An Assessment Of Students Response To Television Reality Programmes

An Assessment Of Students Response To Television Reality Programmes

Chapter One

Preface

Background of the Study

The mass media, utmost especially TV has come a part of our diurnal lives, and sources of information, education and entertainment have been described as the primary functions of the media. Lasswell( 1948) as cited in Folarin( 2005,p. 74), assigns three functions to the media

v Surveillance of the Environment( the news function).

v Correlation of the different corridor of the Environment( the tract function).

v Transmission of the artistic heritage from one generation to the other( the artistic transmission function).( pg 74).

There’s no doub t that the impact of TV broadcasting on youthful people’s lives is astronomically considered within what’s appertained to as “ media goods ” debate which to a great extent focuses on the potentially negative impact of TV on youthful people’s lives videotape violence, gambling, educational performance, TV consumerism, etc( Miles 2000,p. 87). Steele,J.R. & Brown,J.D.( 2005,p. 87), identifies three main reasons why TV influence should be given a near look

v youthful people spend further time with the mass media than they do in academy or with their parents.

v The media are full of descriptions that romanticize parlous adult geste similar as inordinate drinking and sexual promiscuity.

v Parents and other socialization agents have arguably shirked their liabilities when it comes to directing youth down from parlous forms of geste ; thereby allowing the media a more abecedarian influence.

In the environment of this converse, numerous observers comment that by the age of 18, an existent will have spent further time watching TV than any other exertion besides sleep( Anderson, 2009,p. 76). still, Miles( 2000,p. 73) is of the view that

It’s extensively assumed that youthful people are affected more directly and negatively by the media than any other age group, exploration actually indicates that youthful people between the periods of 14 and 24 actually form one of the groups who presently spend the least time watching TV. This is a incongruity that has frequently been neglected in the literature. Ironically, the mass media itself has a vested interest in exaggerating the impact it has on youthful people’s lives because media- hype simply makes good ‘ dupe. ’

Anyhow of the factual time youthful people spend in watching TV and using other media, there’s no mistrustfulness that TV broadcasting have played an important part in structuring youthful people’s lives in some shape and form in a period of rapid-fire social change( Osgerby, 2008,p. 12).

The quantum of TV programes consumed by youthful people has drastically expanded in recent times, allowing them to compose their own ‘ media menu ’ with their own preferences and loves. The youth itself is witnessing a period of rapid-fire change, likewise the ways in which youthful people use the media. The arrival of string and satellite TV has boosted TV viewing in recent times( Johnson, 2004). Osgerby( 2008,p. 20), farther points out that “ thepost-modern age brought with it the proliferation of media and information technologies which challenged traditional generalizations of time and space, represented most supposedly by the global artistic overflows and images apparent in the programming of Music Television( MTV). MTV is well known as an entertainment TV that airs not only music vids, but reality television shows and other entertainment programmes ”.

Reimer( 2005,p. 67), posits that youthful people’s use of the mass media binds them together more than any social exertion( and hence their relationship with social change). youthful people could be said to be united through their pursuit of pleasure through the mass media. The media( or the people behind it) are professed at knowing what will appeal to the mass teenagers and use skillful manipulation to get dispatches across, buy into an idea or product that communicates an idea- like the status of having the rearmost ipod, i- touch or cell phone. still, Allahar( 2006,p. 54), argue that the manner in which TV portray aspects of the outside world might be said to laboriously help youthful people from developing a critical knowledge that will allow them prioritize larger issues of particular and social responsibility.

Since they’re bombarded with tantalizing images of the ‘ good life, ’ it isn’t surprising that the youthful are dispirited by the reality of their poor profitable prospects. What lies at the heart of all this exertion, still, is the fact that televison can vend youthful people some element of an identity they’ve been tutored to crave rest diligence similar as music, fashion, and cosmetics have a largely innocent army of consumers awaiting the coming mode or style.( Allahar, 2006,p. 148).

Reality TV show has in recent time significantly proved to be a favourite among the youth – particularly those who fall within the range of periods 18- 25( Chikafe 2012,p. 76). Among these programmes is the Big Brother Nigeria which is the focus of this study and henceforth appertained to as “ Big Brother Naija ”. Other common bones then in Nigeria include MTN Project Fame, Guletc. “ Big Brother Naija ”, is a reality television show grounded on the Big Brother TV series in which 12 rivals live in an insulated house and contend for a large cash prize worth$ 100000 at the end of the show by avoiding being evicted by observers. The first season of the show first vented on DStv Channel 37 from March 5 to June 4, 2006. The voting results are vindicated by the auditing company of Alexander- Forbes. Chikafa,( 2012,p. 54), writes that the conception was espoused from George Orwell’s novel of 1984 named ‘ fictional dystopia of Oceania ’ in which he described a world of noway – ending surveillance. In the novel, the oppressor who watched over the citizens of Oceania was called Big Brother, and his intimidating watchword was ‘ Big Family is watching you ’. In the Big Brother TV show, rivals confined in the house contend to escape eviction in order to win the prize plutocrat. The reality television show debuted on DSTV channel 37 in 2016 and has since also, with the aid of the growth of satellite TV in

Africa, roused African followership interest and has remained an periodic event till date( Mateveke 2012).