The Advantages and Risks of Marketing

For years, journalists have been marketing their stories to certain audiences based on location, status, age, and many other factors.  Although the idea of trying to sell to a particular audience seems good, research found in "The Elements of Journalism" by Bill Kovach and Rom Rosenstiel suggests otherwise, and it seems they are right; readership of newspapers and viewership of news broadcasting is dropping rapidly, seemingly as a result of this marketing technique.

So what are the advantages and risks of journalists actively working to "market" their content to audiences?

 It appears that the risk highly outweigh the advantages.  Research in "The Elements of Journalism" shows that since the 1880s we have been making the same mistakes.  By targeting one specific audience, countless other audiences are left out.  By leaving out other audiences you lose the business from countless individuals.  For example, many newspapers focus their material on the highly education middle to upper-class.  This marketing technique is costing them dearly because they have neglected to develop a new generation of readers -- the youth and young adults. There is no younger generation interested in news.

Another problem mentioned in the book is that certain news forms leave out whole groups of people in a community, leaving, if you will, whole sections of a map blank.  In order to be truly successful one must cater to the needs and interests of the whole map.  If stories do not cover the whole community it will leave people poorly informed and making poor decisions because to much information is left out. 

But, there can be some advantages when using marketing.  A company can create a name for themselves in a certain niche business, like teen magazines, celebrity stories, or educated newspapers.  If a person is looking for a certain type of information, using specific marketing can be very effective.  Journalists should remember that the best research is "research that helps journalists make judgments, not research that replaces judgment."  If journalists can use the information wisely, they will be very successful.