Tuesday 17 June 2008

Please treat your audience like real people 把觀眾當人對待吧



An NHK program.

Lesson 1: topics involving shared memories among many many people have a lot of potential
Lesson 2: must do market research and understand what the audience wants, rather than thinking about what they want from inside the TV station, producing content and then realizing the result after ratings come in

Unfortunately, it feels as if Lesson 2 won't be learned around here anytime soon. Sometimes I feel the editors and producers treat the audience how bad owners treat their dogs - they feed the dog whatever and if the dog eats it, they guess it's OK, and if the dog doesn't eat it, it can starve until it has to eat it. They never take the time to think about what the dog likes and what the dog needs and how the dog really ought to be fed to make it happy and healthy. Sometimes I feel that editors and producers around here sit in their ivory towers and and give the audience what they think make the ratings go up, rather than conduct surveys or go into crowds and observe what people are doing, what they are interested in or what they need. Sigh. My observations and their assumptions are totally incongruent, so my ideas and story pitches almost always die in midair. Sigh again.

NHK 的節目。
感想1: 有共同回憶的題目很討喜,有淺能。
感想2: 一定要做市調了解觀眾要的是什麼,
不是在辦公室想然後做出來播出去看到收視率
才知道原來這是觀眾要的還是不要的。

遺憾的是,覺得#2近期內不會被拿來當一回事。
覺得有時候新聞台的主管對待觀眾好像
爛主人對待家裡的狗一樣:
東西放著給牠吃,
全吃了就表示牠喜歡,
不吃就放著,等牠快餓死自然而然就會吃了,
從不會認真想或研究牠想吃什麼,
該吃什麼 ,給牠吃什麼才會健康、快樂。
好像新聞台主管都吹著冷氣看著收視率
決定觀眾要看什麼,從不做民調,
從不走入社會看大家在做什麼,
關心什麼,喜歡什麼,需要什麼。
我觀察的和他們假設的完全不一致,
所以我的idea幾乎都胎死腹中。
很無奈。

(video via fjumonkey)

1 comment:

Snowdrops said...

Hi Michella, I've been reading your blog for a while now, and am always impressed by your bubbly enthusiasm, your professionalism and above all your joie de vivre even when you encounter obstacles and unreasonable people in your line of work. The fact that Taiwanese media have reporters like you who keeps the noble ideals of journalism alive even in the face of indifference gives us hope.

The reason I finally de-lurk and comment here (your blog posts have always been consistently great btw) is because I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for pointing us to the interview with Doraemon's creators. Their story is so inspiring! I'm particularly moved by his talk about how even apparently "useless kids" like Dai Hung can find their true vocation if they persevere with something that they love. This is such a valuable lesson that I myself have to keep relearning (even though it's been a looong time since I've been a kid), and I think you are also another living example of a person who've found her true vocation. Keep up the good work Michella! The world needs more true journalists like you :)