What did we miss?
On audience feedback, conditioning, and asking the right questions
A common way to sign-off from a broadcast news story is to ask for audience feedback. It’s often phrased something like, “We’d love to know what you think! Send your comments to...”
■ The instinct to solicit feedback is perfectly natural. Giving people the sense that they contribute to creating the product is a terrific way to build audience loyalty, and most people who place themselves in the public eye are either wired or conditioned to think of feedback as a form of applause.
■ But most of the time, the sign-off is driven by a faulty call to action. “What you think” is often irrational, unhelpful, or inadequately informed. Opinions are among the cheapest space-fillers on Earth -- a perpetually renewable resource. Most really don’t need to be amplified.
■ A considerably better question would be, “What did we forget to ask?” It is not a question designed to provoke the same amount of response. But it would be a more useful prompt, because journalists and interviewers should always be interested in improving the questions they ask. The general public usually does not possess the expertise required to offer high-quality commentary.
■ The average member of the public is, however, well-positioned to know what questions pique their own curiosity. Moreover, journalists ought to welcome good-faith efforts to help them identify their own blind spots.
