Blog Post #27 - Analyzing My Audience

For Blog Post #27 I will be analyzing the text I've chosen and providing answers to some questions.

Jangda, Mohammad. "Audience at Humanities Theatre". 3/5/2007. via Flickr
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When you right, it is critical to consider carefully who your readers are and what assumptions and expectations they may have. Assess your readers' needs by asking yourself:

• What are their beliefs and assumptions?
• The majority of Americans believe in humane treatment of animals. There are numerous laws protecting everything from dogs and cats to exotic circus animals. Due to the enactment of laws and the prevalence of animal rights groups and associations in America it can be assumed that most Americans are for the ethical treatment of animals.
• What kind of language is appropriate for them?
• The text was an article in the Wall Street Journal which is read mostly by lower and upper middle class business people. There are small slices of readers from working, underclass and capitalist classes. The two primary reader classes make up nearly 47% of the college graduates in America. The language used reflects these stats by staying away from slang, acronyms and industry specific terms and focuses on common business speech practices. **Statistics taken from US Census Bureau.
• What are the sociopolitical and economic backgrounds?
• For sociopolitical background you can assume an equal cross-section from left to right. Though there may be readers from both far ends of the spectrum. Economically, readers of the WSJ are working class up to capitalist class with family incomes starting around $50K/year and climbing. 
• What position might they take on this issue?
• Since animal cruelty is very much looked down upon across America I believe that the majority of readers, whether vested in the topic or not, would side against unethical treatment of race horses. Even those inside the industry see a need for change and I would assume most readers would also.
• What will they want to know?
• Due to the backgrounds and status of the majority of readers, I believe they would want facts and data prior to making a decision. The emotion tie to animal cruelty may minimize that as people who are emotionally vested in a topic/issue require less incentive to action then those who are not.
• In general, how can they best be persuaded?
• By using facts and data from respected sources the issue can be laid out in a fair and balanced way. The emotional side of the story will only heighten the sense in the reader that something must be done. Being credible is key as most reader will disregard content that is falsified or shows signs of bias.