Sunday, March 22, 2015

When you write, keep in mind your Audience Matters


 












         Whatever words we utter should be chosen with care for people will hear them and be influenced by them for good or ill.-Buddha.” (www.brainyquote.com). For this assignment we are asked to not just focus on the communication being given but the audience that is being targeted for this communication. I will be using three different forms of media communication and identify their target audience. I will be doing this through examining specific elements of the communication using written and visually specifically for the intended audience.  Whenever you are trying to communicate with someone it always important to understand what kind of audience you are trying to communicate with. This way you can best communicate with that audience and everyone will understand.
 

         The first form of media communication that I will be examining is a news article from the Baltimore sun. The title of this news article is No one injured in plane collision at Carroll County Regional Airport. The Baltimore Sun used a style of writing called a straight news story. “Straight news stories begin with a headline that summarizes the story’s main point. The lead (a first paragraph) of news story includes the most important details of who, what, when, where, why, and how. The first sentence of the story often includes what, who, where, and when.” (Marsh, C., Guth, D.M. & Short, P. 2009).  By following the guidelines the author of this news’s article is targeting an audience that just has a brief amount of time to skim the news. The author makes sure to follow the who, what, where, and when in the first sentence of the article. “Two planes collided at the Carroll County Regional Airport on Saturday afternoon, according to a news release from the Maryland State Police.” (www.baltimoresun.com). This article is also very stimulating to the audience by adding a large picture of the plane crash above the article. This way the audience in a hurry can look at the picture and read the first line of the article and understand exactly what has happened right away.

         The second form of media communication that I have found is a travel brochure online. This brochure was found through a website accessed for people interested in taking a trip to Europe. So right away this brochure can establish its primary audience which is people looking to vacation in Europe. This brochure offers a ton of visual aids. Every picture is meant to inspire and persuade someone to go ahead and book the trip of a lifetime. There are many people interested in taking a tour of Europe and the company really needs to make sure and appeal to everyone. This brochure does a great job of that by offering packages for families, couples, and single travelers. The author had a clear sense that it had to target many different people and from different cultures. Through using many different visual aids of numerous people from all different cultures; the author was really able to target a wide audience. 
 

         The last form of media communication that I will be using is a website created by a dear friend of mine. My friend Eric runs a charity called the Roc Solid Foundation. This foundation is specifically geared towards helping children that suffer from childhood cancer. I decided to use his website for an example because it is hard to specifically identify his intended audience. “No other audience is potentially as diverse as the Web audience. Your viewer could be the person next door or someone in Algeria. However, that doesn’t mean that the Web is a typical mass medium. Think of it as one-to-one communication.” (Marsh, C., Guth, D.M. & Short, P. 2009).  Through understanding that my friend is trying to communicate a need for support I understand his audience. It is anyone that ever been effected or knows others that have been effected by cancer. The foundation is targeting the hearts of people that are in families with or without children. The first thing on their website is a picture of a child experiencing cancer and explains exactly what their foundation does and how you can contribute.

         In conclusion, Buddha really says it best when he explains that your audience can be just as important as the words that you are saying. You need t o understand your intended audience and their wants and needs of the communication that you are trying to get across to them. In this paper I have given you three different forms of media communication and using different elements to explain their intended audiences.



REFERENCES:

Marsh, C., Guth, D.M. & Short, P. (2009). Strategic writing, multimedia writing for public relations, advertising and more. Boston: Pearson.





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