12A- Figuring out Buyer Behavior No.1

For these three interviews, I interviewed three journalism students at both the University of Florida and the University of Central Florida. I choose these students because they have need awareness, expertise, and interest in the media already. The protypical customer obviously expands beyond journalists, into anyone with an interest in media with merit.

For my first interview, I interviewed a UCF journalism student and writer for NSMtoday, Emily Mozdzierz. Emily is a junior and 20 years old. I asked her how often she read the news, which news sources she reads most frequently, and to rate on a scale of 1-10 how nonpartisan the media source she reads is. She responded that she reads the news every day, mostly siding to read CNN and Politico. She said her sources were 5, on the scale this represents a “fairly objective” approach to media. We talked a lot about the flaws with the design of media as well.  When she becomes aware of this need, she reads multiple articles from a variety of different sources. She becomes most aware of this need when there’s a developing story “like a shooting, a trial, important things like that” and wants to know more. She also cited a specific time, when the Parkland Massacre was ongoing, and she was trying to find information on whether or not her friends were safe. She was constantly checking for updates but only found propaganda.

The second student I Interviewed was a University of Florida journalism student, Kristin Bausch. A 19-year-old junior. She reads the news fairly infrequently, as she says she struggles to understand the news with the language they use and the opinions they present. She likes fox news the most but doesn’t have any particular loyalty to any one source. The need awareness is an always thing for her, she says she’s very conscious of the flaws in the media, and when she gets really annoyed, she often stops reading. She also said the awareness is exacerbated when the story is still developing and people are reading, but the sources are inaccurate or not timely.  I’m including this interview because I think it brings in a unique perspective, many pro-typical customers with need awareness are so bothered by the lack of alternatives they get frustrated enough to stop reading entirely. I asked her what she does when doesn’t quit, and she remarked that she turned to AP to read.

My third interview was Nick Geddes, a senior at the University of Central Florida. Nick is 22 years old and studies journalism. He remarked that he reads the news daily, choosing from mostly local sources. The Orlando Sentinel being his go to choice. He says as a student constantly reading the news and writing it he must ALWAYS be aware of the need to be better and write better. The need awareness for readers he claims is “always, 100% of the time there” but it mostly comes out when reading anything from the major sources which he cites as “Fox and CNN”. I asked him what he did when he became aware of the need and he claimed he’d have to go out, read a variety of sources, and make an opinion and observation for himself. He also stated that this is far more time consuming, but absolutely necessary if he wants to really understand and get an unbiased perspective on current events.

In conclusion, all of the journalism students I interviewed claim the need awareness is there, but none of their alternatives (quitting, finding the info themselves, etc.) is viable or tolerable for most consumers. I choose to pick these journalism students because of their relevant experience in the field and because I thought they’d be very knowledgeable about both the consumer and trends in media. I’m leaving this exercise understanding now that many professionals in the field see the issue too, but still lacking awareness of any solid alterative to the problem.