Audience awareness in ‘a world of screens’

Rob Curtain

“Media isn’t what the media used to be,” says Rob Curtain as he opens his conference session ‘And now for the news – writing a news bulletin’.

“Good journalists constantly file stories away,” says Rob Curtain on reporting in a world of screens #nembc15 pic.twitter.com/TdXZvdb8Xv

— Nao Azuma (@naoazuma_) November 27, 2015

Rob is a former News Director at 3AW, currently working as a communications specialist based in Melbourne.

“Everything is merging as a soup,” he says.

“The world is filled with screens.”

All journalists are asked to be multi-platform journalists unlike in the past, where radio journalists, print journalists, and tv journalists worked separately.

As he says, journalists operate in a world of screens where media is consumed through screens when we wake up, before we go to bed, and at all times in between.

It is important that young budding journalists in the field of communication understand the prominence of this conversion.

Rob explains certain stories resonate with people more.

He gave the example of a story that ran in February, about a Melbourne local hit and killed by a garbage truck at an inner city intersection.

Melbourne media, quite literally, went to town with this story.

However newsrooms in other cities did not – the story was not “emotionally relatable” to their audiences.

This is one of many examples illustrating why broadcasters must be aware of their audience.

Broadcasters should not succumb to information fed to you through media releases from the police, government bodies, or organisatons.

Budding young journos hard at work extracting facts from media releases! @RobCurtain shows the ropes. #nembc15 pic.twitter.com/5NdjHEj8rE — Nao Azuma (@naoazuma_) November 27, 2015

Keeping at the back of your mind your audience, make sure it is relevant.

As journalists it is your responsibility to embrace the honourable, and responsible role you are vested with – maintaining authority and credibility.

“There’s no magic formula,” Rob says.

No matter what platform you are reporting for, as a multimedia journalist, make sure your stories reflect the interest of a reasonable, general audience.

The NEMBC National Conference has just commenced.

Make sure you follow the twitter hashtag #nembc15 all throughout today.