Space Between: Audience Resonance and Creativity for Journalists

Our live Fireside Chat discussed the most critical cog of all in the media machine: the audience.

‍Stream the conversation here.

Do they value what you write? Are you delivering what they need? Are they willing to pay for your work? Knowing your reader, understanding them, and learning to become audience-centric will ultimately deliver content that resonates.

When this is combined with a strong editorial commitment, audiences can become organic content ambassadors, sharing what newsrooms write because it speaks to them in a way they understand, in a format they use.

This panel discussed ways to learn your audience, strategically develop standout stories, and marry creativity with integrity to appeal to a increasingly climate news-avoidant public. 

cXc extend a big thank you to the panellists who shared their knowledge and insights during our Space Between Fireside Chat on Audience Resonance and Creativity for Journalists. Some key takeaways from the session:

Climate stories must become more subtle. We’re in a risky space on climate communication. If we keep on talking about how scary and how bad the problem is it feeds into that problem of 'fight or flight or freeze'. Media featuring climate storylines without a direct call to action or impact can still be valid—and in some cases are key, as they are likely to be consumed by and resonant with audiences outside of the typical climate space. This kind of storytelling can land with audiences in a way that meaningfully shift their underlying beliefs, and reach people that traditional climate communication does not. 

“I never watched Star Wars as a kid — never — but I knew what a lightsaber was. I knew what Luke Skywalker looked like. I knew generally what it was about. It became part of our culture. And we need to do the same with climate change, not just for the science, but what does it look like? We need the same shorthand vernacular. Most people think of maybe a solar panel or a wind turbine, and I think we can do a lot better than that.” Lucy Stone, Climate Spring

Solutions are only part of the story… We don’t have solutions to everything yet. But by working with your audience, within communities, we can start to find a way to adapt to the changes happening around us. 

_…but people want solutions to be fair. How people react to the science, and respond to the methods proposed to tackle problems, depends on what it means to them and their lives. Creating these connections is critical to making the science not seem distant to your own reality. 

Every story is a climate story now. Due to the pervasiveness of the climate crisis, it has become a relevant angle in stories about fashion, food, holidays, transport, lifestyle and much more. What’s more, this could be a more impactful way to land climate issues than standard scientific breakdowns within the climate vertical. Critically, climate stories are not science stories anymore—they are people stories. More and more people are becoming able to relate to the global changes happening everywhere, and they need a narrative around which to gravitate. 

“Bringing people together from many different backgrounds to see not only how they not only perceive the problem but which kind of solutions or ways ahead they see... this is very urgent. For instance in our country (Italy) adaptation needs to happen now. There are some regions whose potential are being changed from an agricultural point of view, so involving farmers is important because they have to take action now. Not in 10 years, or 20 years. And we can bring the knowledge you have gained in one area and bring it into the other.” Elisabetta Tola, formicablu    

Look for the story gaps. Most people still don’t really have a knowledge of what causes climate change. There are many gaps to fill in audience knowledge. 

The system must engage as a whole. Climate change is not simply about the journalists reporting, or the end user changing behaviour. Every component of society has to holistically work to not simply action or publicise solutions but tackle the root cause. Shifting responsibility around will not bring about change: this is everyone’s issue to tackle. 

Check out and share soundbite shorts from this conversation on climateXchange's YouTube channel.

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