Friday, October 18, 2019
The Foreign Exchange Market Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words
The Foreign Exchange Market - Essay Example For example, the desire to purchase a foreign automobile or to travel abroad produces demand for a currency in which these goods or services are produced. Second reason maybe to acquire foreign currency is to purchase financial assets in a particular currency. The desire to open a bank account, purchase foreign stocks or bonds or acquire direct ownership of real capital would fall into this category. A third reason that individual's demand foreign exchange is to avoid losses or make profits that could arise through changes in the foreign exchange rate. Individuals acquire that currency today at a low price in hopes of selling it at a profit later at a high price and thus make a profit. Such risk taking is activity is referred to as speculation in a foreign currency. Others who have to pay for an imported item in the possibility that the foreign currency will become more valuable in the future and would associate with the changes in the exchange rate is referred to as hedging. The tot al demand for a foreign currency at any one point in time thus reflects these three underlying demands: the demand for foreign goods and services, the demand for foreign investment and the demand based on risk taking or risk avoiding activity. It should be clear that the demands on the part of a country's citizens correspond to debit items in the balance-of-payments accounting framework. SUPPLY SIDE Participants on the supply side operate for similar reasons (reflecting credit items in the balance-of-payments). Foreign currency supply to the home country results firstly from foreigners purchasing home exports of goods and services or making unilateral transfers or investment income payments to the home country. For example, U.S. exports of wheat and soybeans are a source of supply for foreign exchange. A second source arises from foreign purchases of U.S. stocks and placement of bank deposits. Japanese joint ventures in U.S. automobile or electronic plants are all examples of financial activity that provides a supply of foreign exchange to U.S. Finally, foreign speculation and hedging activities can provide yet a third source of supply. The total supply of foreign exchange in any time period consists of these three sources. The foreign exchange market in the figure below is presented from a U.S. perspective and, like any normal market, contains a downward sloping demand curve and an upward sloping supply curve. The price on the vertical axis is stated in terms of domestic currency price of the foreign currency, for example $/franc and the horizontal axis measures the units of Swiss francs supplied and demanded in at various prices (exchange rates). The intersection of the supply and demand curves determines simultaneously the equilibrium exchange rate and the equilibrium quantity of Swiss francs supplied and demanded during a given period of time. An increase in the demand of Swiss francs on the part of the United States will cause the demand curve to shift out to D' and the exchange rate to increase to e'. Note that the increase in the exchange rate means that it is taking more U.S. currency to buy each
Thursday, October 17, 2019
IT Hilton Case Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words
IT Hilton Case - Coursework Example Good brands foster customer loyalty and loyal customers are more willing to increase their frequency of purchase or number of purchases in addition to becoming marketers for the hotel through word of mouth. Brand is therefore an important asset to any company. 2. Evaluate the performance of the Customers Really Matter initiative to date. Calculate an ROI for the project as: (Total number of calls * increase conversion ratio * net revenue per call) / OnQ CRM investment. Support this analysis with qualitative rationale. Note the difference between OnQ (the entire infrastructure for running Hilton that cost $100m) and the OnQ CRM which is the focus here. From the chart above that has been derived from the ROI equation it is evident that the Customers Really Matter initiative has been having an increased positive impact to Hilton. The positive slope manifests an increasing return on investment. From the chart we can conclude that Hiltonââ¬â¢s managers have been effectively using the i nvestment in OnQ CRM to produce more income. Another way of looking at this chart is that the numerator has been increasing more rapidly than the denominator. This implies that many calls were closed (as shown by conversion ratio increases), Hiltonââ¬â¢s efficiency increased (as shown by net revenue per call increases) and increase in customers/potential customers (as shown by increase in total number of calls). In summary it means that Hilton is improving its ability to extract value from its investment in the OnQ CRM system. 3. What do you think Hilton leadership should do after the Blackstone acquisition? Should they further invest in CRM or simply maintain the status quo? What aspects of Hiltonââ¬â¢s CRM should be strengthened, if any, and how? Hilton leadership should focus their efforts on using the resources obtained from the Blackstone acquisition to tackle their threats and weaknesses. For starters Hilton is aware that consistency and delivery in service is heavily de pendent on their front-end staff. Secondly, with the CRM Hilton is slowly losing the chance to interact with its customers i.e. human touch is slowly being replaced by IT systems. Hilton is in the hospitality industry and in as much as IT systems may be effective; they lack the capacity to create personal relationships with customers. Furthermore, too much investment in the CRM would create too much reliance on it, which implies that it could be a single point of failure. This only increases the risk associated with using the CRM. From the points raised above we believe that Hilton would be better off in maintaining the status quo than in over-investing on the CRM. The funds obtained from Blackstone could instead be used to improve the groupââ¬â¢s management system, front-end staff skills acquisition and to support the expansion drive towards increasing its hotels to increase its market share. From Exhibit 1 (Applegate, Piccoli, and Dev 7) we can see that Hilton is the fifth la rgest hotel group. Blackstoneââ¬â¢s funds should be used to continue the aggressive expansion program. 4. Briefly evaluate the potential value of CRM for one of the firmââ¬â¢s a team member works for. How significant could CRM be to the firm? Does CRM raise any potential customer data privacy concerns in this example? Dell is a leading PC manufacturer in the world and as such requires the services of a robust CRM that can handle over three
Liyuan Stanford 19970 5-6 days services Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words
Liyuan Stanford 19970 5-6 days services - Essay Example My determination kept inspiring me to get across the challenge and thus I identified a new trend in folk dance featuring a leader who was taller than others in which I could easily fit in. When it came to my passion in modeling, height turned to be a limiting factor once again, but this time in the reverse order. I identified my role as a coach and a team builder which helped others also to chase their dreams as I established universityââ¬â¢s first modeling association. These experiences made me understand the necessity to search for higher values in each and everything you do in life. The endless competition in the job market has frozen the ethics behind the professional endeavors as many people experience a lifelong tug-of-war between professional success and these ethics. But for me career has higher purpose than mere money and reputation. I have always looked on to my mother who for ever stood for her values. .While she created profit-making enterprises during the open policy in the late 1970s, her prime aim was to help many middle aged Chinese women gain independence. It was the search for the higher values and morals which persuaded her to close her companies to rejoin the state-owned enterprise to help it survive a major transformation in the Chinese national economy. As being an early-driver of venture capital in China, I too believe that capital can be successfully combined with the search for social transformation .I have proved this by helping socially beneficial initiatives to have a higher growth by utilizing the possibilities of venture capital. More than money and economic sharing, charity should have a higher purpose. Since 2003, I assisted Net 263 CEO with his 10-year project, which had built 100 Hope Schools to ensure support and education to children who are deprived of the basic rights of schooling and other facilities. Rather than the capital involved in the charity, what
Wednesday, October 16, 2019
The evolving nature of masculine and feminine roles in relationships Research Paper
The evolving nature of masculine and feminine roles in relationships - Research Paper Example Thornton, Axinn, and Xie observe that there are emerging cases where couples prefer cohabitation to legalised marriages based on their personal experiences, circumstances attitudes and family history (Thornton, Axinn, and Xie 36). Masculinity and femininity are socially determined components of gender. They define behaviours and characteristics observable in either male or female beings. Many times masculinity is associated with maleness while femininity is associated with femaleness Masculinity and femininity being a component of gender is a complex issue. According to Lippa, the concepts surrounding the subject of masculinity and femininity transform over time. Some of the factors responsible for these changes include family influences, biological influences, social influences, cultural influences, peer influences and individual feelings and influences. There is proving that parental socialization of boys and girls in interaction with biological predispositions defines how boys and girls interact with their peers. These interactions determine the femininity or masculinity characteristics that children adopt during their development (Lippa 187). There has been a transformation in the social perceptions of what it means to be feminine. Traditionally femininity entails being nice, submissive, unengaged and reliance. Masculinity and femininity determine the interaction among peers. Masculinity and femininity has also been associated with personal interest. According to psychologists individuals who exhibit masculine characteristics tend to show interest in mechanical and scientific subjects whereas individuals exhibiting feminine characteristics enjoy cultural and art related subjects (Lippa 44). Lippa argued that there are arguments that femininity is considered good for men and masculinity is considered good for women. This concept stands to explain the evolving nature of masculinity and femininity into instrumental traits and expressive traits. Instrumental tr aits include independence, dominance, assertiveness, and leadership abilities whereas expressive traits include sympathy, warmth, sensitivity and compassion. The instrumental traits define masculinity whereas the expressive traits define femininity. The instrumental traits explain why there are women who take up huge roles like taking care of the family, pursuing competitive such as managerial positions and politics. Individuals with expressive traits are considered feminine (Lippa 45). Men who possess expressive traits tend conform to feminine roles. Men who possess expressive traits taking up careers that are considered feminine such as nursing, teaching, and art related careers. Men with expressive traits have no problem raising taking care of the family while their women work to provide for the family. Roughgarden states that culture and society are responsible for imposing on individuals the appropriate way of expressing their sexual identity. According to Roughgarden masculini ty and femininity defines appearance, and behaviour humans. Roughgarden states that masculinity and femininity determines how an organism carious out a sexual role. Biologically masculinity and femininity differentiates the the characteristics possessed by males and females. However, Roughgarden points out the cross gender manifestation and behaviour is acceptable (Roughgarden 28). Roughgarden
Liyuan Stanford 19970 5-6 days services Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words
Liyuan Stanford 19970 5-6 days services - Essay Example My determination kept inspiring me to get across the challenge and thus I identified a new trend in folk dance featuring a leader who was taller than others in which I could easily fit in. When it came to my passion in modeling, height turned to be a limiting factor once again, but this time in the reverse order. I identified my role as a coach and a team builder which helped others also to chase their dreams as I established universityââ¬â¢s first modeling association. These experiences made me understand the necessity to search for higher values in each and everything you do in life. The endless competition in the job market has frozen the ethics behind the professional endeavors as many people experience a lifelong tug-of-war between professional success and these ethics. But for me career has higher purpose than mere money and reputation. I have always looked on to my mother who for ever stood for her values. .While she created profit-making enterprises during the open policy in the late 1970s, her prime aim was to help many middle aged Chinese women gain independence. It was the search for the higher values and morals which persuaded her to close her companies to rejoin the state-owned enterprise to help it survive a major transformation in the Chinese national economy. As being an early-driver of venture capital in China, I too believe that capital can be successfully combined with the search for social transformation .I have proved this by helping socially beneficial initiatives to have a higher growth by utilizing the possibilities of venture capital. More than money and economic sharing, charity should have a higher purpose. Since 2003, I assisted Net 263 CEO with his 10-year project, which had built 100 Hope Schools to ensure support and education to children who are deprived of the basic rights of schooling and other facilities. Rather than the capital involved in the charity, what
Tuesday, October 15, 2019
Social Service Essay Example for Free
Social Service Essay Man is primarily a member of a social community. He should not only be concerned about himself but also for the welfare and development of society as a whole. It is truly said that ââ¬Å"Jana-Sevaâ⬠is ââ¬Å"Janardhana-Sevaâ⬠. The feeling of self-satisfaction that comes when one sees the unshed tears of joy in the eyes of one whose hunger has been appeased, whose thirst has been allayed and whose needs are fulfilled is indeed heavenly. The service rendered by an individual or an institution to improve the social conditions of society is called ââ¬Ësocial serviceââ¬â¢. This service is rendered on humanitarian considerations and without any motive of profit. Only those people to whom the interests of society are more important than their personal interests come forward to render social service. Social service is based on the ideal of brotherhood of man. It is a natural impulse to help men in distress. It is a noble impulse. It cannot be rendered without an element of self-sacrifice. One has to spend time and energy for it. Nowadays man is concerned only about his own welfare. Obligations, noble thoughts, duties towards society have been pushed to the background as the centre-stage is occupied by a rat-race for materialistic trifles. In a country like India, social service occupies an important place. It is specifically stated in Article 38 of our Constitution that ââ¬Å"the State shall strive to promote the welfare of the people by securing and protecting as effectively as it may, a social order in which justice-social, economic and political-shall include all the institutions of the national lifeâ⬠. In five decades of planning, the social welfare services were aimed at the welfare and the development of children, women and the physically and socially handicapped of the society. Social service is not confined to isolated deeds and words of charity towards the disabled, helpless or the poverty stricken. Doctors can serve by attending to the ailing without being influenced by thoughts of pecuniary gains. Engineers and contractors can serve humanity by doing their jobs efficiently and diligently, without being clouded by greed. Businessmen can do social service if they pursue their work honestly as a vocation. Public servants will be of great service to humanity if the evils of corruption and aimless drift are rooted out and replaced with the seeds of the true spirit of service nurtured by good ethics and strong human values. Politicians can serve by substituting integrity and patriotism for acts of self- preservation. So, for doing social service the only thing which is important is the strong will to do something for the betterment of the society. The social services cover for children includes integrated development of children, care and protection to abandoned, neglected, unwanted, destitute children, setting up creches for working and ailing mothersââ¬â¢ children, nutrition programmes etc. A National Childrenââ¬â¢s Fund was constituted by the Government during the International Year of the Child in 1979. India has also been associated with United Nations International Childrenââ¬â¢s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) since 1949. Programmes are being implemented for the early detection and treatment, education, training and rehabilitation of disabled persons, namely, the blind, the deaf, the orthopedically handicapped, the mentally retarded, spastics and the leprosy cured persons. Social welfare measures at the Government level touch only a fringe of the problem. It is not possible for the Government to reach out to every person who needs help. Therefore, voluntary organisations can and should supplement the Governmentââ¬â¢s efforts in a big way in this noble task. In view of the illiteracy, ignorance, superstitions and social evils prevalent in our country, the need for social service has assumed a certain urgency. Of course, social service cannot be a whole time activity. It is indeed enough if people with missionary zeal devote 2 or 3 hours a day for social service. Students can take to social service during their summer vacations. Similarly, retired persons can be of great help. Housewives are normally free from their dayââ¬â¢s work by 12 P. M. They too can volunteer for social service. There are a number of areas in which social service is called for on a mass scale. First of all, groups of educated people can go out to villages and educate the illiterate. In India about 35% of the people are illiterate. Even our modest efforts can contribute to the removal of illiteracy from our country. Our villages lack sanitation. Social workers can meet the villagers and educate them about the need for sanitation and cleanliness. Nearly 72. 2 per cent of Indiaââ¬â¢s population lives in villages. If our villages look neat and clean, our country will acquire a new look. The death rate is much higher in villages because of the lack of medical facilities. Villagers need to be enlightened and encouraged to protect their children from deadly diseases by having them inoculated. Inoculations give unmunity from diseases like typhoid, whooping cough, diphtheria, leprosy, T. B. , polio etc. When Government officials approach villagers, the villagers distrust their claims. Social workers can create a better psychological effect on villagers and explain to them the advantages of inoculations. Indiaââ¬â¢s population is growing at an alarming rate. It has already crossed the 1,027 million mark and India has become the second- most populous country in the world. Social workers can do great service by putting across to villagers the message of family planning. In cities and towns, slums are coming up due to large scale migration of people from villages to cities. These slums lack sanitation. There are no civic amenities at all. Life in slums is miserable. People living in the slums indulge in distillation of illicit liquor, sale of narcotic drugs and other criminal or antisocial activities. There is a dire need to launch cleanliness drives in these slums. Special programmes should also be undertaken in these areas so that people who have gone astray can be brought back to the right track. In our country, Mother Teresa rendered great social service by serving thousands of poor, needy and destitute people. She set an example of what social service can do for the suffering humanity. Voluntary organisations like the Bharat Sewak Samaj, Sadhu Sewak Samaj, Servants of the People Society, Ramakrishna Mission, Arya Samaj and many other social welfare and voluntary organisations are doing a lot of good work for people in different spheres of life. Let each man uphold the ideal of ââ¬Å"Help ever, hurt neverâ⬠as his motto and contribute his bit to make the world order politically powerful, socially stable, economically efficient and spiritually strong.
Monday, October 14, 2019
News Channels Prefrences
News Channels Prefrences After the last millennium year, we had seen a great budding in the entertainment news channel segment. With privatization came, the growth of joint ventured channels as well as big corporations joining the line. Progressively, it broadened its horizon into other sectors Music , Kids , Movie and Sports channels. We also saw a great mushrooming in the News segment. The huge growth was seen with increase in number as well as the audience response. According to Television Audience Meter, the overall television audience share of news channels increased from 1.5 per cent in 2001 to 7.9 per cent in 2012. Therefore, the amount of money spent on this segment was increased as companies could reach specific viewers. The AC Nielsen survey conducted in India showed that 30% of the TV watching population watched Entertainment Channels during the prime time whereas only 8% of the population watched news channels during that hour. With the day to day increase in competition in the News Channel Segment, it remains difficult to keep up the constant viewership. Hence, all the channels are running the rat race in market for gaining mass eyeballs. The news beats are repeated 247 just to keep the viewer stick to the television. These News channels have a floating audience. Literature Review The following is the list of different literature that I have consulted before i undertook this project. All these different pieces of work have helped us deciding the course of action that we may follow and also provided a starting point based upon which we have developed our methodology to achieve our objective. INDUSRTY OMNIBUS RESEARCH REGARDING STUDY OF VIEWS ON NEWS CHANNELS PREFRENCES Cyber Media Research had conducted a survey to understand a viewers perception, awareness preferences .They interviewed around 703 households in Ambala, Delhi Mumbai. The participants were asked to tell their first recall, about their preferred channels without the help of any hints. They were then given a list of 54 channels and they were requested to choose channels. In this way, top-of-mind, total unaided and total preference (sum of unaided and aided preference), were captured in the study and analyzed. Results showed that Hindi news channels were more popular than their English counterparts. AajTak lead with 66% of the market share followed by Star news, Zee news NDTV. This research helped us in determining the factors that people value during setting their preferences for a news channels. UMAR SURVEY BY AC NIELSON This survey covered the media consumption habits of Indians in TV, Print Online media. They used random telephone calls, TV diaries, booklets in which samples of viewers record their TV viewing during measurement week, electronic gadgets like people meter were also used. Calculation of reach: Proxy Sample Rate: 10 individuals For a single episode, if out of 10 people at least 6 saw the 1 minute of the programme then, the reach is calculated as 6 out of 10. Therefore, reach comes up to 60%. Conclusion: The result of the study showed that English is preferred language when going for print media whereas the television is watched more in regional languages. 9 out of 10 people watch TV nearly three-fourth of the surveyed read English dailies. Result also shows that magazines are not a popular choices amongst the rich more than 6 in 10 individuals do not read magazines. This research helps by informing us that the viewership also depends on the segments of people and their preference and lifestyle. FACTORS THAT IMPACT NEWS This article by Edd Applegate, a professor of Advertising at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro writes how journalists should not be influenced by commercials or professionally prepared news releases. He also speaks about how the news is being generated by PR Personnel and Manipulators. Manipulators have been successful in the past, perhaps too often for the countrys welfare. For example, Presidents of the USA such as Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon were successful in manipulating the press. President Franklin Roosevelt and his charismatic personality influenced what and how reporters wrote for the press. 4. CATEGORY TO HARD AND SOFT NEWS -CONFERENCE PAPERS, INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATION ASSOCIATION. The study mainly focused on print journalism. However, as briefly described above, it describes hard news / soft news studies, which now does not limit itself to the print media but rather include television and more recently, new media. Moreover, as we will presently show, most of these studies research the way the audience (readers, viewers, listeners) consume the different types of news. Methodology The data collection instrument in this survey is questionnaires collected through field based survey Web based survey. The location of the survey was limited to the periphery of Manipal. The questions records the degree to which Television News Channels sensationalize and manipulate news and space for their suggestions is also provided. The survey consists of ten questions and the Sample size was between 50 60, which is significant for doing and Qualitative Critical Analysis. The results will be depicted using tools like Histogram Pie Charts. Sample Size: 55 Types Sources of Data: Sources of primary data are Businessmen Service Employees Students Housewives Introduction Television in India has existed in India for about decades, before which the transmission was mainly in black and white. The first telecast started on September 15th 1959 in New Delhi. Color Television was introduced in India during the eighties by state owned broadcaster Doordarshan (DD), followed by the Asian Games which India hosted. In the nineties came the broadcasting of satellite TV foreign programmers like CNN and Star TV followed by the domestic channels such as Zee TV and Sun TV. Prior to this people had to make it through Doordarshan telecasted mostly socio economic development programmes, programmes on agriculture, education etc. with very little entertainment in spite of which the audience were glued to their television sets. Around 1995 Indian viewers were exposed to more than 50 channels and by 1996, more than 60,000 cable operators existed in India. Entry of music channels, movie based channels, soaps started dominating Indian channels by 2003. India in the recent years has experienced the rise of more than fifty 24- hour satellite news channels, broadcasting news in 22 different languages. Indian had only one government controlled television network until private satellite networks came up and hyped up their presence. These 24- hour news channels were considered much better than Doordarshan because of its virtual nature and its capacity to simultaneously capture and publicize reality. Even without commentary a television clip became interesting enough as was shot live. Television as we know has the capability to reach millions of people at the time because it can transmit both pictures and words which become a very powerful advantage and keeps the audience glued. Also the images shown on television are much more effective and powerful than a static picture in a newspaper. However, news channels are on a look out for rating of a particular story, so ironically 24/7 news channels do not telecast news the whole day, the main news although is seen only during the morning, afternoon, evening and late night hours. It is being advocated that television journalism should move beyond mere news reporting to in-depth analysis of news. News channels need to be more sensitive in their reportage and should present the facts in a new format. The problem, it is felt with too much competition among news channels is that, in the race to grab viewers attention, TV channels end up dumping down or using the lowest common denominator to produce programmes that end up underestimating the intelligence of their viewers. Worse, channels trivialize, sensationalize etc. As more news channels enter the fray the endeavor to ensure not just authenticity and empathetic portrayal of people, but credibility as well, would assume paramount importance. WHAT IS NEWS? News is a report of a current event Or future events . News is a description about current on goings in a newspaper, television, radio or internet. From all these, we can safely define news as a development that has happened in the past 24 hours which was not known outside and which is of wide interest to the people and that which generates curiosity among people. W. Lance Bennett claimed, News is usually defined as information that is timely, relevant to the concerns of its audience, and presented in a form that is easy to grasp. NEWS CHANNEL A news channel is one that telecasts, unlike entertainment oriented TV channels, the news that is immediate and effective. A news channels can do what a newspaper cannot because it transports the viewer, though live pictures, to the scene of action. Previously, the Indian viewers had very limited options for watching news. For news they had watch Doordarshan during fixed hours, and some International news continuous channels like BBC and CNN which were available to few viewers. In the need to provide more news and information and to make people more aware of their day to day happenings, Zee News came into the scenario. This is when there emerged what is known as the revolutionary way of telecasting news. Followed by Zee News were Star News and NDTV to provide news and information to the mass audience. In course of time, news stories that were telecasted in all these news channels began to acquire a certain exaggerated and sensationalized character that in a certain sense became difficult to differentiate between reality and entertainment. There are over fifty news channels, including the national and regional, telecasting news all over India. This makes the viewer at times confused as to which channel to watch or just try and watch all the channel leading to the phenomenon called channel switching. Television is a one-way communication; therefore it important to establish the credibility of news channels to ensure quality news. Information today is considered as the main priority in mist peoples lives. Therefore, in this competitive world to get attention from people, credibility is a must. For instance, if BBC is taken as our standard, the Indian channel are long associated with that of BBC, how many of them are even making an attempt to do that is a question that crosses many viewers mind. Sensationalism a conceptual framework The media, especially the news media , has been identified as the fourth estate that works to inform and educate the people in a manner that is fair and accurate while maintaining objectivity; a term used often in the expression of news. Yadav and Sharma (2006) quote Dr N Bhaskara Rao, chairman of the centre for media studies (CMS), New Delhi, Studies indicate that the level of public confidence in the media has been on a decline. There are accusations of arrogance, insensitivity, bias, accuracies, sensationalism, stereotypes, trivialization, conflict of interest and disappearing line between news and views on the other. This brings up the question as to whether the media is overtly indulging in sensationalism and whether such behavior reflects a lack of accountability. Even a not-so-close study of news channels today will indicate a paradigm shift in the standards of news gathering and presentation. Stories are glorified so frequently on the news that it becomes difficult to differentiate between reality and entertainment. Most often the entertainment quotient is higher than the information value. This leaves the consumer of the news, sitting comfortably in armchairs in heated living rooms, absolutely heartbroken at the state of this planet and the people. Most often than not, the emphasis of the story is more on the emotional responses to a particular event than on the event itself. The superficial controversies gets reported leaving little room for in depth analysis of substantiate issues. The focus lies on the juicy aspects of the story to pull in a larger share of the audience which can sold to the advertisers. The news channels face a crisis with the race of eyeballs as they cater more and more to the masses, their programmes accused of lacking dignity and credibility in their coverage. News media is no longer brought to us solely as an accurate source of information about local and global issues. In reality, it is driven by a corporate agenda that has identified a profit opportunity for fulfilling our need to know about the world around us. Increasing corporate involvement has added a whole new dimensions to what we know only as the news. Now factors like reviewing ratings advertising, the 24*7 trend and explosion of technology play more critical roles ultimately affecting the content of the information being provided. Technology by itself was not sufficient to create the multi channel revolution. It is the programmes, their content, their forms and format, the presentation-style, gloss and finish that the ever growing demand of television channels. Media- Money Matters Though the media industry is considered to be the watchdog of the society with its primary aims being to inform, educate and to entertain, there is no denying that today it is driven by profit. Unlike newspapers, news channels and talk o not receive much in terms of the subscription. The cost of some production in terms of the various equipment and resources persons required to come up with bulletins and breaking news is quite high. The constraints of time further increase costs. Such being case, advertisements not only help to cover the production and administrative costs, they also accumulate profits. News media organizations is driven by profit and the profit is dependent on the ratings received, its very important to take steps to ensure people keep watching. Causing a reaction in an audience will get them to tune in the following day. Getting people to tune in everyday is money. Broadcasters buy programming outright from television software companies. The price depends on several things, the genre and the production house among them. Sitcoms and talk shows are less expensive as they are shot within a studio. Similarly, game shows may seem cheaper to make since they are studio based but if the anchor is a big name the cost could be high. Currently, airtime is bought of ratings and advertising rates that channels offer. The weekend Television Audience Measurement (TAM) ratings similar to the TRPs, gauge the viewership demographics of various channels and programmes. The study helps media researchers identify the attention patters of channels, programmes or time slots. Creative heads in each organization constantly strive to come up with programmes which will keep the target audience glued to the television sets. Most often they experiment with anything seemingly fresh or just to publicize a non issue. What makes the TAM ratings even more crucial is the fact that the inflow of ads hinges on them. In short a channels success can be described as a crucial chain of captive programmes, increased viewership, higher TRPs, augmented inflow of revenue and therefore, better content generation. Reporters or their media might benefit from reporting controversy because controversial stories may be more engaging and easier to write. The 247 Trend News programmes are vying for attention with other popular programmes telecast in different channels. The biggest task for launching a satellite channel is programme software for round the clock. In this juncture, news gathering is a major task for the 24- hour news channels. To cater to the task, the emerging electronic channels have not only revolutionized the concept of news on the Indian television but have also changed the news formats. From local events to international events, breaking news to news analysis, television soap to page3 news, every happening comes under purviews of news. But the very nature of 24 hour news channels demands a constant feeding and re-cycling. The tyranny of the sound bite often reduces complex issues to ten second statements. Heads of news organizations agree that today cricket, crime and cinema dominate news. Unlike the print media they do not assume a public interests broadcasters role and thus, let the weekend TAM ratings steer content. Sensationalism Sensationalism in journalism has been a popular topic of fiery discussions for centuries. The word sensationalism is used loosely by people to criticize the media. Even in academic circles, the term has been used with little precision. The most common but vague classifications of the concept are by content: stories about crime, accidents, disaster, and scandal. A few scholars acknowledge that formal features may play a role in what we have come to call sensational, but precisely how the packaging of stories contributes to sensationalism remains virtually unexplored, especially in terms of television news. Data Analysis Below is the graphical representation of the Demography of people surveyed. Age 21 years and Below 3 22- 35 42 36 50 7 50 and above 3 55 As per Age Question 1: Effectiveness of documentary style reporting such as Satyamev Jayate. In the survey of this question it is found that 16% feel that the documentary style programs are not interesting or over analyzed, 36% feel that the reports are irrelevant and only 48% feel that the reports efficiently dealt with the social problems. Irrelevant 19 Not Interesting, over analyzed 8 Efficiently deals and fights with social problems 26 Very Useful 2 55 Question 2: About Breaking News / Exclusive news. 32% of the surveyed population feels that the current practice of showing breaking news is sensationalizing the news whereas 28% feels it is to increase the viewership, 24% feels it is to inform the audience and 16% dont care. Sensationalizing the news Increase the Viewership Informing the audience Dont know 18 15 13 9 Question 3: Effect of Soft News Style of Reporting If the news is framed into a more feature or documentary style it is found that it would not have any effect on the viewership of 63% whereas it would positively impact the viewership of 16% and negatively impact 21%. Positive 63% Negative 21% No Effect 16% Limitations: 1) Due to time constraints, the survey could not be carried out for a large and diversified population. 2) Our respondents are mostly professionals, students and faculty members. 3) This research is mainly based on media and in media. I have covered only TV channels and shows. The study has not included any radio, newspaper or other entertainment channels. Conclusion The sensationalism of news during the dawn of TV journalism in India has becomes the foundation of media professionals in present day and age. The missing investigative spirit, zeal of reporting and the absence of responsibility are all well thought-out to be reasons for these circumstances. The ethics of a journalist has been replaced by money minting thoughts combined with irrelevant media morals where the information is manipulated and spiced up to become the ticket to roof hitting TRPs. Interestingly enough, among the first few cases of news sensationalism is the William Hearsts case of 1898. William Hearst owned The New York Journal, his false reports and pictures resulted in the Spanish-American war. The war in turn resulted to the end of the Spanish domination in Cuba. The world never forgave him for his professional dishonesty, hence the media named him as the father of Yellow Journalism. Although the print media learnt to evolve their guidelines following criticism of its sensationalist stance, TV journalism continues to carry on this disgraceful tradition. In unstructured societies like India, where media is not subjected for fixing responsibility and holding accountability, there is considerable damage. Media now, is being measured less by how objective and credible it is than more in terms of the devastation it can inflict. Lack of organizational checks as well as the encouragement, has seen news being dramatized, as well as spicing it up to stimulate public interest. The result is that often these unverified facts compose a major part of the information telecast throughout the day, seven days a week. This has blurred the line between the do`s and donts of journalism. But Television News channels have certain areas where they have been consistently performing well, but taking to unfair means to lure people into increasing viewership is certainly wrong. They require considerable introspection which is important if media men are to stop contributing to conflicts and violence through sensational reporting. Inaccessibility and the involvement of violent interest groups force media men to stay away from the gory scene. These make journalists dependent on second-hand information gleaned from different sources. In such a scenario, quoting well-informed officials is a blessing in disguise to keep the information clock of the TV channels ticking. However, are media men justified in feeding half-baked and sensational information to the public? Does a political stunt, not corroborated by facts, provide the basis for solid news? Do journalists know that professionalism requires them to probe beyond the apparent facts? And do media men realize how insensitively the most sensitive issues are being dealt with? The answers to these questions require considerable introspection which is important if people from the media industry are to stop, consciously or unconsciously, contributing to conflicts and violence through sensational reporting. Bibliography: Aurthur Asa Berger Media Analysis Techniques. Learning from Jon Stewart: How Soft News Programs Inform Infrequent Consumers of Traditional News. Silent Eva Jayate by S. Anand Outlook-India Magazine -23-July-2012. Hard News, Soft News, and the gendered discourse of important and interesting Conference papers, International Communication Association. General News: The Necessity of Adding an Intermediate Category to Hard and Soft News 2004 Conference papers, International Communication Association. Factors That Impact News by Edd Applegate The Featurization of Journalism by Steen Stevensen Any Good News in Soft News? Markus Prior WEBSITES www.wikipedia.org www.jstor.org www.outlookindia.com http://www.indiaprwire.com/pressrelease/publishing/2009090232854.htm News Audiences Increasingly Politicized
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