December 06, 2007
1. Who’s “Different?” Defining Communities
(NOTE: This post is part of a series. Series index.) People identify with communities in lots of ways, some of which are “mainstream” in your coverage area. Here are some characteristics that tend to mark some communities as “different” from the demographics that most news orgs tend to focus on serving…
- Class: Working class and the “underclass” (poor, unemployed, homeless, etc.).
- Geography: Rural people, whether in farming/ranching communities, or in sparsely populated ares such as mountains or deserts.
- Race and ethnicity: Includes people of color as well as ethnic distinctions such as Persian, Slovak, Tuareg, Bengali, or Hmong.
- Language: People with little or no English skills, or who prefer another language to English. Mainly immigrants, but can be cultural preference.
- Ability: People who face significant challenges with vision, hearing, mobility, cognition, development, and communication.
- Age: Children, teens, and seniors have unique needs and preferences for news and community.
- Military: The military is its own society, for both soldiers and their families.
- “Queer” (Sexual or gender orientation): In the US, if you’re not primarily heterosexual and presenting a gender that matches your “naughty bits,” you’re “other.” Also includes less-recognized communities around alternative sexuality (like BDSM) or relationship structure (like polyamory)—common fault lines today.
- Faith: In most regions of the US, any faith beyond the Judeo-Christian mainstream is treated as “other.” But for many people, faiths such as Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Mormonism, Jainism, or Santeria provide their primary community identification.
- Literacy: People who can’t read well or at all are often “out of the loop” for print news and other information sources.
- Incarceration: Some regions have a huge prison population, which is largely ignored by most news orgs except in stories about prisons or crime. But most of these people will get out of prison some day—and they’re still people, even while in jail.
NEXT: Let’s take a look at how technology can help you connect better with these communities, starting with:
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