Communicating research in the media - how does your university fare?

Photo by Sam McGhee on Unsplash

It’s pretty tough to address a rolling camera, an audience, or an interview panel no matter how fully equipped you feel you are.

Academics are expected to be able to communicate academic research to a wide-reaching audience, enhancing engagement, while sometimes dealing with hostile media or curveball questions. 

Taking a niche subject and making it relate to a mass audience is no easy feat.

We asked Rachel Hall, education reporter at the Guardian about the differences between reaching niche education audiences vs the general population when writing stories. How do you reach mass audiences you aren’t already engaging with? 

“To reach broad audiences you need to tap into bigger societal themes. If you’re writing a small story happening at an individual place then it has to say something bigger about society or the sector. You’re looking to illuminate a broader problem as opposed to just keeping the world updated on everything happening in one university, as most people don’t care that much.” 

A great piece of advice for us all to bear in mind when thinking about how to approach societal topics is, “What is the broader narrative that specific detail is shedding light on?”

 For a range of tips, techniques and broadcast skills for your academics, get in touch with trina@stori.works for an interactive and practical workshop led by award-winning journalist, author and broadcaster, Rachel Shabi.