Meet the woman behind a newspaper for kids - Women's Agenda

Meet the woman behind a newspaper for kids

Saffron Howden, Editor and founder of Crinkling News

One day, Saffron Howden had a lightbulb moment and realised Australia didn’t have a children’s newspaper, meaning kids were being left out of the national conversation. 

So the journalist, aunt and mother founded Crinkling News, the country’s only national newspaper for children offering all the news adults consume – without the boring or scary bits.

With a small team including a child psychologist, Crinkling produces a 16-page weekly magazine every week for readers. Launched in April, the group’s formed numerous partnerships and a readership of more than 3000, and was recently invited to become a member of the Australian Press Council. 

A finalist in the Women’s Agenda Leadership Awards in the Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year category, she shares why she launched a newspaper for kids, how she’s quickly built a large circulation, and some advice for anyone looking to get their kids engaged in the news. 

Join us at the Awards luncheon on the 5th October and celebrate leadership. Tickets are available here.

Where did the idea for Crinkling News come from?

The more I think about this, the more I realise the seed was probably planted when I was a curious youngster. Though I wasn’t conscious of it then.

As a child, I relied on my parents to explain the big news of the day to me. When I was seven years old, for instance, I couldn’t hope to understand most of the news in the papers. The stories lacked context, the big words didn’t come with breakout definitions, and there was no child-friendly filter for coverage of the scarier and more confronting events.

That didn’t stop me wanting to know what was going on in the world – it just made the task of finding out much more difficult.

Then as an adult I spent more than 15 years working as a news journalist – at Australian Associated Press (AAP), the Daily Telegraph, and the Sydney Morning Herald. I became an aunt, my friends had children and, finally, I became a mother.

I had heard about hugely successful children’s print newspapers overseas in the UK, in France, Germany, Norway, and Austria.

One day, I had one of those light bulb moments: Australia doesn’t have a newspaper for young people. I should start one.

And so Crinkling News was born.

You’ve managed to build your circulation and influence quickly. What do you think’s driven the success of the brand so far?

There is no other national newspaper for young people in Australia. The success of Crinkling News in such a short time has surprised even us. But there was a big gap in the news media market. Aside from Behind the News on ABC television, no other news outlet is telling kids what is going on in their world.

And children do want to know. They hear their parents, their teachers, people on the bus or train, even fellow students in the playground, talking about marriage equality or the migrant crisis, or the US elections. Nobody has been including them in that conversation. Crinkling News does.

The paper has also benefitted from the work of truly top-class journalists, photographers and designers. Quality is paramount. Many of our contributors have decades of experience in daily metropolitan newspapers.

Finally, I think Crinkling News is at the cusp of a backlash against the use of screens by children. Top educators around the world are now finding digital connectivity can hinder, rather than help, learning.

How do you make the news interesting for kids, particularly when it comes to complex and hard-to-read news stories? 

The short answer is we make the news relevant to our readers. We covered the Democratic and Republican conventions in the US, for example. But we interviewed the few children who there among the delegates, accompanying their parents.

We covered the roll-out of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), but we explained it through the eyes of a child with a disability and described his daily life.

This week, we tackled the marriage equality debate. And we went and spoke to a nine-year-old boy with same-sex parents. We also don’t assume any prior knowledge. So in that story we explained how a plebiscite was different to a referendum, what same-sex marriage means, what the Marriage Act entails. And we broke down the arguments for and against.

And we encourage young people to part of the conversation. So, while all our news stories are written by professional journalists, all the opinion pieces we publish are written by kids, as are all the book, movie, game, theatre and arts reviews.

At what age do you believe kids can get engaged in the news, and what’s your top tip for parents on how to get started?

Children are naturally curious about the world around them from the moment they become self-aware. Initially, their world is their home and their parents and siblings.

As they grow, their world becomes bigger. They notice changes at the local shops, new people at their day care centre or preschool. It doesn’t take them long to be asking about how flowers grow, what the bees are doing, what the moon is, or why it gets dark at night.

My view is that you should always answer their questions honestly (even if you have to sanitise the answer somewhat). And encourage them to ask more questions – and, importantly, give their own views. I think kids should be armed with a good, sound knowledge of the world well before we send them out into adulthood at 18.

For you personally, how have you made the transition from journalist and editor to business owner?

With very little sleep! When you are passionate about what you do and are personally invested in the success of a business, your ability to learn and adapt is extraordinary.

I have also been incredibly lucky to be surrounded by a team of talented and experienced professionals equally committed to Crinkling News. Our financial and legal team has steered the ship, while our web and admin staff keep the business functioning day-to-day.

And our close-knit editorial group brings with it a lifetime, many times over, of experience in the industry so that our readers not only get the news, they get it from some of the best in the business. 

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