The orientation of the media in processing and conveying information remains in line with the public interest, which is idealistic and pragmatic in nature.
By
SYAHNAN RANGKUTI
·5 minutes read
Media audiences today are very different from 10-20 years ago. In the past, journalists in the media got information earlier, either through news agencies or from coverage in the field, and then presented it to their audience. The audience would accept what the media presented. Information at that time was more one-sided and the audience was in a passive position to accept what was published in the media.
Now, through the technological revolution since the invention of the internet, audiences have more choices. There are so many media choices. News is more quickly accessible 24/7 and, most importantly, today's audience can also become information providers for the media. Access to information is no longer solely controlled by media people, but certain audiences can also access the same material that journalists read today.
If we want to expand the meaning of audience, we will encounter a number of concepts, such as the audience, the public who are citizens of a country, becoming part of civil society. However, on the other hand, the audience can also be seen as a market, part of a news ecosystem as a consumer (and producer) that will also support the media life.
Audience tastes can also vary. Some like political news, some like only sports news, some like to read the opinions of experts, some like literature, and so on. Capturing what the audience wants today is more difficult because of the changing tastes, changing generations, changing technologies and changing media ecosystems.
Thankfully, with today's modern technological advances, many parties can read the news preferences of the audience in quantitative form, such as through services provided by GoogleAnalytics, Chartbeat, and other web analytics service companies. The data processed by the web-tracking machines will help the media read the direction of the audience's preferences. However, does the media always have to present what the audience likes? What about things that the media still think are important for the audience to know? Shouldn't this kind of information also be provided by the media?
Two poles balance
The complexity of this matter was the subject of discussion at the Kompas Ombudsman Forum on Friday, 26 May 2023. In the newsroom, tensions between editorial-driven journalism and audience-driven journalism do occur. However, from the discussions at the forum, an agreement emerged that there should be an effort to strike a balance between the two poles; journalism driven by editors and journalism driven by audience preferences.
The orientation of the media in processing and conveying information remains in line with the public interest, which is idealistic and pragmatic in nature. Audiences may tend to prefer something light, relaxed and crisp with pretty photos, beautiful views, or lighthearted aspects of our lives. On the other hand, editors still have agendas that are still presented to the audience because editors consider these topics important to know.
Interestingly, the data shows that serious coverage through investigative journalism and data journalism are also liked by the audience. Articles like this are widely read by the audience and gain engagement from the audience, both in the form of sharing of the article and their enthusiasm to make comments. This is certainly encouraging because it means that the choice of the article is considered relevant by the audience.
At the forum, it was also important to remind that if there is an article that is favored by many different audiences, this does not mean that the article is the best written or the result of better coverage compared with other writings. On the other hand, there are many articles in the media that are actually important and well written, but are sometimes missed by large audiences. "Journalists need to stay humble in seeing [the fact] that an article which doesn't get many readers doesn't mean it's bad writing," said a senior Kompas journalist.
Talking about the audience will never end. However, today's media is very interested in getting to know their audience and knowing what they want from today's media amid the siege of competition from mainstream media and social media. The media does this in order to remain relevant among new readers and old readers. Reader demographics are dynamic. A survey of audience profiles shows that Kompas readers are concentrated in the age range of 25-54 years with a growing number of digital readers.
The Kompas Ombudsman as an organ that bridges the ideal and pragmatic interests of the audience toward media editorial encourages the duality of journalism driven by media editorials and journalism driven by audience preferences. What the audience likes still needs to be taken into account, but conversely, the agenda of the coverage of the editor's choice must also be taken into consideration. Does not the press have the function of information and entertainment, but also still has the function of education and social control? (If you have an opinion about the news on Kompas, please email your opinion to ombudsman@kompas.id)
Ignatius Haryanto, Member of the ‘Kompas’ Ombudsman