Just last week I experienced an interesting contrast in audiences between the Kansan and tv.ku.edu. Matt Rodriguez was expressing concern over how the Kansan staff did not want to cover the Murray trial because they only cover campus issues. Matt said he felt that since there is murder trial in his town, media outlets should be covering it, because it does indirectly affect KU students. This makes me think about what tv.ku.edu's audience is. The Kansan's audience is clear-cut: KU campus. KUJH-TV goes broader with KU, Lawrence and Douglas county. So where does that leave tv.ku.edu?
At this point we are aiming for the same audience as KUJH-TV. The main difference between us and the TV station is that we can reach so many more people than the station can. Originally, I thought since we have the power of the Internet, we can make our audience bigger and bigger. However, the tune of my song changed after hearing Lara Weber from Chicago's Red Eye speak to our and Peggy Kuhr's class on Wednesday. Lara spoke about reaching that 18-34 demographic. Their coverage is specifically targeted towards that group of people who live in the city. And they are good at it. That is what got me the most. Lara could easily rattle off what matters the most to readers of Red Eye. Can we do that for the audience of tv.ku.edu? Can we pinpoint a list of 10-14 things of what ALL KU students and Douglas county residents are interested in?
I don't think we know who we are yet as a web presence. Do we simply rehash what was on the Kansan and KUJH-TV? I am not sure how we can find our identity. There are so many people in the newsroom wanting to push this website in so many different directions and our purpose, at least to me is unknown. A key element of figuring out who our audience is, is first figuring out who we are. And then being good at it.
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