What is NIE and where did it come from?

Newspapers in Education (NIE) as we know it today began at The New York Times in the 1930's when social studies teachers in New York City schools arranged for newspaper bundles to be delivered at schools for use with current event activities (Content of textbooks is already five years old on the day they are delivered to schools).

These insightful teachers received the support of Iphigene Ochs Sulzberger, grandmother of the current publisher, and the first school subscriptions began to appear in classrooms.

Over the decades the concept spread like wildfire among newspapers across the country. The program was called Newspapers in the Classroom. Then in the late 1970's our Canadian friends convinced us that we should say Newspapers in Education since newspapers were clearly being used in educational settings - such as prisons, adult literacy centers, and hospital based learning programs - far beyond the traditional classrooms.

Yes, NIE has been around for a long time, and if we look at the "incidental" use of content from newspapers in schools, the idea goes back even further, perhaps to the publication of the first English-language newspaper in London, England, in 1702.

Early use of Newspapers in the Schools

The earliest existing documentation acknowledging the idea of using newspapers in U.S. classrooms is in an article published June 8, 1795, in the Portland (Maine) Eastern Herald. Here is the excerpt: 

Much has been said and written of the utility of newspapers; but one principal advantage which might be derived from these publications has been neglected; we mean that the reading them in schools, and by the children in families. Try it for one session - do you wish your child to improve in reading solely, give them a newspaper - it furnishes a variety, some parts of which must infallibly touch his or her fancy. Do you wish to instruct them in geography, nothing will so indelibly fix the relative situation of different places, as the stories and events published in the papers. In time, do you wish to have them acquainted with the manners of the country or city, the mode of doing business, public or private; or do you wish them to have a smattering of every kind of science useful and amusing, give them a newspaper - newspapers are plenty and cheap - the cheapest book that can be bought, and the more you buy the better for your children, because every part furnishes valuable information. (Quoted in Editor & Publisher, 1984)

The Newspapers in Education program is a cooperative effort between newspapers and thousands of schools in the United States, Canada and other nations. Publishers provide copies of their newspapers to schools, sponsor teacher education programs, and offer instructional resource materials for student learning.

The Newspaper as an Effective Teaching Tool

While specific educational goals for using newspapers in the classroom vary among teachers from different content areas and grade levels, most educators who incorporate newspapers in the teaching and learning process share three objectives:
To use the newspaper (and other media) effectively as tools for information.
To use the newspaper (and other media) as "real world" text for studying subject or content area skills and concepts.
To use the newspaper (and other media) in creating student media projects.
Most teachers conduct activities to introduce students to the newspaper as a text for learning. In this way, students have background information to promote newspaper use to study a subject or a concept. 
About 700 publishing companies currently deliver newspapers and other services to schools, colleges and universities within their circulation areas. Since its inception at The New York Times in the 1930s, the NIE program has spread to all 50 states, U.S. territories and some 40 other nations. According to the Newspaper Association of America (NAA) Measuring Up! (2001), "virtually all newspapers with more than 50K circulation and most with 15K to 50K circulation, have NIE programs." No two programs are identical in educational emphasis or services and materials offered; often reflect the needs and interests of educators and learners of all ages in the areas served. Flexibility is a key to NIE success.
The Newspaper Association of America Foundation is a coordinating agency for NIE programs in the United States. The World Association of Newspapers (FIEJ) coordinates NIE worldwide. NIE International Day events were held in 1990 in New York City and in 1992 in San Francisco in conjunction with Newspaper Association of America Foundation NIE conferences. In 1995 the World Association of Newspapers sponsored the first NIE International Conference in Stockholm, Sweden, which was followed in 1997 by the second such meeting in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The Newspaper Association of America (NAA) continues to research and evaluate newspaper readership among young people in today's society. For more information, please visit the NAA's web site at www.naa.org