Journalism: Where The Audience Must Be Conquered
As a journalist your duty is to provide an audience with factual relevant news. If your audience feels like you are providing them with facts, they will grow to trust you. If your audience realizes that the news you are reporting is not true then they will not want to keep reading your work. An ideal relationship between a journalist and an audience would be one where there is trust and where the journalist constantly engages with their audience.
In the article, “The Audience in the Mind’s Eye: How Journalists Imagine Their Readers,” the author mentions how aside from the 5 W’s; there are three questions that exist in every journalist’s head: “Who am I writing for?” “Why is it important for them to read it?” “And what will they find interesting?” The answers to these questions influence many choices that journalists make. It is important to know your audience and know what their interests are. By doing this, you are able to produce content that catches their attention and makes your work relevant to the eye.
Engaging with your audience, like mentioned in the article “What We Mean When We Talk About Engagement,” is a loop. The image down below, provided by the author of the article, gives a good example of what an ideal relationship should look like. Input from the public is asked for, the public gives feedback, and that feedback is used in newsrooms. By using their input, journalists show the public that their opinions are valued. An audience wants to see that you are taking their views and thoughts into consideration. Once again, you are building trust.
As time progresses, the relationship that exists between a journalist and the public becomes more and more important. The key to keeping this connection alive is to deliver factual news while keeping the audience at the center of your focus.
