In 1795 at the Portland Eastern Herald (Maine, USA) an editor put pen to paper and by doing so launched an initiative that eventually circled the globe. He wrote:

"Much has been said and written on the utility of newspapers; but one principal advantage which might be derived from these publications has been neglected, we mean that of reading them in schools, and by the children in families."

At the Daily Herald we heartily agree that children benefit when reading newspapers in school. Beginning in 1992 we worked with businesses and subscribers to provide teachers with classroom copies of the paper on a sponsorship basis.

Where NIE is today

The list of topics covered every week in a newspaper continues to be nearly endless: politics to perfidy, religion to raves, government to gardening. The Daily Herald "Big Picture Local Focus" format gives suburban educators a link connecting the learning process to real life events.

NIE at the Daily Herald is more than delivering newspapers to classrooms. It includes stimulating life-long learning habits for students and parents by providing online experiences through this website.

World-wide approach

In the U.S. today more than 950 newspapers offer NIE programs. The Newspaper Association of America (NAA) has undertaken numerous independent studies that prove the value for students of learning with newspapers.

All across the world newspapers are being used in classrooms to engage student curiosity. The World Association of Newspapers (WAN) provides many interesting facts about initiatives in other countries, as well as a history of print which you can introduce to your students here.