From Poynter
The Boston Globe is giving iPads, projectors and free Boston Globe digital subscriptions to local public school classrooms in a digitally reimagined version of the Newspapers In Education program.
A major goal of longstanding NIE efforts has been to hook young readers on the print habit by dropping off free newspapers in schools and incorporating their content in lesson plans.
But that logic has faltered in recent years, the Globe’s Robert Saurer told me.
“We kind of walked away from NIE a little bit — we didn’t know what to do with it. We didn’t really believe that a 10- or 15-year-old reading print in school is going to continue on later to be a print reader in their 20s and 30s,” said Saurer, who is director of customer experience and innovation. “But a digital Globe reader in schools today might, in fact, turn into a digital Globe reader in their 20s and 30s.”
So the iPads-in-the-classroom approach gives the Globe a fresh angle to hook young readers in a digital format. But it’s also a chance for the Globe to learn about how the next generation uses digital media.
