The Mass Media
& the Youth
Shaping Attitudes, Values and Thinking
A “Media Nation”
• Television is King
 96% of Filipinos have
access to TV; in Metro
Manila, it’s 98%
 67 % said TV is most
credible information
source [PULSE ASIA]
 42% of the poorest watch
TV daily; only 37% listen
to radio daily [SWS 2003]
• Radio & Newspapers
 78% have radio access
but only 24% said radio is
most credible information
source
 Only 11% read
newspapers daily [SWS
2003]
 Only 5% said print is
most credible information
source. [PULSE ASIA]
The mass media are a dominant
presence in young people’s lives.
No. of Hours Spent with Various Media
Medium Teens Young
Adults
Older
Adults
TV
1.9
1.7
2.4
Radio
3.0
3.4
3.4
Internet
2.1
7.0
1.3
6.4
1.4
7.2
Total
Young people use the media mainly for…
•
•
•
•
Entertainment
Diversion
Lifestyle tool
Interpersonal
communication
The media and the youth interact
in complex ways.
• The media are considered a
primary agent of socialization,
together with the family, school,
religion and peer groups.
• The media are sometimes
considered “surrogate” parents –
authority on what is right and wrong
and what is important; more
influential now than in the 1970s
• The media are the prime source of
information on sex and
relationships.
The commercial media target the youth as…
• Market for advertising
• Market for their other
programs
The media are a big business
• Annual advertising revenues for all
media: about $1 billion – $1.2
billion/year, more than the total
revenues of San Miguel Corp.
• Advertising revenues account for 70 to
80% of all media revenues.
• Media organizations are increasingly
integrated (multimedia) and
corporatized.
• Media firms are among the most
profitable in the country.
Top advertisers in 2004 accounted
for over 50% of all ad revenues:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Proctor & Gamble Philippines Inc.
Unilever Philippines Inc.
Colgate-Palmolive Philippines Inc.
Nestle Philippines, Inc.
San Miguel Corporation
United Laboratories Inc.
Globe Telecommunications Inc.
Johnson & Johnson (Phil.)
Monde Denmark Nissin Biscuit Corp.
Jollibee Foods Corp.
The drive for ratings, which are bases for advertising,
defines content and style of broadcast news.
• News that has “entertainment” value
– has drama, emotion or celebrity
element
• Fast-food journalism: Bite-size news,
predictable, simple storytelling
devices.
• Bias against issues, matters of policy
and complex stories
• Stress on crime and showbiz
The view from the newsroom
“You will not feature a story that
you know won’t rate.”
- TV news executive
The scramble for ratings also defines
entertainment programs.
ENTERTAINMENT THAT SELLS…
• Follows known genres: soap operas,
quiz shows, reality TV, gag shows.
• Follows formulas in terms of character
and plot
• Prefers celebrity and glamour.
• Doesn’t require much thinking.
• Caters to lowest common denominator
and doesn’t divert too much from what
the competition is doing.
Top 10 Programs (2nd qtr 2004)*
PROGRAM
Viewers
%
1. Star Circle Teen Quest Grand Questor’s Night
3.9M
23.4%
2. Marina
3.8M
23.0%
3. Sana’y Wala Nang Wakas
3.5M
20.7%
4. Basta’t Kasama Kita
3.3M
19.3%
5. It Might be You
3.2M
18.9%
6. Star Circle Kid Quest Grand Questor’s Night
2.8M
16.9%
7. Ang TV Movie: Adarna Adventure
2.7M
16.5%
8. Extra Challenge
2.6M
15.2%
9. Victim Extreme
2.5M
!5.1%
10. Imbestigador
2.4M
14.5%
* Source: AGB Philippines
There is a disconnect…
• To the youth, the media are
parent and companion.
• To commercial media, the
youth are mainly a market
segment.
The unintended results…
• Young people tuning out
• They are becoming more
interested in new media that is
more interactive (SMS texting
or Internet chatrooms)
• More plurality and multiplicity
of media
Commercial media are adjusting to this…
• Using interactivity for
entertainment programs
• Using multimedia
• Using more innovative and
creative messages
• Still, the basic message for
commercial media is: buy
The dominant media message appeal
to the youth as consumers…
• Advertising increasingly
targeting the youth
• Entertainment programs
propagate a consumeristic
lifestyle
• Global media = global
consumption society
But media messages are not
received uncritically
• Greater media exposure = greater
skepticism
• Messages may have unintended meanings
• Receivers interpret the messages in
multiple ways
• Alternative media provide alternative
interpretations and messages
• Media consumers now have more choices
than in the past and much more
information is now more easily available
than ever before
• Media literacy can help “decode” media
messages
But media messages are not
received uncritically
• Greater media exposure = greater
skepticism
• Messages may have unintended meanings
• Receivers interpret the messages in
multiple ways
• Alternative media provide alternative
interpretations and messages
• Media consumers now have more choices
than in the past and much more
information is now more easily available
than ever before
• Media literacy can help “decode” media
messages. It can also catalyze media
reforms.
Some tips on decoding media
messages
• Who produced the message?
• What is the intent of the message
producer? What does the producer
have to gain from the message?
• What is the track record of the
message producer in terms of
credibility & public service?
• How can the message be critically
interpreted?
The Philippines is an unequal society.
• Income distribution is very
skewed:
Share of National Income (2000)
Income Group
% Share of National
Income
Richest 50%
82.2%
Poorest 50%
17.8%
The inequity is also in the geography.
• Metro Manila, the capital, has a
disproportionate share of national income
Region
Annual
Income/Family
% of Total Nat’l
Income
National Capital
P242,345
26.7%
Autonomous Region of
Muslim
P 70,375
1.7%
CARAGA
P 82,008
1.7%
Zamboanga Peninsula
P 82,704
2.3%
Northern Mindanao
P 95,481
3.4%
The mass media reflect the inequities
of Philippine society.
• All the major media companies are in
Manila, staffed largely by Manila-based
and trained journalists.
• Media ownership is limited to the
wealthy and politically well connected.
• Media content is largely determined by
commercial considerations linked to
advertising by big companies.
Media imbalance…
• Perpetuates imbalances in power
and wealth caused by geography,
ethnicity, and class
• Contributes to molding ill-informed
citizenry.
• Makes policy changes—and social
reforms—difficult. Media content,
with its emphasis on the
entertaining and emotive, rather
than on what affects people’s lives
and what needs to be changed,
supports the status quo.
The media will be an even more
dominant presence in our lives…
• Use the media. Don’t let them
use you.
• Be critical.
• Tell the media what you think
of them.
• Support alternatives that
provide the service you need.
• Help build a media-literate
society.