Meet the Audience

Process

Ahead of Class

Step 1 (optional):
Assign readings and/or have a class discussion about audience-centered journalism. 

Suggested readings:

• “How The New York Times is incorporating design into audience research,” by Heather Chaplin
• “Guide to Journalism and Design,” by Heather Chaplin

Explore this collection of engaged journalism case studies by Gather and review 2-3 examples. 

Step 2:
Select a location for this activity. Choose a location where there will be other people that students can interview (e.g., a local park, the student cafeteria, a busy street corner).

Step 3 (optional):
Print out copies of the Audience Profile Handout to give to students for the exercise.

Mindwarmer

Step 4:
Have students break into pairs. Give them a few minutes to discuss the role of the audience in journalism.

Key questions to discuss:

• What is the value of knowing your audience?
• Why would you need to know your audience before writing your story? 
• How will knowing about the audience impact your story and how you go about developing it?

Step 5:
Ask volunteers to share their thoughts and takeaways.

Mindwarmer

Step 6:
Explain the challenge: You will be going somewhere as a class and creating audience profiles. Pairs will have ten minutes to find and interview someone about their news consumption habits. Afterwards, they will use that information to draw up an audience profile and share it with the rest of the class. 

Step 7:
Before heading to the location, give students the Audience Profile Handout and show them an example of what they will be creating, using chart paper and markers. This can be simple, but should include the key bits of information that students will be collecting, drawn or written out in a clear way:

• Name, age, job
• Who are they and why are they there: Who are the people in this location? How often do they come? How long do they visit for? Why do they come? What time of day do they come? 
• News consumption: How do they usually get the news? What did they read or watch this morning? Who do they trust the most when it comes to news? What kinds of stories are they interested in? What do they wish to know more about?
• Draw a picture of your person to illustrate who they are and what they care about. This can be a stick figure, but should include some details that speak to what you learned about the person. (E.g., always carries a laptop around, has three kids, exercises everyday, etc.)

Step 8: 
Travel as a class to the location.

Step 9: 
Give the pairs ten minutes to find and interview a potential audience member, using the questions on the Audience Profile Handout for guidance.

Step 10:
Return to class.

Step 11:
Give the pairs ten minutes to create their audience profiles on chart paper.

Step 12: 
Have the pairs share their profiles with the rest of the class.

Step 13:
Discuss: What were some of the biggest commonalities and differences among audience members? What was particularly challenging or surprising?

Step 14:
For homework, have each student find and interview at least three audience members, and create an audience profile for each of them. They should be prepared to share their profiles at the next class.

Have Questions? Feedback?

We’d love to hear about your experience using these activities in your classroom, get your thoughts on what we could improve. Email us at resources@journalismdesign.com or fill out this form.