Smith published in online journal

      Dr. Michael Ray Smith, chairman of the department of Mass Communication at Campbell University, has published an article in the online magazine for journalists “Poynteronline.” Smith’s article, “Why Are Teens Reading Newspapers in Potterland?,” examines how the Harry Potter books have influenced children to become more avid readers and how the teens in the series are also readers and their reading material includes newspapers.
     “I first noticed the students reading newspapers in Rowling’s fifth book, ‘Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,’” Smith writes, “When Harry thought of writing the ‘Daily Prophet’ to expose his theory that dark wizard Voldemort was on the loose.”
     Smith found that the sixth book, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” also references newspapers, and in the latest book, the Hogwarts students eagerly read the “Daily Prophet” as soon as it arrives by post owl.
     “For the Hogwarts students, the daily press reports are vital and support the threefold mission of the press to provide surveillance, interpretation of news and entertainment,” Smith writes, but a Nielsen/NetRatings survey revealed earlier this year that 21 percent of Internet users who read daily newspapers have transferred the bulk of their newspaper reading to the Internet and that Internet readership is significantly younger than the audience of the printed newspaper. Smith concludes that journalists who want to attract the youthful audience must be prepared to serve as well online as in print.
     Michael Ray Smith is the author of “FeatureWriting.Net,” a book that explores ways writers can use the Internet to sell their work to newspapers, magazines and online services.
     Smith’s article, published November 3, 2005, can be accessed on the Internet at www.poynter.org.