What are the advantages and risks of journalists actively working to "market" their content to audiences?

Today’s technology continues to advance at an increasing pace. As newspapers struggle to adapt to the latest trends, journalists must make compromises in the approaches they take. For example, should an editor run the stories with the biggest shock element to sell papers or should the paper develop a niche that attracts long time readers? There must be an appropriate balance of engaging readers without becoming a sensational tabloid.  

To market appropriately Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel say this in their book The Elements of Journalism, “We do not think [the answer to resisting sensationalism] lies with isolating the journalist behind some wall to ignore the realities of the market-place. A better understanding of changing tastes, needs, and trends in the community is an important part of the answer” (Kovach & Rosenstiel 216).

An advantage to market research includes an understanding of your audience as Kovach and Rosenstiel suggest with the changing “tastes, needs, and trends.” However, one of the disadvantages to this research is that participants generally spit back the things that were previously introduced to them with perhaps a few minimal changes. The important part about journalism is making the material matter to the public—an ever present journalistic challenge.