It's the Audience, Stupid! COM 264

It’s the Audience, Stupid!

What is the new approach to storytelling and how is it being used to broaden audiences?

            The new approach to storytelling integrates digital media. It’s fast-paced, relevant, and has to keep the audience in mind. Reporters and news stations listen closely to what the viewers want and deliver. This opens the content wide open and allows the audience to expand.

How is digital media being used to engage audiences?

            Digital media makes the news content easily available to all types of audiences. Anyone can read, post, comment, and share news. Better, anyone can call in, participate in a survey, or throw in their voice.

Give three specific examples of how you can incorporate storytelling into an article you write?

            Storytelling is necessary in order to engage an audience. First, It needs to have a narrative. There needs to be plot: first, middle, last. It needs to flow. Second, it needs to be compelling. Exploring the human condition is universal; recounting personal experiences easily pulls in an audience. Lastly, it needs to respond to current issues. Being a story requires relevancy. If there is an issue that people are talking about, then keep talking about it!

All the Aggregation That’s Fit to Aggregate

What does aggregation mean?

            Aggregation is the sharing of news stories and media.

Why does the author describe Arianna Huffington as “the queen of aggregation?”  Go to the Huffington Post and provide an example.

            Arianna Huffington is the “queen of aggregation” because her website, The Huffington Post, does not create its own material, but spreads others material. It becomes compartmentalized within categories within the Huffington Post, altered a little,  then shared massively. People trust the articles coming from the Huffington Post, too.

Is aggregation a threat to professional journalism – why or why not?

            Yes and no. Aggregation diminishes the creative work of the original writer by largely paraphrasing and removing “superfluous” parts. This is a disservice to the reporter and trains the reader to look for less from an article. It isn’t a threat because professional journalism can evolve with it, and it is likely that more money will be found in aggregation in the future.

Photojournalism in the Age of New Media

A professional journalist receives a photo captured by a citizen journalist….

·      What are the positives?

-       The journalist gets free media.

-       The citizen gets to help write the news.

-       The media is present and relevant.

·      Why does the professional journalist need to be careful?

-       The journalist wasn’t there to verify the situation.

-       The citizen may ask for compensation.

-       The citizen may have issues with their ownership rights.

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·      Why might the content of the photo be called into question?

- The photo could have been altered.

·     How does citizen photojournalist impact the job of the professional photojournalist?

-       Journalists get the help of the common citizen, who is eager to help.

-       The expertise of the journalist is underminded.