PURPOSE FOR STUDYING MEDIA INSTITUTIONS AND MEDIA AUDIENCES

THIRD BLOG ENTRY

From the blogger’s desk

The rapid evolving changes in media institutions and media audiences is something of great note nowadays, and as a result it has led to carefully delved upon research undertakings. Now, such changes, one would argue, are a result of a society that has come to rely heavily on information and information technologies as a way of existence and as a tool geared towards the realisation of its own potential(s). A further exploration of the said media entities is not only educational but it can prove to shed more light into the type of society we live in and the sort of (mass) media that we as a society have come to be dependent on and the reasons behind that. This blog (as you will see in a moment) is fairly short. It is here where there will be a brief reflection on the purposes of studying media institutions and media audiences. I hope what comes next will be as informative to you as it was to me.  

Purpose of studying media institutions

Institutionalisation has, in the past few decades or so, become a subject of interest in the world of academia. This is due to the fact that individuals in society are, in one way or another, enculturated into a certain well defined institution. Now, a study of media institutions per se is important in the sense that one gets to know how the workings and disseminated products (texts) of said institutions affect the audience. Media institutions are studied so as to determine the social and organisational culture that they portray in as far as the process of communication is concerned. This is to say that, the way media institutions communicate has a great deal of impact into the formation and the preservation of the public opinion, and as a result, the public’s involvement (or lack thereof) in the burning issue(s) of the day. Further, in an article titled Media institutions as a research field, the purpose of studying media institutions is seen to be more ideological with the premise that “media institutions are part of society’s machinery of power” (Moe & Syversten 2007:150).  This machinery of power referred to here, alongside the issues of diversity, moral and ethical conduct, culture and economics are of keen interest also to other scholars who study media institutions (Holt & Perren 2009:3). A similar interest is shared and explored on in studies dealing with culture as it relates to the workings of the media (Stokes 2003:75).  

Purpose of studying media audiences

The study of media audiences is closely interlocked and inclusive of an exploration on media effects, this being an end unto itself. This linkage (see discussion above) and the implications thereof are attributed to the media product(s) that are disseminated by media institutions. Media audiences, as a result, are studied against such a backdrop so as to determine how they interact, define and contextualise the media products (messages) that they encounter. Such encounters are a daily occurrence and media audiences are the ones who must put into perspective and make sense of all these messages in a way that is most applicable to them. Additionally, media audiences are studied in order to adequately determine how “they actually behave, what are they interested in and so on” (Mytton 2007:15). As a matter of course, the study of media audiences is inclusive of “various methods and techniques used to find out more about the audience” (Mytton 2007:15). These methods will be explored more on in the next (fourth) blog entry. It is suffice to say at this point that a study on media audiences ideally assists any interested, might I add ‘invested’, entity (a media organisation or otherwise) in identifying and meeting the technological, and importantly the informational needs of media users. Further, such a study seeks to understand this overriding point of enquiry: what do people do to the media and what does the media do to people as a result. Naturally, a study of media audiences I maintain, is not about media effects only but it provides room for the further understanding and appreciation of the co-existing alliance between the society and their media (McQuail 2010:18).

REFERENCES

Holt, J & Perren, A. 2008. The media industries: history, theory, and method. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.

Hallvard, M & Trine, S. 2007. Media institutions as a research field: Three phases of Norwegian broadcasting research. Norwegian. (2007): 149-167.

McQuail, D. 2010. McQuail mass communication theory. 6^th edition. London: Sage.

Mytton, G. 2007. Handbook on radio and television audience research. (Web edition). Paris: UNICEF and UNESCO.

Stokes, J. 2003. How to do media and cultural studies research. London: Sage