Students benefit from reading

A journalist from our newsroom earlier this year visited a local high school's career day, and she came back disturbed by something she discovered. During her presentation, she asked students if they read newspapers. Not one person put a hand up.

For those of us in this industry, it was another reminder of a major problem we're facing. Dwindling numbers of young people are paying attention to newspapers. Many of them don't even pay attention any form of news.

As an industry, there is not a single solution to this issue. We must address content to be sure it has impact on young readers' lives. We must develop our other media platforms, starting with our Web sites, to make our products more appealing.