Tuesday, September 23, 2008 Cabaero: Evolution of feedback By Nini B. Cabaero Beyond 30
ONE essential function of mass media is to hold a conversation with its audience through a feedback mechanism.
That conversation with a media consumer and vice versa has changed from some 10 years ago.
Ten years ago, Juan de la Cruz conversed with a newspaper by going to a typewriter or computer, writing down his piece and delivering in person or sending by fax or courier a letter to the editor. This was his way of letting the newspaper know his sentiments about happenings in the community or his reactions to a news report. He’d be lucky to see his letter published in the next day’s issue. Most cases, the letter took time to see print because of an accumulation on the opinion editor’s desk.
Today, a media organization’s feedback mechanism offers its audience a plurality of methods through which to speak out or talk back.
Letters to the editor still get used but there are now easier, faster and cheaper ways for the audience to communicate with media. And the conversation is no longer one-way.
Newspaper readers can voice out on issues through texting and by e-mail. Online visitors could do the same plus they have the facility to comment directly on a news report through a message board or by clicking on the comment link on a blog post. Publication of online feedback is immediate or, if delayed, it is usually for approval purposes only so publishers could screen out abusive, foul and unrelated comments.
News websites post e-mail addresses of authors and editors. A click on such a link would bring the online visitor to an email page containing the writer’s address. These websites, like the one of Sun.Star at www.sunstar.com.ph, carry blogs on certain issues. Sun.Star has a blog on President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (“Arroyo Watch”) and, on this blog, online users could immediately post comments.
Feedback by media consumers used to be purely one-way. A newspaper report communicates to a reader. A reader communicates back by writing a letter to the editor. That letter gets published a day or two after its submission.
Today, that conversation could be two-way or in multiple channels, with the exchanges happening at almost the same time.
Some are in text, others in video or audio. It might not always be a sober conversation, it could even sound like a babble of voices; but the result is people trying to converse with each other.
The audience itself is different these days. While a newspaper used to be circulated within a defined area, news websites expand the audience to global and with overseas Filipinos having their say on happenings here because they have the equipment (computers, Internet connection), they have the facility (articulate) and they have the ability (an educated and highly opinionated sector).
Feedback is no longer a straight line from sender to recipient. The mechanism for feedback in mass media is now non-linear and at times unorganized and “in your face” in style. This plurality of voices could only be good for democracy, for press freedom, because then the conversation becomes difficult to control and probably impossible to censor.
