For all kinds of writing, there are some conflicting issues with writing for yourself or an audience. If I decided to write an essay for class based on my own interests versus the prompt, my grade on the assignment will suffer. An audience that has been built around a certain niche will find a change in the subject matter confusing. However, there are opportunities to shift the audience into a new subject thanks to the quality of the writing. I have no interest in sports generally, but a writer that can craft a intriguing narrative around sports always pulls me in.
In the book On Writing Well, William Zinsser discusses a paradox when it comes to writing. How does one write for an audience while also writing for oneself? To this conclusion, Zinsser advises writers to write for themselves. By focusing on improving their writing craft and expressing their personality, writers can find a new audience.
When it comes to the sphere of journalistic writing, factoring in the audience proves quite a challenge. As the journalism field has shifted towards an online advertising model, tempting the audience to click has become more important than the writing itself. However, understanding the audience in the newsroom can lead to more ethical writing.
While people love reading the news, most people do not enjoy paying for it. Thus, to make money, the news media relies on advertising. As online advertising has become more prevalent, digital media has tricked readers to click on content to view ads. Websites have done this primarily through clickbait, or shocking headlines that reveal themselves to be misleading or advertisements themselves.
In his article for the BBC, Ben Frampton discusses the prevalence of clickbait and how it is changing journalism. Instead of writing news that aims to challenge institutions, the content must relate to the audience. The more relevant the article, the more readers will click on them. If journalists must structure their writing to improve traction for advertising, it will affect how they write.
However, there are instances where understanding the audience can aid a journalist’s writing. In The Audience in the Mind’s Eye: How Journalists Imagine Their Readers, James Robinson examines whether new online engagement tools have changed how journalists write for audiences. Even with the new tools at their disposal, journalists have not been influenced by what they write. Journalists are more influenced by the people they interact with, especially in the newsroom.
To help understand the audience more, improving diversity in the newsroom is important. A diverse set of voices help propel stories that a homogeneous newsroom would falter on. A diverse newsroom also leads to more ethical writing, as the reporters can reflect personally on the issues of race or gender instead of from an outsider perspective. If one does not take the audience into account when writing news, it can severely hamper the quality of writing produced.
Reflecting on Zinsser, it is a double-edged sword on how the audience affects journalism writing. The audience is important in journalism when it helps promote diversity and more ethical reporting. On the reverse side, the audience should not be used to drive traffic to increase advertising revenue. Thanks to the rise of crowdfunding platforms like Patreon and independent email newsletters like Substack, there is a possibility to allow more journalists to grow their platforms and avoid the cycle of digital advertising.
Source:
Frampton, B. (2015, September 14). Clickbait: The changing face of online journalism. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-34213693.
Robinson, J. (2019). The Audience in the Mind’s Eye: How Journalists Imagine Their Readers. Columbia Journalism Review. https://www.cjr.org/tow_center_reports/how-journalists-imagine-their-readers.php.
Zinsser, W. (2013). 5: The Audience. In On Writing Well (pp. 24–30). essay, Harper Paperbacks.
Bailey MeCey 
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