Knowing Your Audience and Communication Release

Knowing Your Audience and Communication Release

Felicia Brown

April 9, 2012

Chris A Marshall

BCOM/275

On August 5, 2010 the San Jose' Mine in northern Chile became national news. The whole world took notice of this incident with sympathy and concern for the miners. By the end of this ordeal the whole world was emotionally invested in the saving of the 33 miners trapped for sixty nine days. Our only mode of communication was through the media. So they turned to the newspapers, radio, and television. As the news is spread to the rest of the world, it is important to be mindful of the information released. For the family's sake, protect the miner's information and privacy, and the public from emotional state of mind.

As the new reports the information about the circumstances of the mine collapsing. They should remember that the family is hanging on to every word. What the officials are reporting to the family may be different from what the reporters and journalist has discovered. The public was notified that the rescue mission could take from thirty days up to four months. This is devastating news and would make anyone quite anxious. "The miners have not been told it could be months before they are rescued, chief engineer Andres Sougarret admitted." (daily mail uk) When reporting about the conditions of the mine, the news should use less connotative words to prevent emotional out pour. "These guys are in a very stressful environment, and it could eat away at them, and some of them, depending on their constitution may not hold up." (livescience). Hearing this statement is liable to cause stress to the families and the public.

The news reported that this is not the first time this particular mine has collapsed. There was an explosion in 2007, which killed several people. The mine was reopened without an escape route, stated by a reporter. As an employee of this company I, would be concerned about my safety in the future. As the workers at home watch their fellow coworkers and friends trapped, I would not only be worried about them. I would worry about my position with the company later. The experienced miners sitting at home are able to decipher the words that the media is reporting. With knowing this, reporting the facts and not false information should be one of the top priorities for the news.

Before reporting news to the public is it important to remember that words have value. Because the Chilean incident became worldwide news, it is important to remember when sending out messages, language is different among cultures. Americans love to report and debate as much news as possible. The United States has become so invasive in the lives of others that there is hardly any privacy left. Researching someone is as easy as putting their name into goggle. Other countries still value privacy and do not report as much as Americans do. The figurate speech "silence is golden" is cherished in other countries.

When communicating news it is important to clarify what your words mean. Certain words can be the same but have different meanings. For example a bunny means a rabbit in the United States. Bunny means a sweatshirt with a hood or hoodie in Canada. We have become a country of shorthand or acronyms. Reporting news with acronyms is not wise because, it could cause confusion. Certain acronyms have different meanings and do not translate the same to others. A reporter should be direct and specific