The responsibility of the readers
The media industry is fighting for users. The mistakes made by media providers are widely discussed, but the mistakes made by the informing public are rarely discussed. Where are they, the responsible readers? By Josefa Haas, Head of the Media Institute
You get food for thought when you browse. I came across the book "The responsible Reader" by Linda Ziff in a second-hand bookshop. Her core statement is: "All authors write for a readership. They write with the expectation of being read. The total effect of a text consists of the reader's contribution and the author's contribution. Authors create the source text, which you complete while reading with the interpretation from your background of knowledge and experience. This is how you discover what the text means to you. Reading in this way means creating a text for yourself. Responsible reading is like writing without ink."
What can we learn from this for the media industry? As providers of journalism, we need to establish eye contact with the responsible reader. On the one hand, this includes the modesty of providing only part of the media experience. On the other hand, it includes being curious about the different ways in which readers complete our texts. This is the basis for a dialog, a conversation in which the story is told through everyone's contributions.
In the age of social media, this seems to be a matter of course. However, a look at the comment columns shows that substantive debates are rare. The platforms are dominated by the barkers and polemicists. The media people keep to themselves in their contact networks. The question arises: how can the intelligent thoughts of responsible readers be made visible?
Following the example of the New York Times, more and more newspapers are trying it with a selection of commentators in whom trust is placed, Trusted Commenters. With steps of identification, editing and curation, media brands can demand the quality on their social platforms that they also claim for their editorial contributions. Strong communities are built on a shared culture of communication. This must be addressed and shaped by the media providers and the active readership.
A vibrant media offering stands on three legs: the journalistic offering, the reader market and the advertising market. Advertising revenue only flows profitably if the other two legs are solid. All players in the media market bear responsibility, including the readers. How can we save our newspaper, asked Walter Isaachson in Time magazine in 2009. The questions are more topical than ever. He took a self-critical look at his behavior as a reader, describing how he increasingly used free offers on the Internet and dispensed with paid subscriptions. This trend caused the business model of newspapers to falter. Isaachson urges readers to ask themselves who will pay for the work of independent journalists in the future. "I say this because I love journalism. It is valuable and should be valued by its consumers."
Responsible readers are interested in who is investing in the content and with what intentions, and who is making money from it. They see the media offerings as input for their engagement with events. If they value independent research and opinions, they are prepared to pay for them. Media providers who see the reader as the customer who is king cultivate a relationship with him that is based on appreciation. The quality of the contacts creates a network of media offerings, which in turn is attractive and inexpensive for advertising clients.
Responsible readers demand that media providers treat them with respect. This includes journalism that is open to discussion as well as a transparent, comprehensible pricing system for paying users.
