Media told to know audience better

By ANCILLA WRAKUALE
THE media should know their targeted audience better to effectively communicate information and messages to them, says Divine Word University president Fr Jan Czuba.
He made the remark when opening the two-day Communication Arts Professionals Association conference in Port Moresby yesterday.
Czuba spoke of his experience during the Oct 13 plane crash in Madang when he had to convey the sad news to the families of students whose relatives died in the crash.
“Communication is a complex issue unless you know your audience better,” he said.
He said he was faced with a big challenge during the plane crash when trying to get the information out to the families of the students.
He said he had to communicate with the Modilon Hospital, the student body and the relatives of the crash victims.
“Effective communication is a two-way street,”  Czuba said.
He said the key challenge for the media was to know the targeted audience and what message to get across.
He said feedback from the audience was good because it provided journalists the opportunity to learn and improve their work.
The theme of the conference is “communicating to an audience”. It is the first to be  organised by the association and covers presentations by media and communications people in the private and public sectors.
The association is an initiative of former graduates of the communication arts school at DWU and is a non-profit body established last year and registered with the Investment Promotion Authority.
The conference ends today.