 and 29 said they read a newspaper every day. Today the figure is one in five, and experts say it will be one in 10 by 2010.

   
報紙業(yè)的新一輪出擊 　
Editor to publisher: We have a problem.
Around the world the flight of the younger reader is being charted, debated and, in a few key experiments, fought. The battle is not made easier by the absence of a firm starting point: are young people refusing to engage with daily newspapers because they have little interest in reading – lured away by fast-moving graphic sites on the internet, computer games and television? Or is it that they have little interest in news – it being incessantly gloomy, largely irrelevant (in the absence of, say, conscription) and utterly outside their sphere of influence?

Or is it both? Or a combination of these and many other factors?
Whatever the answer, the problem is real. A study of Morgan readership trends in Australia from 1991 to 2002 shows young people are moving away from newspaper readership, with a steady decline in readership and reach for almost all newspapers among 14-to-24 year-olds. Over the decade, Monday-to-Friday readership was down 30 per cent, Saturday readership down 16 per cent, and Sunday readership down 11 per cent.
The 25-to-34 and 35-to-44 year-old age groups also showed a move away from weekday newspapers (readership down 19 per cent each). These age groups showed a similar level of declining readership for Saturday newspapers (down 5 per cent and 4 per cent respectively).
The one bright spot is that Sunday readership among 25-to-34 year-olds remained steady, while readership among 35-to-44 year-olds increased by 12 per cent.
Faced with these and similar figures globally, publishers of English-language newspapers are watching events in London, Melbourne and Chicago closely for clues on how to combat the declining interest of young readers.
Associated Newspapers' London Metro is the most mature of the new-style publications. It started in 1999 as a defence against a rumoured start-up by the Swedish Modern Times Group of a clone of its Stockholm commuter give-away, also called Metro.
Associated, publisher of the Daily Mail, got in first, and now distributes 825,000 copies of Metro through the transport systems of London, Manchester, Birmingham, Newcastle, Glasgow and Edinburgh. It connects with a market of young city office workers – 77 per cent under age 44, and 81 per cent in work – who advertisers traditionally find very hard to reach. It is now profitable.

   
報紙業(yè)的新一輪出擊 　
In Melbourne, News Limited's Herald and Weekly Times publishes MX, a snappy, highly coloured tabloid which distributes 90,000 free copies each afternoon. MX saw off a morning competitor, the Fairfax Melbourne Express, in its first year, and has hit the spot in its young, affluent target market, with 68 per cent of its readers aged under 34, and more than half in full-time work. MX celebrated its second anniversary last week, still in loss, but profitability is said to be in sight.
And in Chicago, as the local market leader, the Chicago Tribune, readied an offshoot called Red Eye last October, its competitor, the Chicago Sun-Times, matched it with its own for-youth-by-youth title, Red Streak. Today they're still slugging it out, but are backing off the youth-only tag. In Chicago, it seems any readers will now do.

The Herald Sun's editor-in-chief, Peter Blunden, says MX is not a clone of its overseas counterparts, but more "an opportunity to fill a gap in the market" and experiment with a publication designed to strike a chord with younger readers.
He defines MX as a paper that doesn't take itself too seriously, shies away from gloom and doom in favour of bite-size stories that promote a smile or a chuckle, does not pretend to be a paper of record, is in touch with pop culture and is not afraid to be adventurous.
"It's a terrific example of what young people can do if you give them the challenge," Blunden says. "It looks right and it feels right. "
MX is a subs' paper. Thirteen of the staff of 25 are sub-editors, whose job it is to distil stories from the six staff reporters (all in their 20s), wires and other non-conventional sources, such as websites, and give them a heavy cut, a light polish and a glib head. Even standard features carry smart lines. There's nothing like "Your Stars" for the daily horoscopes – it's "Should I get out of bed today?"
"We want it to be quick and catchy," says editor Mark Gardy. "We want it to be light and bright, positive and balanced about the news of the day and informative about our readers' nights – what's worth watching on TV, what are the movies, where are the best bars.

   
報紙業(yè)的新一輪出擊 　
"There's no comment; no leaders; no lectures. It's important that we don't dictate to our readers because they won't be dictated to."
This sophisticated independence of the youth audience – or a refusal to be patronised – was also quickly apparent in Chicago. The two Reds waded into the market proclaiming their youth credentials, but met with resistance.
Critics called them turgid and unexciting. Writing in Salon.com, Jack Shafer said: "The less said about the two papers the better. At 25c a copy they are both overpriced, slicing the news so thin the servings wouldn't even make a meal for an anorexic. In the race between bad and worse, who needs to declare a winner?"

Co-editor Joe Knowles told Media: "While we very much want to attract young readers, we're backing out of the 18-to-34-label trap. It's too exclusive. I say let the readers decide if Red Eye suits them, whatever their age.
"We do skew younger in terms of the kinds of pop culture we cover, because it helps distinguish us from the Tribune, which devotes plenty of space to the fine arts, jazz, theatre, etc . . . But we don't want to be thought of as the Kiddie Trib or Tribune in Training Pants. I don't think we want to be seen as condescending, phony, or the too-anxious suitor. The people in this city are wise to that – you try to be cool, and it's death. The people are too sharp and would sniff that out right away."
Knowles now defines his paper as one for people who don't have the time for a full-service paper and agrees that while he hopes to attract younger readers, any more readers will do.
Gardy and Knowles both admit to refining their editorial focus since launching. Gardy says he is now more willing to put hard news on page one. "We are, after all, still a newspaper," he says. "When there's a big news story we clear our stands much quicker."
Knowles says Red Eye is ahead of schedule on advertising content, but adds: "I wouldn't call it a [financial] success yet, but the Tribune is letting it finds its roots. There is no time limit."

   
　
Gardy says MX was launched with an expectation that it would be profitable within three years. "It has a tremendously positive feel," he says. "You go into the railway stations in Melbourne and it's wall-to-wall MX.
"We take potential advertisers for a train ride . . . from the city to South Yarra they see people with their noses in MX. It works best for clients who make their ads especially for our market, and we are getting the telcos, banks and Melbourne CBD retailers to stay with us."

The challenge of attracting younger readers is not limited to the frontline experiments such as Metro, MX and the Reds. Editors of all mainstream newspapers – daily or Sunday – face the task of trying to deliver full service to all demographics, while wooing younger readers.
Jeni Cooper, editor of the top-selling Sydney paper The Sunday Telegraph, says when she took over the job four years ago there was a glaring deficiency in readership among 18-to-34 year-old women. "We didn't have a lot of them, and we were losing what we had," she says.
Her answer was Body and Soul, an insert (now included in News Limited's main Sundays) devoted to health, beauty and vitality. "It is very visual, with lots of full-page images," says Cooper. "In the past couple of years we have gained 23,000 women 18-to-34, and a lot of men, too. They see Body and Soul as young and groovy – and they like looking at the pictures."
The Sunday Telegraph is also in a fight with its rival, Fairfax's The Sun-Herald, over the "little kids" market – seven-to-13 year-olds, who publishers would love to get a newspaper habit early in life. Last year, after Cooper revamped her comics section, The Sun-Herald replied with a lift-out called K-Zone. Editor Phil McLean says it is the result of a franchise agreement with Pacific Magazines, publisher of the K-Zone monthly magazine, which sells 150,000 copies.
We planned a new section for kids, and I went to advertisers to try to get it underwritten," McLean says. "I kept hearing them say 'What you need is K-Zone' until I was sick of it, so I went to them and we did a very cost-effective deal. They bring to the table some great relationships with advertisers, and we profit-share all advertising sold into K-Zone on Sundays. It's now franchised around the world."

   
　
McLean admits chasing 13-to-18 year-olds is more difficult. "If you're into mass markets, you can't niche just for them," he says. Nevertheless, both Sundays have increased their celebrity/gossip content to attract younger demographics.
GREG Hywood, publisher of Fairfax's The Age in Melbourne, takes the long view, saying the loss of young adult readers is part of a life cycle. "It's always been that young people have got the newspaper habit at home with their parents, then move out and lose the habit in favour of other things, like having a good time," he says. 'It is also true that they tend to rediscover the habit when they get a home of their own, kids, and responsibilities.
"This is called the consolidation phase, and it's happening later these days. People marry later, have families later, and spend more time moving about before they settle down. Research shows these readers are not lost – 90 per cent of them read a paper in any week. The reading habit is strong, but not frequent at that age.
"The issues for publishers include making sure you don't leave your papers in the hands of baby boomers forever – most newsroom leadership today is baby boomer – and at Fairfax we have a quite aggressive program of taking on young trainees in their 20s, with a bit of life experience, and saying to them: 'We want you to reflect our values of accuracy and good journalism, but we also want you to exert your influence, bring to us your perspectives.'
"It's all about relevance and the content mix. We target people who are engaged with their community, and we seek high-quality news relevant to those people. It's not brain surgery."
Mark Day: Luring the young and the restless

   

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