In Other News: Negotiating a Shifting Notion of Newsworthiness Through Amateur Web Video
Article
This paper attempts to open the discussion on the changing notion of news among Filipino broadcast audiences and the broadcast media gatekeepers through the use of user-generated content. Several versions of singular events are allowed to be told, thus subverting the news media’s monopoly of the telling of events. This paper looks at some of the web videos that made the jump from sites like YouTube and Facebook, and assesses their newsworthiness according to those set by the mass media. Are audiences and producers influencing a change in the criteria of newsworthiness? Through a rhetorical analysis, this paper proposes a switch to the “little narratives” often regarded as novelty by corporate media, and argues for the quotidian that exist as story fragments; the private lives of individuals contribute to the conceptualization of news from the others’ perspective.
Decoding “The New Order”: Audience Interpretations of the 20th Philippine Advertising Congress Television Commercials
Article
This study looks at a series of television commercials that featured the Aetas, a Philippine indigenous group, which promoted the 20th Philippine Advertising Congress (PAC) and its theme “The New Order.” Employing Hall’s encoding/decoding model and Croteau and Hoynes’ model of media and the social world, this study sought to answer the question: Does cultural background play a role in shaping audience interpretations of mediated representations of indigenous peoples and other “othered” racial groups? Focus group discussions with “indigenous” and ‘non-indigenous’ audiences suggest that along with cultural background, political affiliations and personal experiences with indigenous peoples are influential in decoding the representations of Aetas found in the PAC commercials. However, the finding that both audience groups decoded the commercials in a negotiated manner raises significant questions about the systems of knowledge upon which racial discrimination is founded.
Communicating Healthy Lifestyle Choices in Primetime TV Advertisements
Article
Mass media continue to provide important channels for communicating information about personal health. This study aims to describe the knowledge, attitude and behavior of viewers regarding healthy lifestyle; explore whether the portrayals and messages in TV advertisements can influence people’s attitudes and behaviors toward leading a healthy lifestyle; and find out how the viewers’ knowledge, attitudes and behaviors regarding healthy lifestyles vary across subgroups by sex, age and socio-economic status. The paper reports on a survey of 200 prime-time viewers in Quezon City and key informant interviews of 36 prime-time viewers in Metro Manila. Results show that viewers are able to acquire information from the health advertisements that are relevant to them. They have a positive attitude towards these health messages and are willing to adopt some of the aspects of healthy lifestyle portrayed, however this does not translate to willingness to buy the product advertised.
