Learning Objectives

After completing this chapter you should be able to:

  • Understand what makes today’s readers different from news consumers in prior generations and how best to serve them based on those differences.
  • Identify the tools you can use to define your audience and how each tool will provide specific value for you as a reporter.
  • Know and apply the interest elements that attract readers: fame, oddity, conflict, immediacy and impact.
  • Understand what we owe our audiences above all else, including accuracy, value, fairness and objectivity as well as why these matter to both us and them.