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ERIC Number: EJ851052
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2009
Pages: 4
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1938-5978
EISSN: N/A
Education Policy Journalism in a New Media Age. Prepare for Impact
Reich, Brian
New England Journal of Higher Education, v24 n1 p20-23 Sum 2009
As media digitizes, fragments and moves closer to the audience, the information and experiences become more a reflection of the community than a product delivered to the audience. The very nature of how people get and share information and experience things has changed, so naturally the individuals and organizations who create, consume and share that media need to change as well. Before any content is created, it's important to understand how the audience uses technology to get and share information. How people create, consume and share information is what defines the media experience for the individual. With the monopoly on content broken, there is simply more information available for audiences to consume than hours in which to consume it, so there will be more than enough options from which to choose. New England Journal of Higher Education's (NEJHE) role should be less about covering what is available to all and instead focus on helping prioritize stories and issues that only a handful of people realize are important, but whose impact is greatest or will be felt by most. Audiences want the privilege of deciding for themselves what information is relevant, how they feel or what they care most about. At the same time, because people can quickly become overwhelmed by the number of choices that are available to them, even the most committed individuals need help interpreting the volumes of information they are exposed to. Many in the media believe that distilling information down will allow them to please a larger audience. But in practice, the media too often go to the extreme: Either they focus too narrowly and the content fails to interest the audience at all or they over-generalize and are unable to demonstrate a unique value to their audience. NEJHE should be careful not to make that same mistake. The challenge is to meet the audience's interests. For policy journals like NEJHE, that means exploring issues that other media won't consider or in ways that other media can't devote sufficient time and space to. Embrace the opportunity to tell a unique or important story, resist the urge to please everyone and make sure every piece of content created is must-read. In this article, the author discusses some key considerations that will help create that must-read content on a regular basis.
New England Board of Higher Education. 45 Temple Place, Boston, MA 02111. Tel: 617-357-9620; Fax: 617-338-1577; e-mail: connection@nebhe.org; Web site: http://www.nebhe.org/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A