Suchergebnisse

THE ISSUE OF MINORITY PARTICIPATION IN THE MEDIA IS EXAMINED. MINORITY GROUPS ARGUE THAT ONLY THROUGH ACCESS TO THE MEDIA CAN MEDIA STEROTYPES BE CHALLENGED, DOCUMENTARIES SHOWING THEIR PLIGHT BE PRODUCED, AND MEDIA CORPORATIONS BE INFILTRATED. THE PURPOSE THEN IS SIMPLE: GET A PIECE OF THE ACTION AND THEN SHAPE POLICY.

Communications has recently been assigned a major role in national development, especially in producing social change. There are 2 general assumptions about the role of communications in development: (1) changes in information from the mass media lead to changes in behavior, (2) information does not lead directly to behavioral change. The focus was on the relationship between communications & political change, especially in the development of a sense of political efficacy in Venezuelan Ur or Ru poor. The study on Venezuelan peasants revealed several anomalies, including the fact that political efficacy or power was not related to the length of participation experience in a unit. Powerlessness is shown to have 2 basic measures, the Likert-type scale & the Almond & Verba scale. 3 basic types of powerlessness are described: (A) one based on insufficient attributes, (B) one based on inadequate modes of discrimination, & (C) one based on prior communication failures. Communication & powerlessness were examined from a survey taken among low-income residents of Ciudad Guayana, an industrial city in Venezuela. The data from the open-ended questions in the survey were scanned for indications of the 3 types of powerlessness. Mass media, mass organizations, & interpersonal communication were observed to determine their relation to powerlessness. The crucial variable in changing behavior is the individual's criteria or procedures for correlating. Therefore, "the role of communications must be to demonstrate the proper procedures or criteria for correlating information about situations." 6 Tables. R. Lent.

The lack of systematic longitudinal data on the total use of time in the US seriously hampers the delineating of any trends in TV viewing habits. This gap was esp evident when the authors attempted to interpret figures on TV viewing for a recent study of the Amer's use of time, which was part of a larger 12-nation project. The figures arrived at of 90 minutes of daily viewing as a primary activity & 40 minutes as a secondary activity amount to more than an hour less than those commonly assumed by media res'ers. This discrepancy does not seem to be related to any methodological diff's in estimating viewing time, as both generous & frugal estimates have been generated by similar procedures. Even using the lower figures, TV still holds a commanding lead over the next most popular leisure activity-visiting. Over 28% of all leisure time is spent primarily watching TV, a figure more than double that for the rest of the MM combined-12%. It is claimed that of the 2 major 'mass' innovations in this cent, the automobile has transformed Amer life spatially, but it is TV that has revolutionized it temporally. Graphic comparison of US viewing time with that found in 10 Eastern & Western European survey sites indicated the amazing degree to which total viewing time in a society can be predicted from the ownership rate. This graph suggests that the major change in Amer viewing habits may have been from a shift of viewing as a primary activity to viewing as a secondary activity. Data on the motivations of viewers are sorely needed. It would be esp useful to have viewer's degree of attachment to programs scaled from total & planned involvement, through passive acceptance, to complete inattention to the set. Potentialities for TV change do not seem great. Modified AA.

The Pakistan population planning programme, in its effort to
recruit family planning adopters in order to lower birth rates, has used
a broad range of communication media to convey its messages. Mass media
like radio, television and cinema have carried the message and field
workers have been hired specially to provide the information and
services. Various com¬binations of personnel ranging from the illiterate
local midwives to educated male-female teams have been tried. The
programme has undergone many changes since it was reformulated in 1965.
It is currently imparting its messages both through mass media and
interpersonal channels. Both male and female workers are still being
used at the grassroots level although the set up is undergoing certain
organizational and administrative changes.