Uses and Gratification

By the nineteen fifties and sixties, communication researchers began to fine tune their theories and research methods. These thinkers turned their attention to how audiences used the media to live out their fantasy lives and to seek out other gratifications, or even to inform and educate themselves about the world and its people.

Uses and Gratification Theory emerged in the 1970's as a reaction to traditional Mass Communication Research.

Most theories discuss how media had an impact on people. This theory explains how people use media for their need and gratification.

According to this theory, Media is used for

1. Diversion - Escape from everyday problems and routines.

2. Personal Relationship - Emotional other interaction e.g. substituting soap operas for family life

3. Personal Identity - Find yourself reflected in texts, learning behavior and values

4. Surveillance - Information could be useful for living - weather reports, financial news, etc.

Therefore, users play an active part in the communication process and are goal oriented in their media use.

Users seek out a media source that best fulfills their needs.

Thus Uses and Gratification has a humanistic approach.

Media consumers have free will to decide how they will use media and how it will affect them.

Three Objectives

1. To explain how individuals use mass communication to gratify their needs.

2. To discover underlying motives for individuals media use

3. To identify positive and negative consequences of individual media use.

Five Basic Assumptions:

1. "The audience is conceived as active" - Viewers are goal oriented and attempt to achieve their goal through the media source.

2. "In the mass communication process much initiative in linking needs, gratification and media choice lies with the audience member" - Viewers use media to their advantage rather than media uses viewers. The receiver decides what is to be absorbed and does not allow media to influence him.

3. "The media competes with other sources of need satisfaction" - Each individual has several needs and a wide range of choices to fulfill these needs. Strongest rival to media based sources include face to face communication as this helps individual cope with circumstances surrounding them most effectively. Thus, Mass media must compete with non media related sources and help create a need for itself as well as a proper balance between the two.

4. "Many of the goals media use can be derived from data supplied by individual audience members themselves" - Individuals are aware of their motives and choices and are able to explain them verbally if necessary.

5. "Value judgments about cultural significance of mass communication should be suspended while audience operations are explored on their own terms" - Individuals decide which media to view. Thus, Individuals place value on the media by their individual decision to view it.

These assumptions provide a framework for understanding the corelation between media and the viewers. It also provides a distinction between how the audience is more or less active and the consequences of their involvement in the media as a whole.

A medium will be used more when the existing motives to use the medium leads to more satisfaction.

This is the most widely used theoretical concept in communication research.


Additional Information
Thus media 'effects' were related to the needs and activities of audiences. The theory was largely concerned with the selection, reception and nature of response of audiences to the media, the assumption being that individual members in an audience made conscious and motivated selection of channels and programmes.

According to the studies done by researchers, it was found that daily soap operas (esp in the noon slots) were patronized by women who found role models in the leading female characters (ideal mothers, daughters and daughters-in-law). This brought about a catharsis of emotions in female viewers as this provided them moments of joy and tears.

On conducting research on newspapers, it was found that newspapers were not only a source of information but also shaped the daily routine of the individual. It gave the individual a sense of belonging that he was not the only individual reading the newspaper but many others shared this activity. This gave him a sense of belonging to a larger audience.

The thinkers felt that the reasons for use of this media was mainly social interaction, entertainment, understanding the environment around them and developing an identity along with shared decision making. Thus by reading sports pages or reading about their favorite personalities, individuals found social companionship. Thus it was a means to escape the hardships and realities of life.

Uses and gratification applies this principle of diversion to media content and explains that these media transport the audience into a romantic world where they can escape painful realities of life. For e.g., Watching a movie or a television program transports the individual to the story thus enabling the individual to temporarily forget his problems and experience the fantasy world portrayed in the movie or television program.

Agenda-setting

News plays an important role in shaping political reality. The amount of time spent on an issue and information relayed in the news story along with story’s position determine how much a reader learns.

Mass communication creates mass culture.

Agenda setting is the ability of media to determine through a cognitive process called ‘accessibility’, which is the process of retrieving an issue in the memory. Agenda setting is also influenced by a person’s perception to certain beliefs. For e.g. If a person is highly sensitive to cultural issues, then cultural news is most important.

Agenda setting happens after gatekeeping where the news is edited before it reaches the audiences.

In 1998 Mc Combs gave the concept of ‘Framing’ which simply means, media can not only direct people on what to thing about but can also shape how to think about an issue.

2 basic assumptions to be considered under Agenda Setting

1.       Media and the press filter and shape reality rather than reflect it.

2.       When media focuses on just a few issues and subjects, the public tends to perceive those issues as important.

Positive aspects of Agenda Setting Theory

-          Explanatory power as it explains why people prioritize certain issues

-          Predictive power as it predicts priorities of media audience according to news media content

-          Economical theory that is easy to understand

-          Theoretical assumptions are balanced and unbiased

-          Theory provides new areas for further research

-          Theory has organizing power because it helps to organize existing knowledge of media effects on society.

Types of Agenda Setting

-          Public Agenda Setting where the public is the dependent variable

-          Media Agenda Setting where media is the dependent variable

-          Policy Agenda Setting where policy makers agenda is the dependent variable.

Criticism of Agenda Setting Theory

-          Agenda setting of any media or news article is difficult

-          Surveys and studies are very subjective and not very accurate as there are too many variables to consider

-          With the emergence of new media, people have varied options from which to read about the same story from different angles

-          Today media uses two way communication unlike when this theory was developed

-          Agenda setting has benefits as media influences public and public influences policy

-          People might not look at the details and may miss some important points resulting in misunderstanding.

-          Media effect does not work on people who have a set mindset.

-          Media is not able to create information but is able to change the priority of information to public mindset

Additional Information:

The term 'agenda-setting' was coined by McCombs and Shaw to describe a phenomenon which had long been noticed and studied in the context of election campaigns.

The core idea is that news media indicate to the public what the main issues of the day are and this is reflected in what the public perceives as the main issues.

The agenda-setting hypothesis:
- Public debate is represented by a set of salient issues (an agenda for action)

- The agenda originates from public opinion and the proposals of political elite

- Competing interests seek to promote the salience of 'their' issues.

- Mass Media news selects issues for more or less attention according to several pressures, especially those from interested elite, public opinion and real-world events.

- The outcome in media (relative degree of prominence of issues) both gives public recognition to the current agenda and has further effects on opinion and the evaluation of the political scene.

- Agenda effects are peripheral and short term.

Agenda-setting has attracted Mass communication researchers because it seems to offer an alternative to the search for directional media effects on individual attitudes and behavior change.

Thus, Agenda-setting is the process of media influence (intended or unintended) by which the relative importance of news events, issues or personages in the public mind are affected by the order of presentation in news reports. It is Assumed that the more the media attention given to a topic, the greater is the importance attributed to it by the news audience. The media influence is not on the direction of opinion but only on what people think about. The concept has been mainly applied to political communication and election campaigns especially. Despite the near certainty that the process does occur as hypothesized, it is not easy to prove, because media take their priorities from public opinion as well as from politicians.

Ref: The above has been taken from Mc Quail's Mass Communication Theory.

Two-Step Flow Theory

The Two-Step Flow Theory was given by Paul Lazarsfeld.

According to the Two-Step Flow Theory, media does not directly affect people as there is no direct contact between them. Thus media effect is actually mediated by a third party which passes it on to the audience.

Lazarsfeld argued that human beings belong to two categories: Opinion leaders and Opinion followers. Opinion leaders are those who receive the media content first and interpret it in keeping with their beliefs and value systems. Then the recreated product is passed on to opinion followers (people who are not in direct contact with the media).

This theory states that content flow takes place in two steps. 
In the first step the media message reaches the opinion leaders. 
In the second step the media messages are passed on to the public. Thus we see that information comes first to the opinion leaders who then convey the subject to the common man. For instance, a large number of news stories reach news bureaus and newsrooms through their staff who are placed worldwide. However not every news item that is received is relayed or printed. The news editor decides what news is important and what needs to be published and it is this information that reaches the opinion followers.

This theory has been discredited by modern thinkers as the advent of 24 X 7 Television Channels have resulted in most people getting first-hand account of events, news etc. Now a days, TV audiences watch events at the same time as the mediators and thus are able to make their own judgments even before the opinion leaders.

An example of the Two Step Flow Theory and its influence today: 
Bloggers and Influencers play the role of Opinion Leaders convincing the audience to purchase/try products. This the influence of these bloggers and influencers on the minds of the target audience increases sales as the audience is convinced and makes the purchase.

SOCIAL MEDIA AND UPRISINGS

ARAB SPRING

Arab Spring refers to the democratic uprisings that arose independently and spread across the Arab world in 2011. The movement originated in Tunisia in December 2010 and quickly took hold in Egypt, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan.

Arab Spring was a unique revolution where the revolutionaries utilized social media to inform the mass and promote revolutionary agenda. Thus, for the first time in the history of the twentieth and early twenty first centuries, social media was used to coordinate a revolution and gain people support.

Social media and YouTube were used to send real-time footage of conflicts that were taking place. Amateur clips of innocent civilians being gunned down by troops, and rebels seeking justice, forwarded to cell phones, emails and posted on Facebook reached the world audiences thus exposing the ruling regime as oppressive and inhuman. While the ruler could control traditional media, the rebels used social media, thus portraying the regime in negative light. Rapid dissemination of news through widespread messaging affected public opinion and thus gained international support.

To read more about the Arab Spring click here

TAHRIR SQUARE

Tahrir Square popularly known as ‘Martyr Square’ is a major public town square in Downtown Cairo Egypt. The high levels of protest led to the resignation of President Mubarak in 2011.

The Egyptian Revolution of 2011 also known as the January 25 Revolution began on 25^th January 2011. There were demonstrations, riots, nonviolent civilian resistance, strikes etc. millions of protesters from all walks of life demanded the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak. This was because of various legal and political issues, like lack of free elections, control on freedom of speech, corruption, high rate of inflation, rise in unemployment and no increase in existing salaries. There was high level of production and dissemination of multimedia content in Egypt making it difficult to control information about protests. Protests began in Cairo and spread throughout the country.

Egypt’s Central Security Forces Police (loyal to Mubarak) were replaced by military troops. On 11 February 2011 Vice President Omar Suleiman announced that Mubarak would resign as president. On 24^th May Mubarak was ordered to stand trial on charges of premeditated murder of peaceful protesters. On 2^nd June 2012, Mubarak was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment, but the sentence was overturned on appeal and retrial ordered. Finally on 24^th June the State Election Commission stated that Islamist Mohamed Morsi had won the elections and he was appointed as president. On 3^rd July 2013, Morsi was deposed by a coup d’état led by General Abdel Fattah El-Sisi on account of opposition protests on 30^th June.

  

THE ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA (IN THESE UPRISINGS)

 For the first time in the history of the world social media played a vital role in bringing together masses to fight a revolution and in some cases overthrow the ruler. Social media affected public opinion and thus gained international support.

Social media gave individuals the power to not only disseminate information and news across the globe but also helped them gain the support of the masses and united the masses to fight for change. This was never seen or imagined previously.

Amateur video clips shot on cell phones and forwarded via social media like facebook, twitter, you tube, blackberry messenger, blogs etc. caused worldwide stir. Some rulers even tried to ban social media in their territories in order to curb the revolution. Internet services were disrupted for five days in Cairo to stymie the protesters. This was also considered a breech on freedom of speech and expression.

Thus social media has helped to facilitate information that can be used as a weapon to spread propaganda .Thus a new age of revolution through social media, phenomena never seen before, arose. Regimes, revolutionaries and counter revolutionaries now have in their hands a means of meeting their agendas through social media. Social media has thus provided the individual access to the world and has provided the world access to individuals!

MEDIA, POWER AND POLITICAL CULTURE

There are four factors of change that have affected media, power and political culture:

1.       The changing character of political publicity and news management: Contemporary television systems with added visual performance have made television a ‘theatre of political performance’. It is not only a ‘theatre of voices’ but also one of faces, bodies and actions.  Politicians and their aides work to get their actions and  their views into the news frame in the most positive possible way and try to limit the impact of opposing views or the damage that follows from reporting of ‘bad events’ that reflect negatively upon their policies and decisions. Television has become a crucial space within which aspects of the political contest become visible and heard by the general public.

2.       The changing profile and tone of political journalism within a changed media economy: Political mediation, including that through journalism, is reflecting some of the broader changes in the media industry, as it becomes more market-driven, competitive and linked to the provision of entertainment. As there is increased emphasis on political personality, there is also increased scope for stories of scandal and flow of political gossip. Combinations of traditional ‘hard’ and new ‘soft’ stories and the extensive use of Internet-based sources, together with email linkage, greatly increases the number of informal routes through which a story can develop. Thus, the relationship between publicity and journalism is an interactive one involving uncertainty and struggle in contributing to relative power, benefit and concession.

3.       Shifts in the nature of ‘citizenship’, in the way that people relate to their rights and obligations within the political system and use the media in this relation: Due to economic development and shifts in social structure and popular culture, the relationship of ordinary people to the official political process has changed in many democratic countries. The increasing emphasis on consumer identity, purchase of goods and services, are significant. The ‘citizen’ role and the ‘consumer’ role have been brought into new kinds of alignment or convergence due to changes in the economic character of everyday life. This has led to a stronger emphasis on ‘consumer identity’.

4.       The consequences of new communications technology: New media technology like television, with its multi-channel system, the internet, etc, play a vital role in the propagation of politics. e.g. Today bloggers have wider independent use of information and commentary to their story building. The broad idea of ‘political culture’ is a useful one for relating different elements in the complex politics-media-people pattern. It gives emphasis to questions of value and meaning and to the baselines of popular experience that the activities of politics and of the media help form and from which they also take their cues and fashion their appeals.

Ref: Media, Power and Political Culture – John Corner in Media Studies – Eoin Devereux,  Sage Publication, 2007.

PARIS PEACE CONFERENCE & TREATY OF VERSAILLES

PARIS PEACE CONFERENCE

The First World War came to an end with the Paris Peace Conference (1919). The representatives of almost all the countries of Europe met at Paris to draw up the peace treaty, but in reality, everything was monopolized by the representatives of the four powers, England, France, Italy and America. President Wilson of America, Prime Minister Clemenceau of France, Lloyd George, Prime Minister of England and Orlando of Italy were the big four of the Peace Conference.

The Paris Peace Conference was made up of five treaties. These were:

The treaty of Versailles – between the Allies and Germany.

The treaty of St.Germaine – between the Allies and Austria.

The treaty of Trianon – between the Allies and Hungary.

The treaty of Neuilly – between the Allies and Bulgaria.

The treaty of Sevres – between the Allies and Turks.

TREATY OF VERSAILLES

The treaty of Versailles is the longest on record. It was signed by Germany on the 28^th of June 1919, in the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles. The terms of the treaty were dictated. The German delegation was not allowed to discuss it with the allies. They were simply called to receive it and sign it. The chief provisions of the treaty were as follows:

-        Germany was subjected to a huge war reparation of 300 crore dollars.

-        Germany lost the territories of Alsace and Lorraine to France

-        A lot of territories were taken away from her

-        Germany lost all her colonies. These were distributed among the allies

-        The main aim of the allies was to destroy the military strength of the Germans so the German army was to be reduced to 1-lakh men and officers.

-        The number of guns and battleships were reduced and no submarines to be built

-        The German navy was destroyed

-        German industries were destroyed

-        Germany was charged with war guilt

-        As a guarantee to the fulfillment of the treaty, the Allies were to occupy the left bank of Rhine for a period of fifteen years.

CRITICISM OF THE TREATY OF VERSAILLES

-        The terms of the treaty of Versailles were very severe.

-        There was no representative from the defeated nations. So there were no negotiations.

-        The treaty of Versailles humiliated the Germans. As this treaty was forced on her she started nursing a feeling of revenge, which later leads to the rise of Nazism.

-        The treaty sowed the seeds of the Second World War.

MEDIA & DIASPORA

A diaspora (comes from the Greek word ‘diaspeirein’ which means ‘scattering of seeds’) is a scattered population with a common origin in a smaller geographic area. Diasporas are viewed as comprising members of ethnic, cultural, linguistic and religious groups who reside in a number of countries to which they or their ancestors migrated. The identities of these groups are formed over time by complex historical, social, and cultural relationships within the group and with other groups. It is characterized by practice of ancestral customs, language, religious practices and marriage patterns and ease of communication between various parts of the dispersed community.

Communities scattered around the world establish contact with each other and the homeland. Various modes of communication such as postal services, telephone, radio, email, internet, film, television etc have been used over time by diasporic members to keep in touch.

Ethnic Media – While some migrants lost touch with their homeland others almost completely assimilated into larger societies into which they settled. With the development of communication technology, even members of earlier generations who had lost touch with their diasporas now revived relations with the help of new media. Thus they maintained aspects of their ancestral customs and traditions, forms of music and art and at the same time began to integrate into their new settlements.

Newspapers are the most common form of ethnic media with large variations in the form, quality and frequency. Some have well established dailies that compete with mainstream papers; these print media usually have full-scale production facilities and strong advertising revenues.  A good example of this is Diasporic Chinese newspapers such as Ming Pao, Sing Tao and The World Journal. There are estimated to be 55 million ‘overseas Chinese’ living outside China and they are well served in Chinese languages by a variety of media, such as, newspapers, radio, television, film, music and the internet.

Satellite television provides remarkable opportunities for diasporic communities. Al Jazeera has in recent years turned out to be a popular transnational Arabic-language broadcaster. The commercial success of ‘Bollywood’ (Mumbai’s Film Industry) has become known for annually producing the largest number of films in the world. It has responded by including storylines and characters that reflect Indian diaspora. Strong diasporic subscriber bases exist for competing channels such as Zee, Sony, Star Plus and B4U, all of which carry material from ‘Bollywood’. Cable and satellite television providers around the world have realized the viability of ethnic channels and are making them an integral part of their services.

Internet based media suits the needs of diasporic communities the best. Apart from the increasing numbers of linguistic fonts that can be accommodated through developments in software, the structures of electronic systems are able to support ongoing communication in the widely-separated transnational groups. The contents of diasporic electronic communications largely consist of cultural heritage, genealogical, religious, and institutional information.

Thus we can say that print media, satellite television and the internet have provided unique opportunities for inter-continental communities to develop worldwide communication networks. Diasporic connections have become integral to the networks of transnational trade and thus become an intrinsic feature of contemporary international relations and key participants in the contemporary unfolding of modernity.

Reference: Media and Diaspora by Karim H. Karim in Media Studies by Eoin Devereux, Sage Publications Ltd,