The Democracy Audience Map
This collaborative project from Harmony Labs and the Democracy Communications Collaboration posits that there is still a way for today’s media ecosystem to bring audiences together around a shared vision for American democracy. To succeed, there will need to be field alignment towards an audience-first approach.The framework developed with this map provides paths to adapt pro-democracy messages for many different audiences and purposes.
The Democracy Audience Map is a tool based on a four-quadrant wheel, divided into Transform, Challenge, Restore and Organize. Each quadrant has two audiences: Advocate, Protest, Investigate, Confront, Defend, Referee, Connect and Build. These audiences are defined by their values and attitudes about democracy. Rather than relying on demographics, the framework groups audiences based on shared values, views about their role in governance, media consumption habits and stories. Based on extensive surveys the supporting research shows that traditional demographic categories, including political affiliation, do not map cleanly to any one of the audiences proposed here,evidence that audiences are made up of different genders, ages, race and politics.
Based on extensive surveys, the supporting research shows that traditional demographic categories, including political affiliation, do not map cleanly to any one of the audiences proposed here, evidence that audiences are made up of different genders, ages, race and politics.For each of the eight audiences, the map provides ways they can contribute to democratic narratives, information about who they are, where they appear in culture, where they currently get their information, what platforms they use and the best strategies for reaching them.
The second half of the report provides frameworks for measuring engagement. This includes information about the attitudes these audiences hold toward democracy, a problem-and-solution matrix that speaks to content and messaging strategies for each audience, and strategies to bridge gaps in divergent attitudes towards democracy.
Use This Resource To:
- Map your key audiences and impact goals to the audience style and communication strategies provided in the research.
- Learn how to build a pro-democracy portfolio by connecting your target audience to grantees best suited to reach them, or identifying gaps where your target audience is not being successfully reached.
- Experiment with new content design and platforms to better reach your audiences based on the profiles provided.
Suggested Content:
- Mainstream Media Ecosystem Analysis
- A Funder’s Guide to Building Social Cohesion
- How We Know Journalism is Good For Democracy
Source: Harmony Labs