NewsBeat

December 2018 NewsBeat 17 Some key findings in the Panorama: • Consumer trust in print media is twice that of social media. • Print newspapers and magazines are the most-trusted advertising channels among news media consumers, more than any other source. • Consumers have a positive perception of ads in print newspapers. • Print newspapers score high for recall and likability and are also more likely than other channels to drive reader action, with as many as 83 percent of news media consumers taking action because of printed advertisements. • Print newspapers are the preferred source for coupons for U.S. adults. • News media provide superior coverage of shoppers across multiple industries, reaching between 55 and 65 percent of shoppers in multiple retail shopping categories. Frank concludes, "The most valuable asset to an advertiser is a respected and reliable partner that their audience trusts. With news media, you get that respected partner." The Panorama is available exclusively to News Media Alliance members on its https:// www.newsmediaalliance.org/panorama . Advertisers and others interested in obtaining a copy of the book should contact Alliance VP, Research & Insights Rebecca Frank at rebecca@newsmediaalliance.org . The News Media Alliance is a nonprofit organization representing more than 2,000 news organizations and their multiplatform businesses in the United States and globally. Alliance members include print, digital and mobile publishers of original news content. Headquartered near Washington, D.C., in Arlington, Va., the association focuses on ensuring the future of news media through communication, research, advocacy and innovation. Information about the News Media Alliance (formerly NAA) can be found at https://www.newsmediaalliance.org . — Reprinted from NewsMedia Alliance and Editor & Publisher "Your problem," one angry 90-year-old reader once told me, "is you're too educated." At the time, this was an insult I was all too happy to take. But the point has finally settled in. I was alienating him. I was discounting him. I was losing him. Journalists don't live insular lives. Most of us face the same daily challenges that most other Americans face. We pay the same school taxes, shop the same stores and fret about the same morning commute. But the words and tone of the work we produce can be condescending and that, in turn, can be corrosive to our relationship with the people we most want to reach — our readers. This may sound too easy to be true but respect your readers and they'll respect you. It will, at the least, big a good first step. By JUDY PATRICK — vice president for editorial development, NYPA Use simple words s my mother always told me, nobody likes a showoff. And too many of us in the press have become showoffs. We use big words when simple ones will do. Our articles are filled with jargon and acronyms that mean nothing to real people. Our sentences are sometimes so long and complicated, the old newspaper saying goes, that you'll need a picnic lunch before you get to the end. Our colleagues may think it's grand that we used the word splenetic in a sentence. We'll even get a shout-out or two on Twitter about our advanced diction. But thousands of average readers will have to reach for the dictionary to learn that splenetic is an adjective meaning bad- tempered or spiteful. Some will delight in learning something new. Most won't bother; they'll walk away feeling stupid, confused or annoyed. Instead of reaching them, we will have alienated them. In my first year as a reporter, I turned in a story using the word ameliorate. The city editor called me over to his computer and asked me what the word meant. Silly editor, I thought. He doesn't know what ameliorate means. To make less severe, I said. As I stood at his shoulder, I watched him slowly backspace over ameliorate and type in "to make less severe." It was only then that I realized he knew darned well what the word meant. I, however, had a lot to learn about using simple language. There's more at stake here than clear writing, although let's not discount its value. Journalists who use too much jargon, too much fancy language and too many insider references perpetuate the notion among readers that we think we're better, smarter and savvier than our audience. A

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