word on the street 25 including reports on Ukraine, COVID and terror attacks. “The week we launched TWJ in the UK was the week of the attacks in Paris,” she says. “We really didn’t want to cover that in our first issue, but we had also said we wouldn’t shy away from difficult stories.” TWJ always tries to offer a glimmer of hope to their young readers, however, so they’re not left feeling anxious, and the team actively seeks out positive news and inspiring role models, as well as including plenty of humour. “There is a strong focus on kids taking control of their own mental health and wellbeing,” she says. “That might mean explaining how to relax if you’re feeling a bit anxious, for example, or how to handle the transition to secondary school, or walking to school by yourself for the first time.” Treading the line between informing and influencing must be tough, I suggest. “We always offer two sides to the story, then let them make their own minds up – we never tell children what they should think,” Anna says. They are also “seriously forensic” about fact checking. “The idea is to encourage readers to think critically, and to encourage empathy, to help them see that the world isn’t necessarily black and white, but full of shades of grey.” Anna takes this responsibility incredibly seriously: “For me, it would be morally wrong to push a political agenda with this magazine. Parents need to trust us to give their children something that’s good quality, accurate, and something that isn’t going to misinform them. Our only ‘agenda’ is to encourage curiosity, get children reading, and let them think for themselves. Plus, entertain them!” One thing TWJ definitely doesn’t do is speak down to its readers – Anna describes the tone as that of a slightly smarter older sister, rather than, say, a teacher talking down to a pupil. “We don’t believe that, because it’s a children’s magazine, it needs to be overly simple for them. Of course we think about the vocabulary we use, and we provide context to stories – you can’t assume the level of prior knowledge – but we’re really straight with them, like we’re having a conversation.” It’s a lot to juggle, I say. “Yes, but we stick to an essential formula,” she says. “What do kids know? What don’t they know? What do they need to know? How do we say it to them? And how do we do it in a way that encourages them to be curious, doesn’t make them feel scared and doesn’t make them feel angry?” Deep impact Both Anna and Kerin O’Connor [see page 4] believe that when they launched a magazine for children, it could have been doomed to failure. “For a start, it was a print magazine at a time when kids were on screens,” Anna says, “plus it was about the news, which everybody said kids weren’t interested in it.” They couldn’t have been more wrong. They created a magazine that defied expectations; in the first lockdown, subscriptions exceeded 100,000 a week – but perhaps even more importantly, TWJ turned a significant number of reluctant readers on to reading. “Having subscriptions plays a huge part in that – it comes through the door, and it literally has your name printed on the back. It’s just for you.” Anna says she’d like to think TWJ has had a positive impact within the magazine industry – but it has certainly had impact on a more individual level. “So many parents and teachers have contacted me to say, ‘My child never really wanted to read anything before, but they absolutely love reading your magazine’,” she says. “We’ve heard stories of children who have always avoided books and groaned if asked to do some reading, but when the magazine comes through the door, they run straight upstairs to the bedroom with it and don’t come out for a couple of hours. That’s really gratifying.” Of course in the last two years in particular, people of all ages have been disengaging from the news, partly because trust in journalism has taken a hit, and partly because it has simply been too depressing for a society that has undergone a collective ‘trauma’. But Anna would love to see TWJ play a part in reengaging younger people at the very least: “I am hoping we can regenerate an interest in current affairs in the next generation, and reignite that interest in a way that’s positive. Maybe we’ll save the news business!” ANNA ON… HOW IT STARTED After university, I worked as an editorial assistant at a company publishing preschool children’s magazines. Now 90% of my career has been in children’s magazines. That first job was such a great foundation for me in creating content for children. Later, I worked on a literacy project called the World Book Day campaign, to get children reading. Everything I’ve done, my skills and values came together for ‘The Week Junior’. HER OWN READING JOURNEY As a child I was a massive bookworm, a dreamer. I just inhaled books. I think one of my biggest regrets now is that I don’t really get to read enough. I read so much for work that I don’t have the energy unless I’m on holiday! THE IMPORTANCE OF GOOD CONTENT In a previous job, I was really disillusioned with children’s magazines because at that time the entire focus was on the covermount. All our energy and resources were poured into creating plastic packaging, blister packs and header cards. That was disheartening, because the reality was that kids tore the toy off the front, chucked the magazine on the floor, and never read it. I never, ever again want to work on a magazine that relies on a piece of plastic on the front to sell it. Thankfully there is still an appetite for something that’s genuinely good and well crafted.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy ODY1ODQy