by Edna Negrón, assistant professor of journalism at Ramapo College of New Jersey and part-time business editor at The Record in Bergen County, N.J.

For 16-year-old New Yorker, Upton Au, his daily dose of news and information is a matter of what he can get at his fingertips. He reads the New York Times on his i-PAQ pocket PC, gets his local newspaper, Newsday in print or online, and enjoys perusing message boards and articles for the latest on technology.

Au is a member of the Echo Boomers, Generation Y-ers who are the most diverse, media savvy, brand conscious generation. They've grown up with CD players, DVDs, laser disc players, cellphones, computers and online access. And researchers at Northwestern University's Media Management Center say, Generation Y could soon determine the future role of newspapers in a multimedia landscape.

"People have to make it easy for their readers to stay informed, and to make it easy for us to find what we want, depending on where we are, and what we want to find," says Au, a high school junior on Long Island.

While newspapers have, for the past 20 years, recognized the need to attract young readers, their efforts were largely concentrated in print products aimed at schools and special youth sections. But Gen Y readers — those born between 1977 and 1995 — the first generation to grow up with technology, are increasingly defining how, when and where they get their information. For newspapers, it could mean losing a key generation of readers in the next eight years, according to a 2001 Generation Y study conducted by the Center.

And the clock is ticking.

Newspaper reading habits are established by the age of 25. Gen Y-ers make up more than 28 percent or 80 million of the population. An estimated 41 million or 14.6 percent are under age 15, according to the U.S. Census.

“It’s critical because this generation is coming of age,” says Mike Smith, managing director of the Media Management Center, who has been studying Generation Y for the past two years. “If they don’t capture this generation at the rate of the Baby Boomers, newspapers will lose penetration; newspapers will become less of a mass medium.”

About 39 percent of Generation Y reads newspapers on a weekday
Newspaper readership is tied to generation cohort. By 2010, Gen Y will make up about 29 percent of the adult population — or people over the age of 18.

Currently, only 39 percent of adult Gen Y-ers read the newspaper on an average weekday. This compares with about 58 percent of Baby Boomers who read a newspaper on an average weekday. Unless Generation Y reads at a much higher level, overall readership will fall below 50 percent by 2010. In 2001, 54 percent of adults overall read newspapers, according to the Newspaper Association of America.

"The pattern we've seen since 1960 is that no group of young people increases its newspaper readers above the level it had between the ages of 21 and 25, so they do not pick up the habit," says Hazel Reinhardt, the Center's director of market research. "If we don't get it up, the percent of the adult population reading [newspapers] will fall below 50 percent."

If you have less advertising in a news product, it puts more pressure on how much a newspaper wants to spend in a newsroom, adds Reinhardt.

Newspapers aren't yet alarmed. "Some of them, despite the very tough times, are still successful and unless they are really hurting, it's hard for them to pay attention," says Smith. "In order for newspapers to remain a mass medium, you need to penetrate this generation and you need to think about what this generation comes to newspapers for."

Newspapers thinking across platforms to reach Gen Y
A typical American teenager will look at the newspaper at least one day a week. In order to increase that frequency, newspapers have to think differently. Most newspapers are edited for Baby Boomers and older, says Smith.

"A lot of my friends say that they don't have time to read a newspaper. Kids want their information fast. They like to satiate their minds. Kids are involved with so many activities, they just don't have time to stop," says Michelle Jung, 16, of River Vale, N.J.

The Center's research shows media usage among Gen Y is heavily concentrated in broadcast. Newspapers generally are a more trusted source than the Internet. But more than 80 percent of teens have Internet access.

For newspapers, the challenge is building relevance to the Gen Y audience.

"I totally skip over anything that is 'teen' and 'young adult' because it's a waste of time," says Fabian Arzuaga ,17, of Staten Island, N.Y. "I don't think the middle-aged white men are the only group that stories should be targeting. The younger generation is more open. They don't associate people by their race, but by their ideas and what they do."

Some newspapers are consulting teens to explore new ways of approaching Gen Y content.

At The Record in Bergen County, N.J., Editor Frank Scandale, meets with local high school students to talk about the formation of a teen advisory board and new weekly products that reflect Gen Y interests on a range of topics they identify from music to the Middle East.

At Newsday on Long Island, the focus will be on building audience for a multimedia franchise that increasingly expands the newspaper's local content to the Web, TV and radio. Part of Newsday's philosophy is to cultivate readers early.

"You start attracting Generation Y at 7 and not 17," says Howard Schneider, Newsday's vice president for content development.

"Media habits are changing," adds Schneider. "The newspaper will always be an essential part of what we do. Newsrooms will be the content engine, but we realize that the paper may not be the primary source in the future, and that news will be delivered in a variety of platforms."

Schneider said Newsday plans to replicate a successful cross-media youth sports model to other content, including music. In addition to two daily newspaper pages of youth sports stories, Newsday publishes Hi-Five, a weekly high school sports magazine. The print products are complemented with weekly local television and radio reports. The paper's Web site features game highlights and interactivity, plus live score updates from more than 250 high schools and 50 colleges.

Hispanics will be the largest minority group in Generation Y
Generation Y is ethnically mixed with minorities making up 34 percent. Hispanics will be the largest Gen Y minority in 2010 at 17 percent. One-third of Hispanics are under age 18, according census figures.

For the past six months, New York-based el diario/La PRENSA, the largest Spanish language daily in the Northeast, has teamed up with the slick, lifestyle magazine, Urban LATINO to deliver a selection of entertainment and news in a monthly bilingual section, called, Urban Sofrito.

Urban LATINO, a seven-year-old publication, has fast filled a void for young Hispanics, 18-34. They can read about anything that has to do with being Latino and bicultural, says Rodrigo Salazar, Urban's founder and editor.

"The goal of Sofrito is to open up the magazine to new eyes and for el diario to address the new generation of Latino immigrants," says Salazar. "Sofrito is young, hipper."

The idea is to bridge the two readerships with content that will help young Latinos understand their own heritage and language, in English and Spanish — a bold move for a mainstream Spanish language publication, says Rossana Rosado, publisher of el diario/La PRENSA.

"Language is not an issue with these kids, content is. They want the information," says Rosado. "They want to know about the Spanish rock groups, about the successful Hispanics, and get a strong sense of pride about being Hispanic."

To reach the Gen Y market, newspaper content will need to resonate with a generation that has a much different lifestyle than the majority of current readers, says Smith. "It has to be a very focused and unified approach throughout the entire newspaper or it might mean a separate newspaper."