Why Do Audiences Tolerate Reruns - Essay Example

Why Audiences Tolerate Re-Runs The word audience in media means a group of people gathered together to hear, watch or read a particular item presented by the media. Audiences are said to be a major factor in media communication, since it is through the audiences that the conveying and sourcing of information by the media is made successful. The media itself regards the audience as being passive in the interpretation of media messages. And it is in this messages that the media gets the power to influences the audience. These audiences can be noticed by the specific needs that are always specific, whereby they are forced to look upon the media so as they can derive their satisfaction.1 The audiences are therefore, forced to tolerate the re-runs done by the media depending on their desire to fulfil their specified needs which are divided into four categories, the first one being that of entertainment, in a case where we find a media playing a re-runs as the only form of entertainment and in most cases we find that the audiences wants to divert their concentration from the daily activities to a different dimension of life, so to satisfy this need they are therefore forced to watch or listen to entertainment programs which include: stories, music, theatre, and puzzles. The need for personal relationships has also been seen to be making the audience tolerate re-runs, so that they can create friendship with a particular media presenting their subject of interest, this is achieved through the media personnel such as, the news paper writers, news anchors and even through interactions with friends about the specified media programs and presentations. Personality under this, we find that the audience have the urge of wanting to compare themselves with other people in the society, or even compare their lifestyle and situations with other so that they can identify their status in the society therefore they are forced to watch, read or listen to particular media items despite the fact that they are re-runs. Dependency in this category of needs, the audience are said to be looking upon the media to be given information about the events taking place globally so they have to tolerate the reruns by the media so as they get the accurate information about a particular event taking place. In this case we find that the audience read, listen and interpret the message depending on their socio-economic class, gender, age, education and their ethnic backgrounds, in this manner we find that they are influenced by the media to carry out a particular action or even to copy the concepts of life shown in the message that is put across to them through re-runs. Therefore the media is said to be influencing the society in various ways through the re-runs whereby, it creates ideas in the minds of the people, it also changes the attitudes of people on a particular issues affecting them, and also makes beliefs into the audience who are expected by the media itself or the person initializing the idea to the media to react in a positive manner, so that they can achieve their respective goals in the society this is usually done by the repeated episodes by the media . For example when an audience is watching or reading an article that is supporting violence and it is always repeated thus putting an emphasis about the subject matter, then he is most probably likely to support the idea causing the violence or he may also decide to join the violators and engage himself in doing something violent.2 The re-runs normally appear in advertisements through which, we find that most business men use them as their means of promoting their products to the market, through advertising, which is said to increase the audiences’ need for consuming particular products that are presented by the media and its through the advertising that the society is notified of the presence of a new product in the market, we see that once a product is bought, another product emerges in the market. Therefore advertising is used to influence the decision making process of a particular audience to purchase a particular product, due to the desires created by the media through its attractive presentation of re-runs about the quality of the products. The audiences decision making, is defined as the psychological process of selecting a particular course of action among other alternatives, this is said to be the simplest process that a consumer needs to apply before purchasing a particular product, and this is normally influenced by the advertisements presented as re-runs by the media. We see that audience is made aware of the product and how they are to obtain it. Awareness is a stage where a consumer or the audience must have the knowledge of the existence of a particular product in the market, this is because, if a buyer is not aware of the product then there will be no action taken on the purchasing process and the business owner is likely to undergo losses due to lack of the market for its product therefore the re-runs are used to create more emphasis about the products. 3 The media also creates interest to the audience about a particular product, that he intends to buy, and therefore, he is persuaded by the content of the message presented by the media’s re-runs that the product is relevant to his needs. Through the re-runs, understanding is imposed on the audience whereby, the consumer should be able to know how the particular product will meet his needs thus the media includes the benefits and the procedures of using a particular product thus the media practices its role of educating its audience. Journalism plays a major role in the creation of attitude of the audiences; under this, the consumer must be able to develop a positive feeling towards the product depending on the persuasive message given by the media about the product. And finally we see that the audience is led to the purchase of the product although it may take some time later after trying to get the shop that stocks their favourite products; this also enriches both the business and the media when the goods are sold. Though this advertising may also have some negative impacts on the audience whereby, we may find that the person may not be able to fulfil the desires created in him on the purchasing of that particular good due to the economic status of the audience, then the person ends up creating anxiety, stress and frustration depending on the kind of information given by the media. Journalism is defined as a practice of collecting, compiling, and disseminating of reports, whereby these reports are termed as news, which basically means, an information on a particular event that has just taken place, that the society need to be informed about it, this method of gathering news, usually involves, editing which is a process where the information proof written following the attributes that make the event be of importance to the society, journalism involves various mediums, that are used in the presentation of this information this mediums include: the print media, that normally consists of newspapers, magazines and other publications , and the electronic media which include radio, internet and television. 4 Under this, we see that journalists have the obligation to ensure that the stories they publish meet the standards that will make a story to be news worthy, whereby they make the stories to be timely, accurate, clear, balanced meaning with no any bias on the side of the subject and also the story should meet the style of the organization. Journalism is used as a watch dog for the community; it also acts as a referee between the public and the government institutions. We see that when these government officials have a need to communicate a particular issue to the society, the journalists are therefore used as mediators, whereby they get hold of the message record it or write it and take it to media organization in which the message is edited for clarity, balance, accuracy, and timeliness and also for space, in case of a newspaper or air time in case of an electronic media, and lastly the news is passed to the public for its consumption and in a case where we find the information to be of importance to the society then the media is forced to present the message as a re-run to ensure that the audience are fully informed about the message, since the listeners are always not in a position to understand complicated stories and for this reasons, the journalists are urged to present their stories in a manner that is always catchy, interesting, attractive and appealing for the readers or listeners to understand it. 5 The re-runs by the media are also used to inform the society on what role the leaders are playing in managing the governance of a country or also inform the society on the new events that are taking place locally and internationally therefore the audience is forced to tolerate such re-runs, under this, the journalists have the responsibility of informing the public on the matters that are of importance to them, and these matters should be focused on either their development or that which is affecting their development. They also act as supervisory body for the leaders and other prominent people in the society, whereby, they disseminate information that is normally a feedback from the public to their leaders, this is usually important, since it enables the leaders to know whether the members of the society are satisfied with their performances towards their particular goals in the society. Although this is viewed as disadvantage to the public, since they are denied a direct access to their leaders thus they are said to have no power to make decisions for these leaders or in other cases we find that the journalists are normally biased or influenced by these leaders not to report on particular stories that are always important to the society, since they want to maintain their reputation, therefore the writers rarely show the negativity of their performance and in this case, the public ends up oppressed of their rights to information. For journalist to pass this information to the society, by the use of re-runs they need to carry out the following, Accuracy, under this the journalists are supposed to show the truth of the subject matter in the information, this is because, depending on the kind of the information they give, the audiences or the readers are influenced to carry out a particular course of action so as to ensure the need of the information is fulfilled by watching the re-runs presented by the electronic media. Reliability the journalists should have the knowledge of showing the society that they can be relied upon by the community in covering various events in the society, this is normally done by the writers presenting information on the matters that are newsworthy, and also having faithfulness in their presentation.6 Independence, the media organizations are said to be influenced on the type of the coverage they should undertake, this makes the journalists to have a difficult time to make a decision on how to educate the society since they are denied the freedom of speech. This is said to be commonly done by the political leaders, business owners or even the owners of the media organization. therefore, they are ordered to present particular programs more than once by the people who claim to have power over the media organisations and through this, we see that the audience is also forced to watch these re-runs despite the fact that they have no interest in them. 7 In this case the journalists are therefore, urged to provide a room for public criticism, where the public is given a chance to present their views on a particular subject that is affecting them socially and economically. This may be done through the media practitioners such as the electronic media indulging the society in conversations, through the live interviews on telephone or the internet whereby the public is allowed to give their own opinions. And while using the re-runs in their broadcasting, the journalists are supposed to have some personal ethics while carrying out his duties, this may include, the use of original sources of information, they may do this by having a direct interview with the person involved in the subject matter, they should not use imagination so as to appear to be creative, therefore, they should use original credentials and direct sources of information, attribution of the sources of his information should also be practiced, in the case where the information is retrieved from other publications. The journalists should not be biased, that is, they should give both sides of the story a say; this means that he should not sideline one side of the story. And also they should follow the confidentiality rules of the source of information in case of reporting on a vital story as a re-run. These re-runs may also be used to create a negative impact in the society that is they may be used to, present an illegal activity such as propaganda for war thus influencing the community to contribute in fighting in the war in a particular region of a country. Globalization is the change in the communication technology and the enabled access to various information channels. It has led to an establishment of an ideology that is meant to serve the interest of various media organizations whereby, it indulges the society in accepting various social, cultural and institutional changes. Under this we have seen many changes in the use and the role of the media for communication in development, this is because, there has been a revolution in the communication technologies for example video technologies, have become smaller, cheaper, more reliable and easier to use , this makes them accessible to various organizations and individuals. There has also been a change in the development thinking towards the sustainability of livelihoods in the societies and also the desire by the society to make development a reality in the to poor countries, therefore this need has brought up necessary changes in the approaches to media, its role, the technology used, the skills needed and the media professionals in this case we find that due to this need of development we find that the audiences are forced to tolerate the re-runs by the media organisations, so that they may be able to get and learn through various programs that are meant to educate them in various development procedures, due to the educational need by the audience the media organisations are forced to present their programs as re-runs. Therefore we find that the media no longer considered good enough to isolate themselves from the audiences they are supposed to serve. Nowadays we see that media can be found working with local populations to determine their needs in relation to the media itself. Though the access to popular knowledge systems not evenly distributed, the world is growing into a knowledge society, where an increasing share of products and services is attributed to knowledge and information. We see that communication technology is an effective tool to deliver development services and technical assistance thus reaching more people, geographically deeper, with a higher quality, faster and at a lower cost compared to the traditional means, thus enabling people to have access to the global knowledge, and socio-economic factors. 8 References Couldry, N. and Curran, J. (2003): Contesting Media Power, Alternative media in a networked world, Lanham and Oxford, Rowman and Littlefield. Croteau, D. and Hoynes, W. (2000): Media Society: Industries, Images and Audiences, Second Edition, Thousand Oaks, Pine Forge Press. Cunningham S. and Turner G. 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