LESSON

• Media and information carry much power and afford opportunities for our welfare as individuals and society as whole
• There are also threats and challenges that can derail the good effects of the powerful means of communication that are available to us
• We need to be aware of the positives to take advantage of these and to combat the negatives
• Media can be


  • A watchdog
  • A bridge
  • A resource center
  • An advocate
• Economic role of media


  • Helps markets work better
  • Can facilitate trade and transmit ideas and innovation across boundaries
  • Important for human development, bringing health and educational information to the countryside and remote areas
• The role of media in economic development is sometimes overlooked
• Reporters may tend to ignore less sensational or led exciting topics because audience tends to prefer more exciting
• With a lack of diversity and richness in reporting by media, we may become used to talking about a very limited number of topics
• Prior to smartphones, it was much more expensive to reach people, especially if you are competing against established brands
• Educational role of media


  • Play a dominant role in the learning process
  • Have the potential to shape personalities and characters
  • Could also change the way we perceive and understand the world and our immediate reality for the better
• Print media


  • Books
  • Newspapers
  • Journals
  • Magazines
• Book is arguably one of the greatest sources of education (formal and nonformal)
• Broadcast media


  • Talk shows on politics, finance, discipline, life lessons
  • National Geographic, Sineskwela, Arc Angel
  • Films can influence also for life lessons and informal education (7 sundays, The Day after tomorrow)
• 
  

  The internet is the decisive technology of the Information Age, and with the explosion of wireless communication in the early twenty-first century, we can say that humankind is now almost eintrely connected, albeit with great levels of inequality in bandwidth, efficiency, and price, i.e., the digital divide
• The digital revolution caused a major sociocultural change, "Me-centered society"
• Mental health professionals warn that the intensive use of the Internet increases the risk of isolation, alienation, and withdrawal from society
• Civil movements fueled by the Internet and social media have been particularly active since 2010, notably in the Arab revolutions (or the Arab Spring) against dictatorships and against the management of the financial crisis. Online and wireless communications have helped these movements to pose more of a challenge to state power
• Politico-media complex


  The interdependent and systemized network of relationships between state's political and ruling classes
• Research questions about the radio audience

  • Who listens?
  • When and to what they listen?
  • Why do they listen?
  • How are they affected by what they hear
• Audience research


  • Traditionally about first, gaining insight on audience preferences, however fluid and ever-changing these could be in the present period, and second, calibrating audience sizes and reach
  • Also closely allied to market research and social research
• Characteristics of systematic audience research

  • systematic
  • Structured with steps that are governed by research design
  • Guided by the rules of logical reasoning and the logical process of induction and deduction
  • Underpinned by data that is systematically gathered and conclusions that will be arrived at
  • Findings are verifiable by replicating the study and achieving the same results
• Demographic audience

  • Gender
  • Ethnicity
  • Age Range
  • Region/Nationality
  • Socio – Economic Group