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Issues that engage people of all generations are a far better way of attracting younger readers than target special sections at them, a Polish newspaper editor told delegates at the World Association of Newspapers (WAN) World Newspaper Congress in Gothenburg today.

Grzegorz Piechota, special projects editor at the Gazeta Wyborcza in Poland, described how campaign to save the Rospuda river from environmental destruction by the construction of road bridge across it galvanised and attracted new readers of all ages to his paper, using a combination of online and print platforms.

He said readers need to be given an idea and then the tools such as online blogging platforms to discuss it. They also need a credible leader who they can identify with, in this case a journalist prepared to camp out with protestors in freezing conditions.

During the campaign, the Gazeta's reporter wrote a blog which was by far the most popular of the 200,000 blogs the paper publishes and a petition to the Polish government attracted 150,000 signatures, 140,000 made online.

Piechota himself used "any medium he could" in order to get the story across. On the issue of objectivity, he said although he personally opposed the development, he felt it was important to run the journalistic campaign in an "honest" way, reporting on opposing views as well as supportive ones.

Piechota's full address can be seen in this video:

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Written by
John Thompson

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