The Role Of Media In Adults' Individual Learning And Adults Getting Informed

Author(s):

Jozsef Szabo(presenting / submitting)Attila Kenyeres(presenting)

Conference:

ECER 2015

Network:

06. Open Learning: Media, Environments and Cultures

Format:

Poster

Session Information

06 SES 05.5 PS, General Poster Session

General Poster Session

Time:

2015-09-09

12:30-14:00

Room:

Poster Area

Chair:

Contribution

Institutions of mass communication, television involved, have a special role in the following: giving information to the public, communicating general knowledge and providing advice concerning daily life. Due to the complexity of the world around us, beside primary experience based on direct observation, it is significant in the orientation of the individual to have second-hand information on other people’s observation, as well. (Angelusz, 2000). Luhmann also mentions that whatever we do know about our world and society we get informed from mass media (Luhmann, 2008). According to McQuail, media are expected to provide information about public events and show us moral and social injustices (McQuail, 2003). Similarly Wisinger also emphasises that one of the main tasks of televisin is giving information and it refers to every single programme (Wisinger, 2008). Informing, according to Szabó, is aimed at the viewer to make him understand news, data, activities happening in the world (personal, environmental, local, national, international) around him (Széles-Szabó-Rozgonyi-Ballai, 2011). In this informative function television news has a crucial role, that is why its informative quality is worth analysing.

Nowadays, in the digital era, when innumerable television channels are available, it is highly important to examine how much media, especially television help learning and getting informed. With the spreading of local television broadcasting this question is relevant both in terms of national, as well as international programmes and also in local cable and/or satellite television. It is basically agreed among researchers that television functions as potential means of an educational medium.

Beside entertaining, politics and advertising, McQuail considers education as one of the four roles of mass media (McQuail, 2003). According to Buckingham, media are basically ’educational’ referring to news programmes, as well. Learning with the help of television belongs to informal learning, say some researchers, and one form of this is individual learning. About 70 % of the people in the survey consider television as means of learning (Forray-Juhász, 2009). Based on the data above, it is relevant that we analyse television, including local television, as one of the means of general education.

According to Zsolt news is defined as apparently objective, up-to-date new information that may interest several people and/or may cause changes in their lives (Zsolt, 2005). News can be termed as the summary of controlled information from authentic sources, which have relevance to the life of large segments of population, and come to life through professional research of journalism. News is a short, understandable, objective material of journalism.

In this study we analyse segments of news which create coherent, closed entities of a certain topic and which are formally separated by editors and presenters, as well. The events chosen to be broadcast by editors will be determined on the basis of being newsworthy. Whatever the journalist considers suitable for broadcasting also depends on the given cultural and social environment (Zsolt, 2005).

According to Luhmann newsworthy events are determined by their novelty, the existence of conflicts, quantities, local relevance, breaches of norms, focus on the people involved, actuality, comments on the news as separate pieces, space and time at hand (Luhmann, 2008). Events that can be referred to some time later are defined as key events by Fishman. (Fishman, 1982).

Method

In this study, among others, we analyse how much specific newscasts inform the public about events of closer and larger environment. We’ve examined what the proportion of informative and so called ’omnibus’ items of news is in the most popular German, Austrian and Hungarian national newscasts, as well as in the local television news programmes. (The term ’omnibus’ news was introduced by Bourdieu, who used this term to name pieces of news that are more interesting than important, their information content does not help inform the public and replace other more important news.) On this basis we draw conclusions concerning the information content of the particular newscasts.The smaller the rate of omnibus news is the more informative the newscast is considered by us. The analysis of television newscasts is justified by its high ratings. Our study focuses on the differences we find among the news of each country, analysing the content of German, Austrian and Hungarian news programmes. The samples are chosen from the most popular commercial and public television news programmes of each country. Apart from this we have examined similar data of local televisions. We have divided the different items of news into informative and omnibus news. By omnibus news we mean tabloid and community news, as opposed to informative pieces of news. By informative items we mean those that inform us about important national, international , social, political, economic and cultural issues analysing them, as well. They aim at more extensive orientation of the public providing up-to-date information about national and international events determining our lives. This category includes public-political, general informative and analysing news items. For our research we have to define the term local television, since today in Hungary more than 400 broadcasters consider themselves as local televisions. We mean by local television broadcasters which have at least 20 hour programmes in their own production, their broadcasting lasts for 24 hours per day, have their own editorial board and newscast staff, regularly inform the public about local events and their technical basis is suitable for today’s requirements. This way, considering the above mentioned requirements there are only 24 broadcasting companies which can be considered local television and the table below shows the measured data referring to them. We’ve also studied to what degree the examined newscasts were informative, whether they presented real problems, conflicts and positive outcomes /Széles-Szabó-Rozgonyi-Ballai, 2011).

Expected Outcomes

On the basis of this study it can be concluded that the most tabloid news was broadcast by Hungarian RTL. From the examined public televisions Hungarian state television produced the most tabloid news. Summarizing all these data it can be stated that commercial televisions broadcast the most tabloid news programmes in each country. The fewest tabloid news programmes were shown in local televisions. Public information was measurably the most in the Austrian ATV, the least in the German RTL in the examined commercial televisions, while in public televisions the Hungarian public channel broadcasts the most public news. In local television exclusively the most relevant news is broadcast. Public and local televisions present national political events in the highest proportion. Among national channels German public television presented the highest number of news of this type, while in this category the Hungarian national newscast provided the fewest of it. However the greatest value was produced by local televisions. The newscasts of the three public and local televisions proved to be the most informative, almost 82% of the newscasts being broadcast by ORF and local televisions. Our study also shows that the newscasts of local televisions are remarkably different from similar programmes of national channels and also more comparable to the programmes of foreign public channels. Comparing the data with the Human Development Index (HDI) in the particular countries it seems obvious that the higher the HDI is, the more informative the newscasts are and the better informed the viewer of these countries are about the decisive national and international events. Based on our research it is concluded that the structure of newscasts is significantly influenced by closer cooperation with local citizens. Local televisions have a crucial role in informing local citizens and by John Reith’s term in informal learning.

References

AGB Nieslen Media Research (2012): Az ismeretterjesztő csatornák közönségarányának alakulása 2005-2012 között, különböző célcsoportokban. Ahmed, Sara (2006): Queer Phenomenology: Orientations, Objects, Others . NC, Duke University Press Angelusz, Róbert (2000): A láthatóság görbe tükrei – Társadalompolitikai tanulmányok. Budapest, Új Mandátum. Bajomi-Lázár P.(2000): Közszolgálati rádiózás Nyugat-Európában. Budapest, Új Mandátum Kiadó Bird, S. Elizabeth (2003): The audience in everyday life: Livin in a Media World. New York and London, Routledge Bourdieu, Pierre (2001): Előadások a televízióról (ford.: Erőss Gábor). Budapest, Osiris Kiadó. Buckingham, David (2005): Médiaoktatás. (ford.: Károlyi Júlia) Budapest, Új Mandátum Kiadó Erbring, Lutz (1989): Nachrichten zwischen Professionalitat und Manipulation – Jurnalistiche Berufsnormen und politische Kultur. In: Massekommunitation, Kölner Zeitsvhrift für Sociologie und Socialpsychologie (hrsg: Kaase, M – Schultz, W.). Sonderheft, 1989, 301-313. Fishman, M. (1982) ’News and non-events: making the visible invisible’ in J. S. Etterna és D. C. Whitney (szerk.), Individuals in Mass Media Organizations, pp. 219-40. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage. Forray R. Katalin – Juhász Erika (szerk.) (2009): Nonformális – informális – autonóm tanulás. Debrecen, Debreceni Egyetem. 12-37.pp. Gauntlett, David - Hill, Annette (1999): TV Living: Television, Culture and Everyday Life, London and New York, Routledge/British Film Institute. Galtung, Johann – Ruge, Marie Holboe (1965): In The Structure of Foreign News, Journal Of Peace Research2 , 64-91. p. Kenyeres Attila Zoltán (2009): A tudományos ismeretterjesztő televízió műsorok szerepe a felnőttek informális tanulásában. In: Forray R. Katalin – Juhász Erika (szerk.): Nonformális – informális – autonóm tanulás. Debrecen, Debreceni Egyetem. 285-290.p.

Author Information

Jozsef Szabo (presenting / submitting)

Debrecen University

Department of Educational Studies

Debrecen

Attila Kenyeres (presenting)

Debrecen University, Hungary

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