The Press without Children, Children without the Press? Modern Magazines for Children in Poland

Abstract

The article presents educational, entertaining and religious magazines for children in Poland. The author selected eleven magazines for children aged 7–12 to analyse their content and editorial form. Both the printed and the electronic versions of the magazines as well as their websites were compared. Additionally, a survey of 254 primary school pupils was conducted to assess the value of children’s magazines as a source of information and/or entertainment. According to the survey, the magazines are of little interest to contemporary children. The research shows poor correlation between reading printed and online press and stimulating children’s reading skills as well as helping them become good readers. Despite the children’s awareness of the press value, they seldom make use of it. However, a tendency to choose electronic versions instead of printed ones, a visible trend in adult magazines, was not indicated.