The business of journalism: Creating a brand and building an audience

THIS COURSE WILL REMAIN ACTIVE UNTIL NOVEMBER 15

Why is there a charge for this course?

This course includes individual feedback by the instructor. Your submitted assignment will be graded by them.

What if I can't afford the course fees?

Grants and discounts are available based on your status and location. Apply here.

You are also entitled to free access to one of the paid for courses when you successfully complete two of the three free courses: JN01, JN02, and JN07 which are all free to access on our course menu page.  Once you have completed the two courses, apply for your course of choice here

By enrolling in this course, you are agreeing to our terms and conditions, available here.

 

CHRIS BIRKETT - COURSE TRAINER

Hello. I'm Chris Birkett, a media consultant with the Thomson Foundation. I was previously Executive Consultant to the Telegraph Media Group, a senior executive at BBC News and Executive Editor of Sky News, responsible for television, radio and digital content.
 

 

About the course

 

This course is designed to provide you with a broad understanding of how audiences are built through a combination of editorial judgment and business thinking. You will have the ability to identify the components of audiences and adjust editorial strategy accordingly. We will explore and find answers to questions such as:

- What makes a newspaper, news website or a television news channel successful?

- What makes people use, view, tune in and read?

- What makes them want to come back, time and again?

 

The course is divided into five sections:

Section 1 provides an overview of the course and introduces the course trainer and participating experts.

Section 2 introduces and describes the two types of news consumers—core audience and discretionary audience.

Section 3 describes different ways of attracting the core audience.

Section 4 explains what brings in the discretionary consumers.  

Section 5 is the course summary.

Exercises feature throughout the course.

You can complete this course within 5 hours over multiple sessions.

 

By the end of this course you will be able to: 

- Understand the strategies news organisations can employ to attract, build and retain audiences.

- Explain the concepts of ‘core’ and ‘discretionary’ audiences.

- Identify the different factors which influence these overlapping audiences.

- Describe the strategies used by news organisations to attract a core audience.

- Describe how news organisations use stories to build discretionary audiences.

 

Participating experts:

John McAndrew - newsroom executive, journalist and programme-maker 

Richard Evans - radio broadcaster and programme maker with more than 20 years experience in the industry.

Ben Clissitt - former Executive Editor of Telegraph Media Group. a major online and print publisher.

 

Video infographic by Anthony Mwenda

Produced by the Thomson Foundation

All rights reserved