9A- Testing the Hypothesis

My issue was people have a general distaste in the modern media outlets, they see them as too biased to be accurate and too milquetoast to care about the content.

Of the five potential customers I interviewed for this assignment, these five should have this unmet need I identified but did not. These reasons mostly cycled around that they had no interest in the media, or they couldn’t understand when they read stories—especially concerning politics. I heard quotes such as “Like what is a Ponzi scheme” and “How was Trump acquitted I thought he was impeached” that made me cringe. These customers don’t currently have a news outlet they regularly consume and fit both the age range and education demographic but just don’t have any interest in the media—or simply cannot understand it. This need differs once I dive into the genre of the news. What kind of news would these people care about, and how do you cut it into pieces so small anyone can understand it? I believe the media is a public good, the people should be entitled to it. This need is similar to an educational endeavor that aims to increase civic literacy and engagement. These people are outside the boundaries because they aren’t invested in the media enough to understand how poorly executed it is. They simply do not care about the world around them. This is the why—because these individuals do not care or do not understand.

This content shows me that my opportunity is restrained so long as people don’t fully understand how important these issues are. They have to already be intellectually engaged in order to want to pursue alternatives. Maybe these people can be converted but at this point, I’m unsure if they actually lie outside of the boundary, or if they could be pulled back in.

	Inside the boundary		Outside the boundary
Who is in	Young people, with a desire to learn	Who is not	Individuals who have no interest in current events
What they need	An alternative to media that isn’t just unbiased but also engaging enough and simplified so they enjoy and can consume the media.	What the need is not	The need is not so niche as to include just news for woman, or just news for business students.
Why the need exists	Failure of public education to create civic engagement and comprehension. Absence of curriculum that explains the importance of media and current events.	Alternative explanations	Average people simply don’t have an interest in current events, they aren’t so concerned with events outside their spheres of influence—this is a direct derivative of their job/education.