Connecting with an audience develops journalistic relationships
With every journalist or news story produced out to the world, there is a reader who is impacted by what the writer is saying. Without these audience members reading news stories, there would be no news industry at all. Connecting with an audience is what develops a journalist’s relationships and keeps the news industry alive.
The more readers a story garners, the more the news that story is reporting on spreads. This is always a good thing for journalists.
It is always good for a journalist or news organization to understand who their audience is as well. An example of this can be UH’s student newspaper The Cougar understanding its audience to be college students.
In a story from the student paper, there is a focus on student employees at UH, and this is a good example of reaching the desired audience.
Social media is able to help aid journalists to attain a wider audience. For the generation of college students now, it’s best to use platforms popular amongst that age group if this is the target audience.
Even the class book mentions utilizing social media to reach that wider audience through location tags, hashtags as well as tagging individuals themselves.
The audience is probably one of the most important parts of journalism, so those reporting should always make sure to reach out and engage to build these journalistic relationships.