How can newsrooms get closer to their audiences?
Researchers at Masaryk University offer eight practical recommendations. Their guide to audience engagement includes these suggestions:
1. Learn what people actually need. Combine analytics with surveys and interviews. Find out why they seek out your content and what they expect from it.
2. Put those insights to work. Adapt topics, formats and presentation to different groups. Stories, visuals and interactive elements can help.
3. Explain your journalism. Show how you choose topics, verify sources and decide on your approach.
4. Invite the audience in. Gather tips, questions and experiences; where appropriate, offer a chance to collaborate on content.
5. Keep the conversation going after publication. Respond to comments and emails, moderate discussions and use newsletters and social channels for two-way communication.
6. Build communities. Create spaces where journalists and audiences can talk and form lasting connections.
7. Meet in person. Hold debates, workshops or reader clubs. Face-to-face contact can strengthen trust and mutual understanding.
8. Set goals and make room for the work. Decide whom these activities serve, evaluate them regularly and give them enough time and people.
The guide was produced as part of the (Re)Connect project at Masaryk University in Brno. (Source: Masaryk University)
Politicians need journalists less than they used to
In an interview marking ten years of Seznam Zprávy, journalist Jindřich Šídlo describes a changing profession. Politicians can more easily avoid difficult questions and reach voters directly. Podcasts and direct audience relationships also give journalists a route to independent businesses, sometimes with higher earnings than a newsroom job. Yet audiences are fragmenting and shared topics are fading. Šídlo argues that large newsrooms still matter: they have the resources for daily reporting and demanding investigative work. (Source: MediaGuru)
Companies increasingly choose silence on divisive issues
According to the Ipsos Reputation Council report, 61% of the communications leaders surveyed would rather their organisation stay silent even when it could speak authentically on an issue. Last year the figure was 32%. Another 35% say their organisation remained silent in the past year on questions it would previously have addressed. The report draws on 200 interviews with senior communications and corporate affairs professionals across 21 markets. (Source: PRovoke Media)
Promoter Jakub Jíra joins the Czech Radio Council
The Chamber of Deputies elected the 29-year-old entertainment entrepreneur on 20 October with 85 votes in the second round. Jíra is best known for his work around combat-sports shows and his relationship with politician Tomio Okamura. His six-year term is on the body that oversees Czech public radio, approves its budget and appoints its director general. (Source: iDNES.cz)
