The news cone
On the wall of my office there's a chart entitled the Newsnight cone. This is a rough aid to help us think about who are audience are when deciding what to put in the programme. It was inspired in fact by the head of Radio One, and since he's just won an armful of awards including station of the year I feel confident enough to say it's not what Jeremy might call "bollocks"
At the sharp end of the cone in our case are "opinion formers" - politicians, public bodies, media organisations - people who watch Newsnight as if their life depended on it. These are a highly influential, highly desirable audience, but they are few in number.
Next are what we call the "dedicated loyalists". Often related to members of the production team, they lap up what we do, watching maybe three or four times a week. If you're reading this you could well be one of them. They love our agenda, laugh at all our jokes, and some of them - like Jeanette (hello Jeanette) - commune with us one to one on an almost daily basis. There are more dedicated loyalists than opinion formers, but perhaps not many more.
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Comments
This is interesting - I've often wondered how programmes actually work out who their audience is, because it's surely not always the people they want it to be. So is it better to be targeted at a specific type, or a broad range... anyone who understands these things out there?
We get a pretty good idea from quantitative audience research who is watching Newsnight, and the idea of intimidated potentials came from some focus groups we did a while back where the message from light viewers was that they'd like to join in but weren't sure it was for them. Of course, the audience isn't made up precisely of these tribes and loads of people have written to us already saying they watch Newsnight and don't fit these groups, many of them women. It's only a rough guide and we should always aim to have a diverse range of items on the agenda. I'd say it helps inform our choices rather dictates them.
I applaud you Peter for bringing back a more documentary style to the programme. The film a few months ago about the Iraq vets marching in America was an exceptional film. Nicely paced and not driven by a journalistic rush to get onto the next point.
The mini series you have set up about the village in China was good film making. The most informative film I have seen about China on the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳.
Also you seem to have been the only programme to show something of the real Germany in the World Cup.
No, I am not Peter's great lost uncle but do work in the media. Newsnight is one of the last programmes in British broadcasting which doesn't treat the audience like a bunch of seven year olds. (Others in the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ should take note).
Good luck with the blog.