Role of television talk shows in creating political awareness among TV viewers
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Date
2011
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Publisher
University of Management and Technology
Abstract
This study examines the role of Private TV talk shows in creating polit ical awareness, testing their effects
on people's polit ical behaviour, attitude, beliefs and perceptions. In the present study data was collected
by conducting a survey of 200 respondents in urban and rural areas. The study highlights the importance
of Private TV talk shows for educating people polit ically. In other words the common beliefs and views
of critics- that political talk shows are merely entertainment programs and people watch these shows just
for having fun where they analyze who won and who lost ... were not supported by the empirical data. The
study presents evidence demonstrating that private TV talk shows are creating more polit ical awareness
than magazine and newspaper. A huge percentage of the respondents agreed to the effectiveness of talk
shows in creating polit ical awareness, making public opinion towards different political issues, bringing
people close to the political process, playing considerable role in conflict resolution and helping
youngsters to support! affiliate with any polit ical party or leader. Interestingly this study rejects this
notion-that media have more impact on urban areas as compare to rural ones by supporting the
signif icance of two variables motivation to seek information and access to information of
Knowledge Gap research because a great majority of respondents from urban and rural population use TV
as their main source of polit ical information. On the other hand, a dimension of powerful media effects
i.e., Priming is also supported by this study. Private TV talk shows are playing a signif icant role in
bringing change and awareness in our society.
Keywords: Talk shows, polit ical awareness, opinion formation, conflict resolution, media
impact, knowledge gap
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Keywords
Political Awareness, Mass Media