Abstract
In today’s media world, engagement is the latest trend. It is clear that today’s journalists will not succeed if they ignore audiences’ desires or take them for granted. Jake Batsell, a former journalist who teaches digital journalism and media entrepreneurship at Southern Methodist University argues in Engaged Journalism that “engagement is crucial to journalism’s survival.” He makes a compelling case.
Batsell spent a year at the Texas Tribune in 2013-2014 as part of a Knight Foundation fellowship exploring new business models for journalism. He interviewed more than 100 journalists as he researched engaged journalism. His book defines engagement in detail and provides a clear framework for best practices. He explains engagement as “the degree to which a news organization actively considers and interacts with its audience in furtherance of its journalistic and financial mission.”
The book is organized around what Batsell calls five guiding principles for engaged journalism:
Face-to-face engagement
News as conversation
Mining niche communities
Nabbing readers through participatory experiences
Sustaining engaged journalism by measuring and monetizing audience relationships.
Each chapter is packed with examples and ends with a summary of best practices.
In the first chapter, he explores how a variety of media outlets are building brand loyalty and producing revenue by holding events. Batsell offers examples of successes, but he also identifies cautionary tales by explaining what did not work. He addresses the ethical concerns of news outlets seeking sponsorships for hosted events. He reports on face-to-face engagement in a variety of forms and says, “connecting with community goes beyond simply reporting the news.” The lessons, including such advice as “recognize that networking is a prime draw” for events, are practical.
The second chapter tackles news as conversation, addressing how to seek out audience interaction. It acknowledges the pitfalls, including the frustration of dealing with outrageously offensive reader comments. The chapter explains how different newsrooms try to wrangle comments into valuable audience interaction. The lessons in this chapter include “deciding what you are not going to do.” And for some newsrooms that includes disabling reader comments. But the chapter also stresses the idea that engagement means the conversation with audience can no longer be one way.
In the third chapter, Batsell looks at the success of what he calls “passionate verticals” or niche markets. He looks at the success and failures of hyperlocal sites and of national sites such as Politico. He addresses the urgency of learning to provide content for audiences who increasingly find access on mobile devices. The lessons in this chapter summarize what has worked best including helping readers customize mobile experiences.
The fourth chapter focuses on the many ways to draw audiences in through interaction. These interactive tools can be as varied as a database that allows readers to examine neighborhood school rankings to popular yet content-rich quizzes such as Christian Science Monitor’s “Could you pass a U.S. citizenship test?”
One of the most interesting sections of the book is a short segment on using games to draw readers into the news. News games or other entertaining forms of information, he argues, can extend the impact of a publication’s project. They also have been successful at attracting younger audiences. One example is California Watch publishing a coloring book on what to do when an earthquake hits. It was published in conjunction with a series on seismic safety.
The final chapter looks at how to measure success and monetize audience engagement. “An engaged news organization creates value by demonstrating relevance to its audience,” Batsell argues. He concludes by summarizing the best practices of news organizations that have had success.
Batsell’s book is well researched and well written. It should be required reading for every journalist and every journalism student who want to build and keep audiences. Engagement, Batsell argues successfully, is not simply a buzzword: “When executed well, engagement can improve a newsroom’s journalism, deepen audience loyalty, and generate revenue.” Those are goals everyone can agree with.