Listening Post: Why all the questions?

NCPR is being nosy again, asking you to answer questions in another survey–something we do about once a year. We are curious about you, but this survey, rather grandly titled “21st Century Public Media on a Rural Map” has a goal beyond mere nosiness. And it is actually short–I took it myself first, unlike another survey I mistakenly billed as short. Here’s what we want to know:

1. A little generic info about you–what town you live in, how old you are (roughly) and whether you are male or female.
2. A little info about the media gear you own and use.
3. Whether and how often you use social media like Facebook and Twitter
4. How you have gotten news and information during the last week

The above can all be answered with a word, or a click, or a couple of clicks. But why does it matter to NCPR that I am male, between ages 50-59, living in Potsdam; that I own a radio, a computer and a smart phone, but not a satellite radio; that I spend time on Facebook a couple of times a day, but only use Twitter a couple of times a week; that I get most national news from TV, most regional news from radio, and most local news online from newspaper websites, but I also get some of each via email and social media? Who cares that I have not sent a text message in the last week (or ever)?

It matters because NCPR has limited resources, your resources mostly, and we want to deploy them effectively to serve the mission and to sustain the service. Changing media consumption patterns determine, in part, where we invest time and money, and how much.

But to my mind, the meat of the survey is in two open-ended questions at the end, prompted by the recent Knight Foundation/ACT grant which, over three years, will support NCPR in deepening its news and information service to North Country communities, and help to fund the training of a new generation of public media professionals.

The questions are intentionally broad, to give the widest scope for thoughtful response:

• Do you think that the sources you use for news and information adequately address the issues and concerns of your community? If not, what is missing?
• Are there other community needs that are not being met by media? If yes, please describe.

And that’s it. Does the existing media available in your community (not just NCPR) give you the news and information you need, and does media meet the other needs that it could serve in your community? Your answers will help shape how NCPR goes forward over the next three years. We hope we can fill in some of the gaps in media service to rural communities. You can help NCPR start the process. Take the survey now. Thanks.

Tags: listeningpost