Television Programs Providing a Space for Public Opinion or Expression - Research Paper Example

 “The French term "genre," meaning "gender," or "kind," is applied in various contexts throughout the study of an audiovisual medium. Television users and audiences are familiar with uses of the term that appear in popular television criticism, in programming strategies and schedules, and in the common designations found in newspaper and magazine listings.” (Berger, 1992) It is the core element of television industries. Television is one of the essential segments of social life. Competition in television industry is has increased a lot in the current century. In order to attract the viewer’s attention towards their own programs, most of the television channels have started variety programs. In fact the program producers spend much of their time in researching the viewer’s taste and new trends in television programs. “Yet all television programs can be classified according to type; every program is a distinct work, but it is also a kind of program. The most common genres are commercials, news programs, situation comedies, soap operas, documentaries, sports shows, talk shows, action adventure programs, detective shows, science fiction shows, hospital dramas, and westerns.” (Berger, 1992) Genres can be of one kind and also can be of mixed types. Though the making of a mixed genre is extremely difficult, if the blending is perfect, then it can attract many The genres of popular television 2 viewers. The possibility of regression is much in the making of a mixed genre. “For example, a science fiction story that involves having the hero finds a murderer is really a mixture of science fiction and detective genres.” (Berger, 1992) In this genre the program producer must be extremely careful. Sometimes the viewer’s attention may be shifted to the detective aspects of the program rather than the intended science aspects. In any case he may be succeeded in attracting the viewers, but the target viewers may be disappointed as majority of the viewers who gathered around the television might be science students. “All these genre related questions permeate television systems around the world. Genres drawn from specific cultural contexts are developed to express explicit social and cultural concerns. ” (Berger, 1992) Television genres can be different in different countries because of the social, cultural, regional and political reasons. For example, the television genres in Muslim countries may be based on the Islamic culture only. Obscene materials are prohibited in televisions in such countries. In a country like Saudi Arabia, nobody can expect a movie filled with excessive romance or sex in national channels. Also there are different types of channels targeting different segments in the society. For example, Cartoon Network channel is meant for kids, ESPN, Star Sports like channels are meant for sports lovers, Animal Planet, Discovery like channels are meant for wild life lovers, like that. “Television programs, as is the case with every business venture, are created to make money. Therefore, the ideal show is one that gets good ratings, which allow The genres of popular television 3 networks to increase cost of advertising, and has a low production cost.” (Hughes, 2006) Amidst of hundreds of television channels, the competition is immense. Most of the television revenues come from advertisement only. The success of a television advertisement depends on the viewership of the television programs. Most of the companies are competing each other to demonstrate their ads in between popular TV shows. For example India and China are two heavily populated countries in the world. Because of the immense popularity of Cricket game in India, most of the international companies competing each other to find places in outing their ads in between the transmission of live cricket matches in which India is playing. Because of this heavy revenue obtained from advertisements, the Indian Cricket Control Board (BCCI) became one of the richest sports organizations in the world. At the time of writing this article, television reports showed that two England cricket players Kevin Peterson and Andrew Flintoff have been offered more than 1.5 million dollars to play in the 2009 Indian Premier League (IPL) sponsored by BCCI. The same cricket shows may not be that much popular in China though they have a large population. They are more interested in Football like sports activities. So popularity of TV genres can be different in different countries. “Producers and distributors must weigh costs of producing within a particular generic context against possible rewards. Either the financial constraints or the cultural significance can be deemed the primary factor in understanding any given program, but both must be recognized to fully understand the significance of genre in television as a system. (Berger, 1992) The genres of popular television 4 “Early prime time, for example, is usually reserved for comedy. In the United States, even without official regulation of programming schedules, this means that certain types of programs are deemed suitable for "family" viewing. As the schedule progresses into later hours more serious programming--which often means more violent or sexually explicit--is preferred.” (Berger, 1992). The changing trends of the viewers forced program producers to change the content of the prime time programs also. Earlier the prime time was allotted to family serials or documentaries. Then such serials were given way for comedy programs. As per the current trends the viewers are more interested in watching interactive programs like live talk shows, reality shows etc. Talk Shows A talk show or chat show is a television or radio program where one person or group of people come together to discuss various topics put forth by a host. Normally a panel of people, who are experts in the issue being discussed, will be the main attraction of a talk show. In another type of talk show, a single guest discusses their work or area of expertise with a host or co-hosts. The show will be mostly of interactive type with the viewers can talk to the guest/gests directly through telephone. The viewers can ask doubts about the topic being discussed or they can express their own views about the topic as well. The panel of experts will normally answer the questions from the viewers. “Talk shows have been broadcast on television since the earliest days of the medium. Joe Franklin, an American radio and television personality, hosted the first The genres of popular television 5 television talk show. The show began in 1951 on WJZ-TV (later WABC-TV) and moved to WOR-TV (later WWOR-TV) from 1962 to 1993. TV news pioneer Edward R. Murrow hosted a talk show entitled Small World in the late 1950s and since then, political TV talk shows have predominantly aired on Sunday mornings” (Talk show, 2009) Talk shows have great importance among modern television programs. Talk shows regarding politics, economics, sports, culture, social life, films, violence, corruption etc have a wider influence on viewers. In the recently concluded American presidential election, the channels competed to air talk shows regarding the chances of winning of the candidates. Now after the election, the channels are concentrating more on the anticipated policy changes of President Obama. It is a common scene in India like countries, the talk shows regarding sports especially cricket. Before and after every cricket match, there will be talk shows regarding the result of the match, player’s performances, statistics etc. Most of the channels claim that they are transmitting programs on a neutral, impartial, objective basis. But in reality, most of the programs are politically motivated. In order to counter such programs or talk shows, most of the political parties have started their own channels to air their policies and opinions. For example, during the Iraq war, most of the Arab channels and other channels all over the world transmitted live shows against the American intervention in Iraq. But the American channels were mainly focused to justify President Bush’s decision to attack Iraq. So channels have their own priority based on the issues related to region, religion, culture, politics etc. The genres of popular television 6 The participation of private individuals in public debates, on television or elsewhere, draws upon two key opposition: expert/lay and public/private. Participatory forums prioritize the lay over the expert, requiring the expert to talk in lay terms and making the expert accountable to the lay. Since most of the television programs are intended to the lay, the expert opinions must be understandable to the lay. If the expert air his views in a higher level which is not understandable to the common public then the validity of such program can be questionable. For example, in the current economic crisis scenario, if the economic experts express their views for the crisis in terms of confusing economic words, the common public will not understand much. They should explain the cause of the crisis in simple words, which is understandable to the ordinary people. They also, necessarily, prioritize the public over the private, bringing the private into public view, using private individuals to illustrate public issues, and demanding that private people be transformed into public citizens. “Another important assumption is that talk shows offer an opportunity for communication across social divisions. Voices that are repressed because they are not powerful enough, either in terms of private status or public standing, are placed on an equal footing with the voices of established power” (Lunt & Stenner, 2005) In talk shows, the host will give equal importance to the opinions of experts as well as the lays. The lays will always have an upper hand in such talk shows because they have nothing to lose whereas the experts will be more conserved in their opinions. The experts may be afraid of losing pride if somebody outsmarts them in such programs. The genres of popular television 7 Hence they will keep a diplomatic approach in most of the talk shows which will never bring out the exact objectives of the shows. It is because of these facts, the opinions of the lays given more importance in such shows. The features of lay and experts in a talk show can be summarized as follows. On traditional factual broadcasting lay could be more Subjective, Ungrounded, Emotional, Unique and Concrete whereas the expert could be more Objective, Grounded in data, Rational, Replicable and Abstract. So in such shows, the experts overweigh the lay because of the more reliability and validity of their opinions. But in talk shows, the lay could be Authentic, Narrative, Hot, Relevant and In depth whereas the expert could be Alienated Fragmented Cold Irrelevant and Superficial. So in talk shows, the lay overweigh the experts because of the authenticity of their opinion. Audience discussion programs and various other access and participation programs offer a celebration of ordinary experience by constructing a particular relationship between lay and expert participants. Both are presented as interested parties but as knowing different things in different ways. In some cases it is necessary to blend the knowledge of lay and expert to arrive at a conclusion. Experts may not be correct in all their opinions. Most of the experts rely only on theoretical knowledge to express their opinion whereas the lay always have more practical knowledge than the experts. So a careful mixing of both lay and expert opinion is required to arrive at conclusions in television talk shows or debates. ‘In debate, the authority of the expert is replaced by the authority of a narrative informed by lived experience' (Carpignano, et al, The genres of popular television 8 1990, p.53) Thus expert abstractions are frequently questioned or rejected, and people are constructed as individuals not subject-matter for analysis. In the British programs, the experts varied widely in status. The British programs invited more experts (4 on average) while the Americans tended to include only one expert in each program. Moreover, the American experts tended to be either authors of books or psychologists/therapists who could offer advice and discuss the 'normality' of activities being discussed. It is not necessary to have all the experts unique in their opinions. In fact most of the experts make use of such live talk shows to express their mastery over the topic rather than focusing on the issue. In such situations the host may find it difficult to arrive at a consensus among the experts. The task of the host will be much simpler when dealing with a single expert. “A number of issues have emerged from the research about the talk shows: realism and representation in talk shows; the balance between spontaneity in and control over interactions; the gendered dimensions of the programs; the role of the hosts and the quality of arguments on the shows. Much of this academic literature argues against the dismissal of talk shows as irrelevant and meaningless ‘trash television’. Instead the talk show genre emerges as a context for public participation and debate” (Lunt & Stenner, 2005).The debate about the talk shows has started among the public because of their popularity. People are suspicious about talk shows because of their fear about some hidden agenda in such programs. Most of the channels, some kind of political bias towards certain parties, or some bias towards The genres of popular television 9 certain religions and hence their talk shows will normally include topics to defend their ideologies. Moreover the success of a talk not only depends on the participant alone, but the abilities of the host will be tested vigorously in such shows. I have seen many talk shows in which the program producers constantly changing their hosts even if the show deals with the same topic. This is because of the fact that the producers have lost faith in a host. It is essential for the host to control the show in such a way that the show do not deviate from the main topic. In most of the talk shows, the public have witnessed a sudden twist in the topic because of the host’s inability to control the show properly. “Despite these growing misgivings about the relevance of public sphere theory to the analysis of talk shows, a sensibility remains amongst commentators that, despite these limitations, talk shows nevertheless contribute to public participation, deliberation and public expression.” (Lunt & Stenner, 2005) Though there are different opinions about the relevance of talk shows, one thing is clear that the public gets an opportunity to express their opinions through such shows. In a democratic country the public opinion has immense value since they are the deciders of the political system in their countries. “A central issue emerging in the talk show literature is that the genre includes a variety of different forms of talk show. The talk show genre is no longer a clear and distinct form but contains at least three show formats. These include shows that focus on public discussion of issues of concern (e.g. Donahue, Kilroy); shows that take an explicitly therapeutic approach to personal problems (e.g. Oprah); and shows that focus on conflict and emotive secrets” (e.g. The Jerry Springer Show). (Lunt & Stenner, 2005) The genres of popular television 10 The great success of Oprah Winfrey show can be attributed to the relevance of the topic it deals with apart from the charismatic approach the presenter has. The public were fed up with politics and economics because of their unpredictability. Everybody is filled with lot of personal problems and hence more attracted towards shows like the one Oprah Winfrey conducts. “Emotional expression on The Jerry Springer Show does not operate either to authenticate the truthfulness of personal accounts or as a potential pollutant of the attempt to discuss life experiences and social issues. Instead, the implicit hierarchy of discussion and emotional expression is reversed.” (Lunt & Stenner, 2005) “The expression of emotional conflict and the scandalous confessional qualities of The Jerry Springer Show are salient features of the program and give credence to the view that these shows are ‘freak shows’ (Dovey,2000; Gamson, 1998) It is not obvious why ordinary people go on television and little research has addressed this question. Most of the ordinary people living in a world of immense stress both from their home and work place. The psychological, economical and political problems contributed immensely to the stress factor. In order to get relieved from the stress, most of the ordinary people took shelter t in front of the television. It is because of this majority of the television programs designed to cater the entertainment needs of the public. But it cannot be said that the entertainment alone is the factor which attract the public towards the television. In order to understand what is happening around the world, television is utilized by the public. The genres of popular television 11 Conclusions Television programs are meant for public awareness and entertainment. Most of the television shows are intended to attract maximum viewership and thereby to increase the revenue through the advertisements exhibited in between the popular shows. Reality shows, make over shows and talk shows are common in television programs nowadays because of their immense popularity. Among these shows, the talk shows definitely have an edge over others as far as popularity is concerned. There are different opinions about talk shows. But nobody can oppose the fact that talk shows are providing a space for public opinion or expression. The genres of popular television 12 References 1. Berger Arthur Asa (1992), Genre, Retrieved on February 6, 2009, 2. Carpignano, P., Andersen, R., Aronowitz, S., and Difazio, W. (1990) Chatter in the age of electronic reproduction: talk television and the ‘public mind’ in B. 3. Dovey, J. (2000) Freak shows: First-person Media and Factual Television. London: Pluto Press 4. Gamson, J. (1998) Freaks Talk Back: Tabloid Talk Shows and Sexual Nonconformity. Chicago: University of Chicago Press 5. Hughes Richard (2006), TV genre popularity based on profit, Retrieved on February 6, 2009, 6. Lunt Peter & Stenner Paul (2005), Media Culture and Society, The Jerry pringer Show as an emotional public sphere 7. Talk show,(2009), Retrieved on February 6, 2009, Read More