This article adds an empirical production perspective to the widely discussed concept of audience participation. It studies how audiences are integrated in the production of television and what motivations producers have to do so. Increased opportunities for audiences to produce or contribute to media content may change the way television is produced, as audience perspectives can be more easily integrated. Theoretically, the notions of corporate and political participation are discussed as a basis for a qualitative content analysis, focusing on a range of nonfictional television programs in Flanders, combined with in-depth interviews with editors-in-chief to study their motivations, looking at audience participation on screen, beyond the screen and behind the screen. Results show that producers mostly integrate the audience in the production process within a corporate understanding of participation, although some producers have integrated political forms of participation as well. However, rather than focusing on participation, a central motivation for producers is to engage the audience.
This article discusses producer practices and the reasons why they engage their audience in the production process. In a digitised media context, audiences have become more visible, mainly through social media, and have more means to participate. Our research deconstructs the production process of a particular television programme by means of the 'hierarchy of influences' model, which separates micro and macro levels that influence production. It draws on in depth interviews with all editors of Flemish current affairs programme De Afspraak (The Appointment) and on a three-month participatory observation. We conclude that immersive ways of engaging the audience are applied in our specific case. More broadly, we argue that although practices change, pre-existing norms and values about the television audience remain central to how producers engage their audience through digital and social media. KEYWORDS audience; digitisation; engagement; hierarchy of influences model; interviews; participatory observation; producers; television production. This article provides an empirical analysis of the role of audiences in the production process of De Afspraak during its first season (October 2015-January 2016. Drawing on indepth interviews, complemented by participatory observation in the editorial office, we examine how editors deal with the push to digitise their programme through social media, how they engage their audience and the reasons behind these production practices. Building on the HOI model, our analysis focuses on daily practices while taking the broader context into account. While a specific case study of a single programme in a specific genre, broadcasting institution and country emphasises the importance of particular contexts for audience engagement, the framework of the HOI model allows for the identification of structuring mechanisms and logics that have wider significance. From audience participation to engagementResearch on the role of the audience in a digital media environment often focuses on the concept of audience participation. Over the past decades, this has led to an extensive body of scholarship on participation, which we do not aim to summarise here. Instead, we briefly discuss some of its aspects to explain why this article chooses to further explore the concept of audience engagement.Audience participation has been defined in various ways, but often considers the democratising potential of digitisation for audiences and the consequential shift of power between producers and audiences (Carpentier and De Cleen 2008). Many scholars argue that digitisation changes the role of audiences, since they can participate more easily online (through social media, blogs, forums, etcetera) which may change the power dynamics between professionals and their audiences, giving the latter a more active role. Rosen ( 2008) famously appealed to media industry personnel stating that: "The people formerly known as the audience are simply the public made realer, less fictional, more able, less predictable. You should...
This article studies the practices and motivations of media producers to engage their audience in an audience community. Many media producers experience difficulties in engaging audiences, and community building seems to be a fruitful way to deal with this. Most empirical studies focus on the commercial value of communities, but this contribution studies the Flemish public service media program Vranckx as a case in point, using in-depth interviews, observations, and content analysis to assess the value of audience communities for Public Service Media (PSM). Results show that producers encourage different types of audience engagement, including immersive, interactive, and para-active engagement, to build and maintain an audience community. To do this, they integrate journalistic roles as observer, developer, facilitator, and curator within the community. Even though production practices show many similarities with commercial brand communities, PSM goals constitute central motivations, namely to decrease polarization and include different perspectives through dialogue in the audience community.
Samenvatting Deze bijdrage onderzoekt de intenties en motivaties van de televisiemakers achter de manier waarop verschillende alternatieve perspectieven aan bod komen in het programma Metropolis. Het Nederlandse programma wordt gemaakt in samenwerking met lokale correspondenten wereldwijd om zo alternatieven op mainstream media te tonen. Het inzicht in het productieproces toont aan dat het kosmopolitisch potentieel gelimiteerd wordt door een productionele en commerciële logica.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.