Masters Degrees (Communication Science)

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Browsing Masters Degrees (Communication Science) by Author "Breytenbach, H. J."

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    Perceptiveness of U.F.S. students towards racial messages in newspapars
    (University of the Free State, 2002-03) Snyman, Carina Francis; Pepler, E.; Breytenbach, H. J.
    In 1998, the Human Rights Commission (HRC) received a request from two professional bodies, The Black Lawyers Association (BLA) and the Association of Black Accountants of South Africa (ABASA), to investigate two newspapers. The BLA and ABABSA claimed that The Star and The Mail & Guardian were allegedly guilty of racism. The HRC consequently appointed two research authorities, Claudia Braude (qualitative content analysis) and The Media Monitoring Project (quantitative content analysis), to investigate these allegations. Several newspaper editors and journalism institutes questioned these findings. According to them, the research was "considerably weakened by the absence of research into media consumers" (HRC report, 1999). They based their arguments on the premises that the research focused primarily on the content of the respective newspapers, and not on the interpretation of the readers/audience of the papers. In the final section of the report, the HRC concluded that "the media can be characterised as racist institutions" (HRC report, 1999). By not considering the opinion of the media receivers, the HRC report failed to make a credible and valid impact. An investigation on the audience's interpretation of these racist messages was called for. The population sample of the study was drawn from students between the ages of 18 and 25; the future readers and interpreters of newspaper messages. The sample included a variety of nationalities in order to determine to what extent race plays a role in the interpretation of the mass media messages. The content of three newspapers (Mail & Guardian, The Citizen and The Star) was analyzed over a period of a nine weeks based on the same guidelines determined by the MMP report (i.e. quantitative content analysis categories). Newspaper items were analyzed by monitoring items in which race was explicitly stated and implicit to the content. Once the content analysis was completed, examples of specific newspaper articles, which have been selected on their racist content, were supplied to the respondents. After reading the items, the respondents were asked to complete a questionnaire based on the selected newspaper articles. An exploration of the media as an institution and the interpretation of the respondents on the other side of the spectrum provided a relative holistic encapsulation of racism in the media The data gathered from the survey indicated a statistical significant difference between the responses of the White and the Black respondents. Although all the items presented to the respondents contained implicit or explicit racist messages, the respondents did not perceive these newspaper items as racist.
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    The uses and gratifications of music, by personality type, of a central South African radio station's audience
    (University of the Free State, 2012-11) Kotzee, Rozanne; Breytenbach, H. J.
    Various methods of communication exist and the understanding of the subtle differences in each form of communication may aid the compassing of this complex process. An example of one such method is music. At any given moment, worldwide, in restaurants, homes, offices, vehicles, night clubs, etc. people are listening to music. Music surrounds us, whether our listening to the radio, being put on-hold during a telephone call or going about day-to-day activities. Music has become a significant part of our lives – a ubiquitous social phenomenon and is the centre of various social activities, like concerts, where people gather to listen to and talk about music. Even in social gatherings where music is not the primary focus, for example weddings, it is an essential component – imagine a wedding without music (Rentfrow and Gosling 2003: 1236-1237). Radio stations may be regarded as some of the largest users of music as a method of communication. Wimmer and Dominick (2006:361) indicate that music is the main product of many radio stations and is of utmost importance for their economic sustainability. Furthermore, the audiences of radio stations – thus the receivers of the communication – also play an important role in the communication process employing music specifically as a method of communication. It may, therefore, be valuable to gain insight into the music preferences of a radio station’s audience. As music is mostly the main product of a radio station, it is of cardinal importance to be able to identify the music preferred by the audience of that particular radio station. The audience figures for commercial radio stations are directly related to the radio station’s advertising income (Wimmer and Dominick 2006:361). Despite the prevalence of music in our lives, the study into the personality psychology of music has remained mainly mute. Various questions remain regarding the individual differences and different uses of music, as well as individual differences and music preference choices. It is a given fact that people differ from one another. Precisely how and why they differ is less apparent and forms the focus of personality or individual differences research in the social science and, in particular, psychology (Rentfrow and Gosling 2003). It has been identified that there is currently a lack of knowledge and research specifically related to the relationship between personality traits, the uses and gratifications of music and the music preferences of radio audiences. The aim of this study will be to investigate the possible development of a predictive measurement tool in order to predict the music and genre preference for different psychographic groups of respondents who represent the audience of a central South African radio station, as well as their uses and gratifications of the music. Examining the patterns of music use and the relationship between music use and psychographic profiles, by employing the Ten- Item Personality Inventory (TIPI) and the Uses of Music Inventory (UMI), may contribute to the development of a more efficient model in the construction of a radio station’s music content and diversity. However, it should be noted that this will, by no means, be an exhaustive study into neither the exact influences on music preference nor the patterns of music use amongst the audience of this radio station.
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    The uses and gratifications of music, by personality type, of a central South African radio station's audience
    (Department of Communication Science, University of the Free State, 2013) Kotzee, Rozanne; Breytenbach, H. J.
    While music is the main product of many radio stations, this study seeks to gain insight into the music preferences of a central South African radio station’s audience. The study into the personality psychology of music has remained mainly mute. Various questions remain regarding individual differences and different uses of music, as well as individual differences and music preference (Rentfrow & Gosling 2003). By examining the patterns of music use and the relationship between music use and audiences’ psychographic profiles, and by employing the Ten-Item Personality Inventory (TIPI) and the Uses of Music Inventory (UMI), this study might contribute to the development of a more efficient model in the construction of a radio station’s music content and diversity.