Children in New Zealand are more media savvy than ever before, but know when they need to switch off the television, Internet or mobile phones, according to a new study, TVNZ reported Tuesday.

The country's Broadcast Minister Trevor Mallard on Tuesday released the Broadcasting Standards Authority report, Seen and Heard: Children's Media Use, Exposure, and Response.

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The UK-based Eastbourne Gazette will launch its new youth newspaper, called The Jigaroo, next week, the paper reported Monday.

The youth publication will be available in the newspaper, and is being produced by an editorial team of students.

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People who grow up reading a newspaper are better, more engaged citizens, the Newspaper Association of America has reported.

Research on young readers show that 62 percent of Americans who read newspapers as teens took part in volunteer work, while only 37 percent of those who did not read newspapers volunteered.

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The Rocky Mountain Collegian of Colorado State University is in jeopardy of being taken over by Gannett Co., Inc., a move the university paper and its staff fears would quash its status as an independent student newspaper, The New York Times reported Monday.

J. David McSwane, the paper's editor, learned early in January that the university's president was meeting with representatives from the city's daily, The Fort Collins Coloradoan, owned by Gannett, to discuss a possible “partnership” between the local paper and the student paper.

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A study by Northwestern University found that teenagers find online news troubling and a reminder of the world's dangers, contrasted by time spent on YouTube, social networking and music downloading sites, which they viewed as a treat.

For the study, "If It Catches My Eye: An Exploration of Online News Experiences of Teenagers," researchers interviewed 65 teens in the Chicago area in 2007. Findings suggests news organisations should cultivate teen audiences by understanding what they are interested in and diminishing their angst, according to a Editor & Publisher report.

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Children have a ravenous appetite for digital content, according to a new report, "Kids and Digital Content," by NPD Group.

The survey tracked the usage of entertainment content (physical and digital) among children using computers, video games, portable music players and mobile phones. It found that kids between age two to 14 consume digital content anywhere, from three to seven times a month on a single device.

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Although most teens don't follow serious news online, news organisations can cultivate their interest by learning how to catch their eyes, a new study by the Media Management Center at Northwestern University claims.

Other tactics news outlets can use to get the attention of teen readers is to “diminish their angst, go where they are on the Web (and) enlist parents and teachers in the cause and help them develop a 'news persona',” the MMC states in the report's executive summary.

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U.S. adults who read newspapers at an early age tend to be more civically active, according to new research from the Newspaper Association of America Foundation.

NAA found that about 75 percent of U.S. adults who read newspapers in school as teenagers donated money to a civic group last year, compared with 51 percent of those who did not read newspapers as teens.

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Lebanon's An-Nahar newspaper announced the launch of its new children's supplement in Beirut Tuesday.

Jarida Kids is aimed at children between ages eight and 12, and was originally thought up by Gibran Tueni, the MP and An-Nahar general manager, who was killed by a car bomb in 2005.

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Kenya’s Nation Media Group (NMG) has added a new title, the Daily Metro, targeting younger readers.

Speaking at the launch ceremony in Nairobi, group chief executive Linus Gitahi said the “easy-read” paper is aimed to cultivate a reading culture among Kenyan youth and those preferring lighter material to read.

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In an effort to improve primary education and help teachers use its Newspapers in Education programme, the Daily Monitor has extended the program to the eastern region of Uganda.

More than 200 teachers were trained last week on how to use newspapers in their classrooms to bring out creativity in students while giving them more of a quality education.

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The marketing communications manager of Afrikaans daily newspaper Beeld Wednesday listed myths about media consumption habits of young readers in South Africa that can be applied to better serving young readers around the world.

Gavin Rheeder's conclusions are based on his work with JIP, the KwaZulu-Natal-based newspaper's weekly youth insert. JIP caters to Afrikaans readers between ages 13 and 25. It is inserted into Beeld, Volksblad and Die Burger, and has a readership of 316,000.

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Indonesian newspapers and educators wanting to promote English language usage are looking to the New Straits Times Newspaper-in-Education programme in Kuala Lumpur as an example.

A group of Indonesian reporters, teachers and NIE managers visited Balai Berita in the capital city Friday to find out how the newspaper is promoting the programme, the New Straits Times reported Monday.

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A tri-weekly tabloid style newspaper catering to younger readers was launched in Mumbai by e-sense Entertainment on Monday.

Yuva is aimed at readers ages 18 to 32 and will come out every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Priced at Re 1, it is beginning with 16 colour pages and the initial print run is 300,000 copies. The newspaper will be circulated via the city's newsstands and rail stations with a high concentration of colleges and corporate houses. Plans to expand circulation to the rest of Maharashtra will go through once the tabloid is more established in Mumbai.

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Of the 18 million U.S. college students heading back to campuses in the autumn, 95 percent, or 17.1 million, use the Internet at least on a monthly basis.

In the 2007 Youth Trends survey, full-time college students said they spent 19.2 hours online on average per week, one hour more than in 2006.

The question is, what are they doing online?

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