From Credibility to Relevance

Uncertainty about the future of journalism and what may be expected from the news media have generated special interest in how news organisations connect with the audience. In this paper three analytical approaches are described: institutional connection, market connection and public connection. While the two former approaches are more familiar to the media industry, it is argued that the latter seems theoretically and empirically more useful. Future studies on journalism's public connection should consider the fact that the relevance of journalism for its readers is embedded in the social fabric of their everyday lives. This approach needs to be informed by the key sociological concepts of networks, habits and interests. At the end of the paper a short outline of an audience research project recently launched in Finland is introduced.