1.1 Introduction
Television is one of the powerful agents of socialization where people cultivate some habits because it mirrors reality. One of the ways television stations achieve this is through reality television show. This kind of show has influenced people especially the adolescents on their day to day activities including their decisions and attitudes towards dealing with real-life encounters.
As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.
1.2 Background of Study
Reality-based shows have gradually taking over global television programming. People who have been following events on television for the past five years can easily agree that television programming in the twenty-first century has thus far been dominated by reality-based programmes (Nielsen, 2005). For the past several years, reality television has dominated mainstream television programming, providing relatively inexpensive entertainment (Gardyn, 2001). No doubt, reality television has become a pastime which many television stations now rely on for winning large audience and advertisement patronage from advertisers.
Broadcasting media in Nigeria evolved over the years. This is because from the establishment of the first newspaper Iwe Irohin by Reverend Henry Townsend in 1859 to the stage of media commercialization in the 1990s, management and operation of media organizations in Nigeria have been topsy-turvy. The popularity of these shows is such that television stations and networks find themselves scrambling to place more reality programmes on air to keep up with audience demands. This way, the audience participates effectively in determining who should entertain them. The growing popularity of the reality genre invites questions regarding its utility and consequences for audiences. In Nigeria, reality television programmes are gradually becoming a dominant genre in television programming and the reason may not be farfetched. Many programmes on television now revolve around reality television chiefly because they now provide audience members, advertisers, and producers with certain entertainment gratifications and benefits which the scripted programmes like film and home videos may have difficulty fulfilling.
Reality television programmes have been criticized for being overly provocative and a disquieting representation of the society. The South African version of Big Brother proved to be highly controversial for its overt sexual content. However, Hyde-Clark notes that youth perceive reality programmes to be a reflection of their culture. “Youth may see reality TV as a reflection of the attitudes and behaviour exhibited in society. They may see the comments made by contestants as an accurate expression of how they are viewed by society, and adjust their perception of themselves accordingly”. This study, therefore, became necessary as it analyzed reality programmes on television as well as assessing the perception of the youth, especially Nigerian students, regarding reality programmes on television.
Therefore, in Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), Nigeria where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to assess the Reality TV Show on Broadcast Media Audience.
1.3 Statement of the Problem
Reality programming is gradually becoming the toast of television stations and advertisers globally. The relatively cheap production costs and high audience viewing figures ensure a steady stream of new and repeated formats of reality television on television screens in different homes today.
The ‘real’ drama of the programmes is highlighted by the interactive capacity of the shows, with the audience supposedly directly influencing events on the television screen. A reality television programme, for instance, is a programme supposedly devoid of 'acting out' unfolding events with everything happening being “unplanned”, “real”, but documented for viewers to see on-going or live happenings with every passing moment.
There are no actors, just competitors (young men and women who probably live in the same neighbourhood) doing their best to win the star prize of the reality show. Some people may also be seeing reality programmes on television as another way of exploiting the minds of the young audiences of the programmes without morally impacting on their lives. The setting varies, based on theme of the reality show. Issues, therefore, abound as some people perceive reality television programmes as ‘rewarding idleness’.
1.4 Aim and Objectives of the Study
The aim of study is to assess the Reality TV Show on Broadcast Media Audience in Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), Enugu State. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:
- To find out the perception of NTA Audience on reality television programmes
- To determine the effects reality television programmes have on University Students and the society
- To ascertain if the gender of broadcast media audience affects their perception of reality programmes on television.
- To find out how reality television stars influence broadcast media audience
1.5 Research Questions
The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:
- What is the perception of broadcast media audience towards reality television programmes?
- What effects does reality television programmes have on broadcast media audience?
- How does the gender of broadcast media audience affect their perception of reality programmes on television?
- How do reality television star influence broadcast media audience?
1.6 Research Hypothesis
In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.
Hypothesis One
- H0: There is no significant effect of reality television programmes on broadcast media audience and the society.
- H1: There is a significant effect of reality television programmes on broadcast media audience and the society.
Hypothesis Two
- H0: Gender of broadcast media audience does not affect their perception of reality programmes on television.
- H1: Gender of broadcast media audience affect their perception of reality programmes on television.
1.7 Significance of Study
This study will be of immense benefit to broadcast media audience and other researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study.
1.8 Scope of Study
The study focuses on the Appraisal of Reality TV Show on Broadcast Media Audience in Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) in Enugu State, Nigeria
1.9 Limitations of the Study
During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:
- Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
- Establishment Policies: Establishment policies posed a serious limitation as most staffs are not ready to release information needed for this project work. There were lots of information needed from the staffs of this establishment to enhance the study which took them time to release or they did not release at all for security purposes, hence the scope was reduced.
- Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
- Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
- Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).
1.10 Definition of Terms
- Reality TV: This is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unknown individuals rather than professional actors.
- Student: A student is primarily a person enrolled in a school or other educational institution who attends classes in a course to attain the appropriate level of mastery of a subject under the guidance of an instructor and who devotes time outside class to do whatever activities the instructor assigns that are necessary either for class preparation or to submit evidence of progress towards that mastery.
- Media: This refers to various means of communication. It can also refer to the technologies that distribute messages to vast or heterogeneous audience. Principally they include books, newspapers and magazines, journals television, radio, and the internet.
- Medium: this is a singular form of media. It is the channel through which message is sent to the receiver.
- Pattern: This is the way in which a person performs his/her activities or functions in life. It can also be seen as the repeated or regular way in which something happens or is done.
- Influence: this means control or “teleguiding” the attitude of somebody or organization to elicit desirable responses or actions from such a person.
- Children: young boys and girls between the ages of 1 to 17years who have exuberance for change.
- Television: The Webster dictionary defines television as the exact and continuous transmission of visual image, still or in motion but without permanent recording.
