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May 12, 2004

Dear AP Sounding Board:

This multi-part query focused on AP's latest a-wire tool — BC-Under 35, Advisory — aimed at a readership group frequently singled out in surveys as key to the future of newspapers.

The nine responses showed varying reactions to the advisory, ranging from raves to wait-and-see to no interest. Five Board newspapers consult this digest regularly, four seldom or never.

Several of you asked that Under 35 move earlier in the cycle for maximum availability at your news meetings. Currently it's transmitted weekdays around 3:30 p.m. Eastern Time.

"We will experiment with trying to move it earlier, but we want to make sure it encompasses as much as possible so there could be a tradeoff," National News Projects Editor Paula Froke commented.

Other Sounding Board suggestions: list more illustrations; tailor the topics; provide a clearer definition of the selection criteria. One editor said stories shouldn't be included on Under 35 if already listed on the main AP News Digest.

Paula's response: "Part of the idea is to give added emphasis to some of the 'optional' stories that might otherwise fly under the radar during these busy news times. In other words, editors looking at the main digest for the most vital news of the day might skip over these stories because many are not absolutely essential. Part of the idea of Under 35 is to highlight such stories and put them in a place where editors specifically looking for that kind of thing can find it."

She added that the aim is to give AP members one easy access point for material pulled together from all DataStream circuits so you don't have to go trolling. Selections encompass a-wire spot news, b-wire arts/entertainment and other advancers; f-wire finance and technology; and s-wire sports.

"We expect at times a big difference in what 20-year-old single readers might want vs what 34-year-old married-with-three kids readers might want," Paula noted. "It's a big and varied range, and we aim to hit both ends of it. As a result, some stories might seem out of place to readers or editors at one end of the range or another."

Like anything new, this digest will undoubtedly undergo some refinements over time. Paula said the Sounding Board feedback is very useful, and she welcomes additional suggestions/comments at any time.

Your responses follow, with AP's thanks as always for taking time to reply:

— Dave Butler, editor, Los Angeles Daily News:

It's become a part of our late news meeting and it's still too early to tell how useful it will be. It has gotten some good stories to surface and/or some good topics to be discussed. The editors mostly hate having to go through it, but are slowly starting to think beyond the other wires' top recommendations. Ask in another month or so.

— Mark Bowden, editor, The Gazette, Cedar Rapids, Iowa:

1. Since the advisory's launch, we have mandated that the advisory be reviewed at the daily front-page (4 p.m.) news meeting along with all of the other news budgets. Also, copies of the advisory are regularly distributed to various assignment desks to encourage various editors to see local angles or plan to use the copy in appropriate sections. I've tried to personally read the advisory and look for some of the stories, just to get a better idea of what AP is flagging.

2. The advisory could move earlier in the day. And, once again, I'm encouraging the AP to distribute these advisories by e-mail. This gets the information in front of editors who might otherwise forget about them.

3. Several editors here are critical with the selections. I guess we'd like to see your criteria and understand more about how you define the target audience (young adults). I have seen AP stories that I would have included on the advisory in lieu of others. There's a key difference between stories about young adults and stories for young adults. Tell us what yardstick you're using to measure stories suitable for the advisory.

4. We would like to see advisories earlier.

5. Why not take one story a day and try to crunch it down into an info-graphic, allowing an editor to either choose to use the story or a graphic. The Readership research certainly indicates that younger readers (teens and young adults) like graphics versus reading the whole story.

— Joe Stinnett, managing editor, The News & Advance, Lynchburg, Va., quoting front page editor, David Hylton, who's under 35:

1. Yes we use it and read over it during our budget meetings.

2. Stop repeating stories that are already on the main AP digest. If this is going to be different, it needs to be different. The advance stories are helpful, but should be repeated once they are able to run.

3. The story selections are very boring and not very interesting. Changes that would make it interesting: sex, obesity, diets and celebrities.

4. Yes.

5. Format is fine.

— Rick Everett, managing editor, The Star-Ledger, Newark, N.J.:

I haven't been using the advisory. We have a lot of features designed to appeal to young readers. I'm not looking to craft a daily budget solely to attract them.

— Fred Zipp, managing editor, Austin (Texas) American-Statesman, quoting Executive news editor, Tony Shuga:

First I'd heard of it. Jody says he looks at it occasionally but doesn't take guidance from it.

It's probably not very useful. The barrier to getting these kinds of stories in the paper isn't so much that we need help identifying them. It's more a matter of competing priorities and lack of space.

I think we're fairly alert to getting this sort of material on a1 as well as in bonus space — advance Asects, etc.

— M.L. Schultze, managing editor, The Repository, Canton, Ohio, quoting the wire editor:

1. Yes. I include items from it in the wire budget used in budget meetings.

2. More options for art and graphics.

3. I think the selections are great. They not only address the under age 35 demographic, but also spice up news pages.

4. Yes. that's perfect.

5. Could you put titles or suggested headlines on the stories like you do on other budgets.

— From the youngest member, 22, of The Repository's copy desk:

1. I always take a look at the advisory when I'm working wire, mostly to see what feature stories might be interesting for the next day.

2. It might help to break the advisory down just a bit further. Currently, the advisory lists all stories that might be interesting to anyone under 35 — regardless of their state in life (single, engaged, newlywed, married with young kids, etc.).

Although I'm only 22 and thus fall within the targeted group of readers, sometimes I struggle to see the stories' relevance to people under 35. I think that this often is due to the fact that the stories are not relevant to a younger reader in my state of life. Perhaps it would be possible to add subject headings on the advisory, much like there are general subject headings in the News Digest advisory: Politics, Family, Entertainment, Health, General, and so on.

3. The stories are usually pretty good, and usually cover a variety of topics.

4. Yes

5. None

— Lenore Devore, managing editor, The Ledger, Lakeland, Fla., quoting Features Editor Lyle McBride:

I never look at those advisories, and Jennifer says she doesn't either. I looked at a few early on, and see stories labeled with under 35 designations, but I don't pay much attention. I just don't find that they help me identify stories that I otherwise would have overlooked. I sort things by subject, health, fitness, food, music, etc., and I scroll the wire unsorted.

— Steve Sidlo, managing editor, Dayton Daily News, Dayton, Ohio:

I spoke with wire editor Ozzie Kleinas and assistant features production editor Ken Canfield. The responses below are based on what they told me.

1. We like the concept and execution, but a tight news hole limits our ability to exploit it fully.

2. No suggestions at this point. I think over time we'll make more and better use of it and may have some more useful thoughts on how to improve it.

3. See #2.

4. Moving it earlier in the afternoon would be better for us. We have a 4 p.m. news meeting to prepare for and getting it this late makes it less helpful.

5. Not at this time. Generally we think advisories of all sorts are good, and the earlier we get them the better.

— Daryl Kannberg, national editor, The Plain Dealer, Cleveland:

We're not really getting a lot out of the new under-35 budget offering. It hasn't had any effect one way or the other on any story that we've put on the front page or in the paper.

That demographic is just one segment of the many audiences we're trying to reach. And that's already one of the mental filters we put on ourselves each day as we weigh the stories on the budget offerings from AP and the other wire services.

Alas, this budget is just not something I see as necessary in my life.

Have a question the board should pose to AP? Send it to AP National Desk Editor David Minthorn at dminthorn@ap.org, who is coordinating the Sounding Board.

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