Kids’ newspaper that’s changing media forever

Children and youths are notoriously hard to reach by traditional news media. But what if the content is specifically tailored to them - and written by them? Časoris, a Slovenian outlet, shows this is possible, and it has been doing it for a full decade.

A play on časopis, the Slovenian word for newspaper, Časoris was first published on 30 April 2015 as the brainchild of Sonja Merljak Zdovc, at the time a senior journalist at Slovenia's leading serious newspaper Delo, CE Report quotes The Slovenia Times.

Merljak Zdovc, who has been the chief editor since, had observed that children often hear news on the playground or social media which may not be verified or credible.

She also realized that children were unfamiliar with newspapers, and that "we had, in a way, lost a generation of newspaper readers," she has told the Slovenian Press Agency.

Broad but tailored coverage

Despite what its name would suggest, Časoris is not published in print, it is an online portal much like most news outlets nowadays.

It offers readers news on global and national politics, the economy, sport, and science in a serious and approachable way.

In addition to daily news, the portal publishes articles written by children, which are very popular. These offer insight into their world and concerns, such as why some schools have school bells and others do not.

"This is a very important topic for children, and it probably almost never gets covered in other media," Merljak Zdovc says.

Outreach and expansion

Časoris works loosely with journalism clubs in schools and has teacher ambassadors who help promote it as a way of strengthening society and democracy.

"We want to instil in children the habit of consuming reliable information," Merljak Zdovc says.

The portal secures funding through national and international grants for projects on media literacy and combating misinformation. Just recently, it was awarded the top prize in an annual competition run by SozialMarie, an Austrian foundation that promotes socially responsible projects.

The portal already offers a limited selection of its content in English, Serbian, Macedonian and Albanian in the hope of expanding into Western Balkans.

While some of these nations have strong media literacy programmes, Merljak Zdovc says none have a children's newspaper like Časoris to introduce youngsters to credible news.

The plan is to initially publish one article a week in Serbian, with the ultimate goal of franchising Časoris in the region.