(Limor Peer)

The term "news is a conversation" is not new (see here and here for some perspectives). It's a simple idea that says that to have a productive and satisfying conversation, one that leaves the other side with a taste for more, you can't just do all the talking.

This neatly fits with the concept of citizen journalism because ordinary people literally get to have a voice in the public conversation. But, I would argue, listening to the other side also fits with more traditional journalism (i.e., reporting, writing, editing by journalism professionals).

In the context of traditional journalism, the "other side" is what we at the Readership Institute call the "target audience" -- the group you are trying to reach. And listening to the other side, in this context, means understanding as much as possible about your target audience.




Call it "audience research", "market intelligence" or simply good journalism -- it makes sense to know who you're talking to if you want them to hear you.

Doing it involves understanding the characteristics and the trends of the group as a whole. Data on demographics, lifestyles, psychographics, consumer behaviors, beliefs, values and attitudes can be obtained from publicly accessible sources such as the U.S. Census Bureau and the Pew Research Center, as well as from your own marketing department and even your advertisers. This will give you a broad overview with the advantage of quantitative information (it's easy to make a point by using a graph!)

But this kind of information only takes you so far. To really understand your target audience you should be going out and observing and talking to people face to face. Watching people go through their day can give you invaluable insight into what activities take up their day, including whether and how and when they read your newspaper. Talking with them about their life will help you understand how they make decisions and what role your paper can have in these decisions. This process can also give you ideas for stories -- that's a nice bonus -- but the main purpose is just to know who you're dealing with so you can better communicate with them.

So, why should every journalist have a good grasp on who they're talking with?

1. It will improve the journalism -- more and better information about the target audience can inform and support the work you do as a journalist by revealing what really matters to people so you can focus on these issues, and what the best ways (time, format, etc.) to "talk" with them about it are so you can deliver.
   
2. It will serve your community better -- as a journalist you feel the calling to serve your community, uncover a wrong-doing, right a wrong, and investigate corruption. Understanding your audience can make this calling even more rewarding because it helps ensure that your work will be relevant to your audience -- that when you cut down that tree in the forest, everyone heard and cared.
   
3. It can build a relationship with your community -- being an involved institution in your community, one that promotes and practices dialogue with its audience, should strengthen your ties with the community.
4. It can build consumer engagement -- last but not least, well delivered stories based on a solid understanding of your target audience should result in a more engaged audience. And that's something every advertiser covets.

Once you've done this, you're ahead of the game. Now you just have to continue to do it again and again. Understanding and listening to the other side is a commitment, a frame of mind, and an ongoing effort.


By Limor Peer (l-peer@northwestern.edu)
Limor Peer is research director for the Media Management Center and Readership Institute.