Pandemi döneminin ana haber bültenlerindeki izleyici katılımı üzerindeki rolü: Fox tv örneği

Abstract

Our article examines the impact of the pandemic period on audience engagement in broadcast news through the concept of feedback. The uncertainty and increasing need for information during the pandemic have affected the audiences’ engagement in broadcast news. Television news bulletins as a traditional tool of media have changed through integration with social media platforms in order to meet the emerging uncertainty and the need for information state. To meet this need for information which emerged within the pandemic period, the duration of television main news bulletins and participation of the audience has been increased. The aim of our article is to reveal the impact of the pandemic period on audience engagement through Twitter usage in the Fox news bulletin within the framework of feedback. Within the traditional media channels, "Fatih Portakal ile Fox Ana Haber" is one of the main broadcast news to allow audiences' active engagement during broadcast. Therefore, this article examined Fox news' first broadcast day for both February and April 2020 in order to reveal the role of the pandemic period on audiences’ active engagement. In order to analyze the research findings, content analysis technique was used to reveal the role of the pandemic on the audiences’ engagement with the bulletin. According to the findings of this article, the duration of the broadcast news has extended and the audience participation has increased compared to the pre-pandemic period. Within the two flow of communication concepts, audience interaction with news bulletin hashtags through Twitter has also increased due to the need for orientation state during the pandemic period.

Öz: Makalemiz dünyayı kısa sürede etkisi altına alan pandemi döneminin televizyon ana haber bültenlerindeki izleyici katılımı üzerindeki rolünü geri bildirim kapsamında incelemektedir. Pandemi döneminde ortaya çıkan belirsizlik durumu ve artan bilgi alma ihtiyacı, televizyon ana haber bültenlerinde izleyici katılımının etkilenmesine neden olmuştur. Geleneksel medya aracı olarak televizyon ana haber bültenleri ortaya çıkan belirsizlik ve bilgi ihtiyacını karşılamak adına sosyal medya araçları ile entegre olarak değişime uğramıştır. Pandemi dönemi ile birlikte ortaya çıkan bu bilgi ihtiyacını karşılamak adına televizyon ana haber bültenlerinin sürelerinde ve izleyici katılımında artış yaşanmıştır. Bu çalışmanın amacı pandemi döneminde sosyal medya araçlarından Twitter ile izleyici katılımının pandemi dönemi öncesine oranla değişimini geri bildirim çerçevesinde ortaya koyarak, televizyon ana haber bültenleri ile izleyici katılımı üzerindeki etkisini Fox TV örneği üzerinden saptamaktır. Geleneksel medya kanalları içinde izleyici katılımına aktif bir şekilde yer veren “Fatih Portakal ile Fox Ana haberin” incelendiği bu çalışmada, pandeminin izleyici katılımı üzerindeki etkisinin salgın öncesi ve dönemi kapsamında incelenmesi bu makalenin amacını oluşturmaktadır. Şubat ve Nisan 2020 tarihleri aralığında her iki ayda hafta içi yer alan ilk yayın günü incelenmiştir. Geri bildirim yaklaşımı çerçevesinde pandeminin bülten ile izleyici katılımı üzerindeki rolü içerik analizi ile çözümlenmiştir. Analiz sonucunda Fatih Portakal ile Fox Ana Haber bültenlerinde, pandemi öncesine göre yayın süresinin uzadığı ve bununla birlikte izleyici katılımına daha fazla yer verildiği ayrıca izleyicilerin, oluşturulan tabelalara daha fazla geri bildirim göndererek çift yönlü iletişim kapsamında izleyici katılımının belirsizlik durumlarında daha fazla artış göstermiş olduğu saptanmıştır.

This article examines the role of the pandemic period on audience engagement in broadcast news through the concept of active feedback. The uncertainty and the increasing need for information become vital during uncertain times like the covid-19 pandemic. The escalating needs for orientation and information during the pandemic have affected the habits of audiences and news producers. These changing habits could be seen in traditional media forms like “Fox News with Fatih Portakal”. Uncertain times like the pandemic period has caused an enormous need to reach and engage with information in order to stay informed and in touch with the current agenda. Television news bulletins as a traditional media have changed through integration with social media platforms (Twitter) in order to meet the escalating uncertainty and the need for information state. To meet this need for information which has escalated within the pandemic period, the duration of broadcast news bulletins and participation of the audience has been excessively increased. The aim of our article is to reveal the role of the pandemic period on audience participation through Twitter use in Fox news within the framework of feedback. After the "Spanish Flu", which affected the world in the early 1900s, world population has facing a new pandemic period. The epidemic outbreak caused by the Covid-19 virus emerged in Wuhan, China at the end of 2019. This virus has spread globally in a short time and caused a new pandemic crisis. The covid-19, which turned from an epidemic (local epidemic) to a pandemic (global epidemic) with the announcement of the World Health Organization on March 11, 2020, caused major transformations in daily life practices. During the pandemic period, which is used to express the period we are living in, individuals and many sectors could not escape the effects of this process. During the pandemic period, the need to obtain information and communication has increased with digitalization. With the increased need to obtain information, the uses of social media and traditional media has increased and caused some structural changes of the media practices. Mass media play a major role in keeping the masses informed, safe and connected. In situations of uncertainty such as pandemic, individuals’ needs to obtain information increases (Caselo-Ripolles, 2020). In such cases, individuals resort to traditional mass media more than ever to meet this need. The need for orientation, needs to be explained within the concept of agenda-setting functions. According to the agenda-setting theory, the audience has an idea about what to think about with the information coming from the mass media (McCombs, 1972 p.176). Perhaps one of the most important elements of the agenda-setting process is the need for orientation. The need for orientation expresses a process that manifests itself more in uncertain situations such as pandemics. In this context, the fewer information individuals have about the situation or subject they are in, the need to get information in order to follow the agenda and adapt to the subject increases (Matthes, 2005, p.432). Within this aspect, uncertain times likes pandemic has a visible role on audience participation in broadcast news. Through the need for orientation, audience dependency to seeking information has increased and traditional tools like broadcast news shift their structure in order to meet this dependency. The studies about the impact of the pandemic on news media is a new and a demanding area to study. Studies like “Impact of Covid-19 on the media system. Communicative and democratic consequences of news consumption during the outbreak” by Casero- Ripolles and “Fox News and CNN's Use of Twitter in the COVID-19 Outbreak in the Context of Critical Discourse Analysis” by Karlı & Dondurucu focused on the news consumption and production during the pandemic period. Within the traditional media channels, "Fox News with Fatih Portakal" is the main broadcast news to allow audiences' active engagement. Therefore, this article examined Fox news' first broadcast day for both February and April 2020 in order to reveal the role of the pandemic period. In order to analyze the research findings, content analysis technique was used to reveal the effect of the pandemic on the audiences’ engagement with the broadcast news. As a result, agenda-setting is reversed with new media. Messages from the audience are capable to determine the future agenda. With new media agenda setting has evolved into a two-way process. The need for orientation caused shifts in broadcast news. Within this perspective, active audience engagement has increased in broadcast news and extended its duration.