Online Journalism 101- Post #5: Issues in reporting for a global audience

When reporting for a global audience, the biggest challenge is to report what interest your audience. The largest challenge here is that global audience means the people who read your news could be from anywhere of the globe and here is where proximity matters. When the scope of audience is so broad, it is very difficult to produce a news that fits everyone as one men's meat is another men's poison. Lets take the former Hurricane-turned-Tropical storm Harvey that was catastrophic and has caused damage to tens of thousands of people in Texas. It was a havoc for people who is affected especially for Americans but it has nothing directly to do with Malaysians other than being symphathy. The nearer the audience to the incident place, the more impact it has towards them.

Another challenge when reporting for global audience is the issue of currency. A particular topic might be in trend for this country but it might not be the same in another country at the same time. For instance, the world is currently focusing on Donald Trump and Kim Jong-Un on their 'missile and war battle', Malaysia is in-trend about religious school fires and halal laundrettes.

Also, conflicts between famous people or organisations that is not well-known internationally may only attract local rather than global audiences.

Lastly, timeliness is another factor that makes reporting to global audience harder. The recent mass shooting in Las Vegas(-8 GMT) happened at 10pm and it could be timely for Malaysians(+8 GMT) to catch the news immediately as it is 10am over here but it is not so timely for audience in Cairo(+2 GMT) to catch the news instantly as it is 4am there and people are still sleeping. 


Hence, knowing and focusing well on your audiences is the best solution to stay relevant and connected with your audiences!