The Broadcasting Professionals - Essay Example

Introduction Broadcasting aims to achieve one purpose and that is to make people listen and watch. It follows then that one of the challenges that faces broadcasting professionals is exactly how to make the audience listen, how to make them believe us and how to make them prefer us from others who have the same purpose. To put it simply, we need to know how to address the audience to which we are broadcasting. In this paper, I will be arguing that only thru the knowledge of the institutional framework of broadcasting can we understand how to address the audience. By institutional framework, I refer to the way broadcasters view the public or the audience. Do they view the audience as a mere mass of individuals anonymous to other people or they treat them as having some common interests and overlapping relationships Do they treat them as mere spectators who go home after the show or potential long term clients who can bring in benefits such as profits By knowing which of these holds true can we know what and how we broadcast. Understanding Why We Broadcast The Encyclopedia Britannica (Online) defines broadcasting as the electronic transmission of radio and television signals that are intended for general public reception, as distinguished from private signals that are directed to specific receivers. In its most common form, broadcasting may be described as the systematic dissemination of entertainment, information, educational programming, and other features for simultaneous viewing. Without doubt, we are broadcasting because we are trying to capture attention of the general public, the mass media or what we would call the audience Understanding them is imperative because they are the very reason why we are broadcasting. We want them to watch, hear, talk, buy from us and even feel us. We broadcast because we want them to listen to whatever we are saying whether we are reporting, selling, acting or chatting with other people like those in talk shows. However, the way we want to gain their attention still depends on the way we view them. The term audience used to denote a congregation of people gathered in a certain space listening or viewing someone. In the days of the Romans and the Greeks, they were those who were watching and applauding orators and actors. They were those who watched the theatrical plays of Shakespeare and musical performances of Beethoven. The audience was simply regarded as people coming together a certain show. Today, there are different ways of viewing audiences and the two most prominent views are that of the audience as a 'market' and as a 'public/group'. The Audience as a Market In the view of audience as a market, the individuals composing the audience are considered as consumers. As such, we broadcast because we are trying to sell a product or service to the audience. In this type of view, effective communication as well as quality of audience experience takes the backstage. The priority is that people will be enticed to buy whatever we are selling. We are concerned with people who can buy the product and as such, we address them in a way that will appeal to their socioeconomic criteria. We are not concerned whether it is inappropriate to those in the lower echelons of society so long as it persuades those in the higher ups to prefer us. In this view, we then concern ourselves whether what we broadcast could capture the imagination of the people we are trying to persuade. We heighten the hype and creativity. We resort to gimmicks and other activities that may sometimes be unusual but is a sure attention grabber. This is actually a commonplace practice especially in corporate media where shows are filled with gimmicks design to keep the audience glued on the television so that ratings are high. The Audience as a Public/Group There exists an atomistic view of the audience- one which considers people as being too different from others and having large social distance to the broadcaster. The result of this view was a depersonalized way of broadcasting. Broadcasters seemed unattached to the events they were relating. It was, for the audience, an impersonal experience. However, the concept of the audience as a public or group of people sharing the same interests soon replaced the atomistic view. Actual audience experience needed to be personal and integrated into familiar ways. Why People will generally be interested in things that seem familiar to them. They will be interested in news that show concern and provide not only an in depth analysis but personal experiences of people who are similar to them. When this view is adapted, effective communication is the main priority. The message relayed should be clear and concise with minimum fanfare involved. It should also be tailored in a way that strikes the common chord in the audience. It should be personal and familiar. Take for or example the way news on war is being broadcasted. The method in the past was too impersonal and involved only reporting statistics of casualties of the war. Today, a more personal approach is adapted and includes special reports and interviews with soldiers and their families. We now see stories of people being told in a way where the audience can relate to. Broadcasting, in this sense, becomes a public service. Conclusion Having multiple audiences having different backgrounds and interests could result to an error in audience evaluation and inappropriate statements in your broadcasts. The best you can do is to clearly define an audience and clearly state, up front, who you are broadcasting. In some cases, you may be given two audiences with very different requirements. For instance, you might be told to broadcast to a community made of two different religions each very sensitive about religious matters. What do you say to them In that case, you need to keep both audiences in mind and, to some extent, write to the lowest common denominator. You should keep your view of the intended audience in mind at all times throughout your design and broadcasting stages. As you're writing, think about what someone with that skill set and experience would already know or how they would feel about the topics you're going to broadcast Consider whether they'll be familiar with standard terminology or if you need to define every technical term you use. Organize your address in a way that will make sense to that audience. If you expect a particular broadcast to be used as reference such as weather reports, election results and suspension of classes, make sure each small piece of information is correct and otherwise easy to understand. Although there seems to be a dichotomy between the concept of audience as a market and as a public, they are actually related to one another. This is because both views recognize that there is a need to knowing the preference of people to whom we are broadcasting. By having an insight into these preferences, we can be able to think of an appropriate way of how to address the audience so that we can capture their attention. The bottom-line is that we need to understand those whom we are talking to much in the same way as sales agents know the preferences and tendencies of their prospective clients. We do not broadcast blindly. Beside from knowing what the audience wants, we also need to determine our purpose for broadcasting. Do we want to sell something Do we want people to patronize us Knowing which is which can help us in thinking of the way to address the audience. This becomes more important when we realize how technological and societal achievements are rapidly changing the composition of the audience we are able to reach. By knowing our purpose and the way we view our audience can we determine what is appropriate to broadcast. References: Ang, Ien (1991). Desperately Seeking the Audience, Routledge, London Read More