Uses and Gratifications Theory Applied to Religious Programming - Essay Example

Article Review – Why do People Watch Religious TV? A Uses and Gratification Approach Programming With the advancement in technology and the giant leap that man has made in terms of the digital media to rely on the bases of a study, Why do People Watch Religious, TV? A Uses and Gratification Approach (Abelman, 1987), to accurately depict the reasons behind the motives of individuals to watch religious television seems highly unlikely at least to me. Today television is not what it used to be 20 years ago.

There is a plethora of channels catering to the entertainment needs of thousands and millions of viewers whereas 20 years ago this offering by the media was highly limited. Today along with television and the availability of satellite programming television has become an outlet based solely on the viewer’s preferences. This has given people the power to view whatever shows they prefer whenever it is convenient for them. Therefore in the event that these results need to be validated by repeating the study in today’s time I believe the results probably be quiet different.

Another thing that I wondered about was the fact that the study has chosen a very rigid sample. How can 200 individuals from one area, the Midwest, be representative of the entire country’s preference to watch religious programming? It seems that the sample selected for the study is based more on convectional availability and not as a means to strengthen the results of the study by providing a variable and broad sample. It is a rather farfetched generalization to say that if viewers in the Midwest enjoy watching a certain type of program than surely the residents of California and Seattle will do too.

So while the concept is highly fascinating when it comes to the uses and gratifications that are applied to religious programming, however the outdated and to some extend obsolete nature of the research bothered me. For example, the notion that some people might watch religious programming because of the attractiveness of its design, their upbringing and religious beliefs might be true but I find it hard to imagine that someone today would chose to watch religious programming because of their inability to find something else to watch or because they were bored or simply because they were let down by the morality of conventional television.

Another type of programming that is the right candidate to which uses and gratifications research could be applied to would be that of home shopping networks. It would be highly absorbing to know the effect of a simple such as, “Buy this now’, or “Great discounts”, will be on consumers and what are the main reasons or motivations behind certain individuals choosing to watch this type of programming. If you look at it from a certain social perspective, I would say that there is a certain amount of trust associated with most of these home shopping channels which the viewers are attracted to and it leads to them believing in what is being said about the product and indulging in purchasing products simply because of how it is being marketed on these channels.

Such is the role played by Para-social interaction that formulates a relationship that appears to be not only personal but also intimate (Horton & Wohl, 1956). So therefore it is a combination of factors such as what the host says to successfully sell a certain product and how much faith the viewers put in the host which leads to home shopping networks being successful. So it can be seen that people who have these particular needs and can be rightfully categorized as shopaholic’s, they will the right target market for these home shopping channels simply because of their frequent shopping habits and preferences.

This is where the convenience offered by these home shopping networks comes into play because it offers them the facility of buying products from the comfort of their home. A target market such as this would be rightly categorized as ritualized viewers simply because of their habitual shopping addiction. How effective these shopping networks are can be seen reflected in how many sales they make in a given fiscal quarter. As far as the reactionary usage of religious programming that the article is mentions I think a relevant example of a program that viewers usually watch for reactionary reasons is “The Discovery Channel” or perhaps “The Animal Planet”.

With the aggression and the havoc which is mostly now frequently depicted in everything starting from the daily news to cartoons people can find a refuge from all of the mundane programming simply by learning and viewing fascinating facts and information about a different culture, animals and sciences. This is not only a productive outlet and utilization of time but could also be the primary motivation for viewer’s to spend time in watching. References Abelman, R. (1987, December). Why do people watch religious TV?

: A uses and gratification approach. Cleveland, Oh: Review of Religious Research. 29:2. Horton, Donald and R. Richard Wohl (1956). 'Mass Communication and Para-social Interaction: Observations on Intimacy at a Distance', Psychiatry 19: 215-29