Category: Role of Media

Impact of Television on Destination Image

There are several ways in which a destination image can be viewed on TV. It can be viewed in a movie or TV advertisement. It can also be seen on news casts. All in all, these viewings can alter the viewer’s perception of a particular place or destination image. Nowadays, movies and TV series are shot in exceedingly vast locations, news reports span a wider geographical area. Even documentaries are becoming more versatile and interesting. Tourists are now able to have visual access to countless destinations just by sitting in front of a television set.

Television in particular produces low personal involvement because the rate of viewing and understanding is beyond the viewer’s control. Instead, television is generally a non-selective medium that reaches out to a large audience. Television offers sight, sound, motion, and color, and has the indiscreet power to literally force itself onto viewers (Nylen, 1986; Kim, D. Hwang, Y. & Fesenmaier, D. 2005).

The impact of films on people’s image-formation has been widely recognized (Butler, 1990; Riley and van Doren, 1992; Gartner, 1993; Schofield, 1996; Iwashita, 2003; Kim and Richardson, 2003). “Films are not generally produced with the intent to attract tourists to a destination, but tend to influence viewers indirectly as the background part of the movie’s message” (Butler, 1990). This is because they can provide viewing for millions of viewers with considerable information about a destination, create an image for the first time, or change an already existing image in a relatively short timeframe (Hahm et al., 2008). For a destination, the publicity generated by a blockbuster and by famous actors can be remarkable. Researchers have already stated that films are more likely to reach wider audiences with less investment than specifically targeted tourism advertisements and promotion (Dore & Crouch, 2003). As a result, film-induced tourism or “film tourism”, as it is sometimes referred to, can be a very effective marketing tool for destinations that require financial backing for strong advertising campaigns, especially at a time of economic recession (Hudson, S., Wang, Y. & Gil, S. 2010).

“Movies have been found to influence both travel behavior and image perceptions. These effects can be positive, such as with the classic movie the Wizard of Oz, which travelers positively responded to in their perception of Kansas (Hsu, Wolfe, & Kang, 2004; Mccartney, G., Butler, R. & Bennett, M. 2008). It has been supported that merging the visual representation of a setting with audio cues such as music can produce a landscape to express something that cannot be otherwise expressed.

Research on sensorial marketing stating that using distinct sensory cues such as visuals, can yield positive image perception in consumers, where it clearly provides a competitive edge to a destination against its competitors, especially in the retail context (Aziz et al., 2012). As such, research pinpoints the influence of music on consumers’ evaluation of products and positive behavioral intention (Grewal et al., 2003). Although the value of stimulating the consumer’s senses has been recognized in consumer behavior for a long time, despite the convenience of using TV series as “changing potential tourists’ perceptions by stimulating their audial or visual senses has remained limited in the tourism discipline. .(Akarsu, T.N., Foroudi, P., & Melewar, TC. 2019).

A UK survey uncovered that 8 out of 10 British get ideas for their holiday destinations from films, and 1 in 5 will actually make the “pilgrimage” (Beeton, 2005, p. 34) to the shooting location of their favorite film (‘Movies’, 2004). Another recent study found that after family, friends, and the internet, TV shows and films were the next main influencer in the decision to travel to a particular destination. The survey found that “13% of people initially become interested in a country after seeing the destination on television or film”. (Hudson, S., Wang, Y. & Gil, S. 2010).

A new design was approved where a film was used as a treatment to experiment its impacts by conducting before-and-after surveys. “The film chosen for this experiment was the Motorcycle Diaries, described as a love story in the form of a travelogue” (Scott, 2004). In the film, Che Guevara and Alberto Granado, Guevara’s colleague, tour through Latin America on motorcycles, covering about 5000 miles. Their trip covered Buenos Aires, Argentina, through Patagonia and into Chile, north along the Andes to Machu Picchu, and finally to the Guajira Peninsula in

Venezuela. The movie was filmed over a 16-week period, in sequence, and primarily at the real locations of their journey across the continent. The film was chosen because it can be viewed in both Spanish and English, therefore allowing a multicultural perspective, and according to tourism specialists, was “a fantastic showcase for South America” (R. Skipsey, personal communication, 2006). A number of tour operators took advantage of the film to showcase the region to their customers. British film Journey Latin America, for example, offered a three-week attended “Motorcycle Diaries tour” from Buenos Aires to Lima. The company also had customized trips to any of the locations along the protagonists’ route, capitalizing on the role of the film in booming the tourism frequency that ensued. (Hudson, S., Wang, Y. & Gil, S. 2010).

Another remarkable story was Lord of the Rings, a clear example of the importance of using visual stimuli in film. This was also known to make a great leap by attracting multinational tourists to New Zealand, particularly of course, the destinations in which the films were shot (Jones & Smith, 2005; Shakeela & Weaver, 2013). According to Connell (2012), “the practitioners’ success stories are not limited with these cases where Notting Hill (Busby & Klug, 2001), Downton Abbey, Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice (Sargent, 1998) are other prominent examples of how audial and visual cues can influence the destination image and behavioral outcome of potential tourists (Akarsu, T.N., Foroudi, P., & Melewar, TC. 2019).

Media channels, particularly the news, because of the high credibility and market penetration they hold, may be the only agents of image formation which are able to change an area’s image dramatically in a short period of time (Gartner, 1994). It is well recognized that through a large variety of media, the audience receives information about tourist destinations, gain awareness and knowledge about these destinations and construct their individual images, which then form the basis for their destination decisions (Mercille, 2005; Khodadadi, M.2012).

If a tourist has a positive attitude towards a particular destination, the potential to actually make a purchasing decision is higher. If a tourist appreciates or values an advertisement, the propensity of purchasing the product increases. The tendencies for decision making and action are the motivational aspect of the attitude. Therefore, if a person feels strongly enough about a specific destination, hey may buy extra copies of the media channel (the magazine or newspaper, for instance) for their friends and family. In marketing, newspaper and magazine adverts often appeal first to the feelings and emotions of tourists. The goal is to get a tourist to appreciate and value a product, then make the purchase (Clow & Baack, 2004; Kotzé, F.C. 2005)

Impact of Radio on Destination Image

A study has shown that radio programs can elaborate the type of the services available in tourist sites, as well as the amenities offered to the tourists. The study also showed that there could be behavioral effects, represented by influencing people’s behaviors during those tourism activities, and increasing the demand for visiting some tourist destinations (Alhmedat, 2013; Al-Khasawneh, N., Al-Hrout, S.& Ibrahim, H. 2018). In 1993, $6.6 million were spent on radio-prompted travel and tourism advertising, therefore making it the sixth largest category of advertising (Bennett, M. & Seaton, A. 1996).

Radio has many qualities, one of which is immediacy since many radio adverts can be produced in mere hours and broadcast that very day. Radio airing requires radio commercials, singing commercials, or jingle commercials in the shape of pre-recorded messages that can be broadcast by the station (Yapparova, N. 2013). “Radio plays a key role in shaping the public mind and relationships among countries or political populations” (Hamidizadeh, M., Cheh, M.,Moghadam, A.& Salimipour, S. 2016).

Another quality of radio advertising is that it can also be used to develop destination images. However, due to lack of visual imagery, its main use is to distribute information rather than constructing an elaborate mental picture, therefore resulting in increased awareness. Due to radio’s lack of range, it is generally used to develop local area images or support special and seasonal promotional programs (Bennett, M. & Seaton, A. 1996).

Impact of Newspapers on Destination Image

Research has confirmed that advertising that is placed in a more trustworthy medium, such as a newspaper, is perceived as more informative, credible, and reliable. Whereas advertising placed in less credible media like TV is likely to be less informative (Bauer and Greyser, 1968; Larkin, 1979; Kim, D. Hwang, Y. & Fesenmaier, D. 2005).

Researchers Robertson and Rogers (2009) defined newspapers as an important medium in tourists’ decision-making process. There were many earlier studies that newspapers had what is known as a carryover effect (Clarke, 1976; Givon & Horsky, 1990; Herrington & Dempsey, 2005; Tull, 1965). According to the research of Kim, Lee, Mjelde, and Lee (2014) concerning the carryover effect, for instance, newspaper reports had a positive yield on attendance with this media effect rising for the first four days after publication. Through information collection processes, potential tourists were then able to resolve any doubts and therefore improve the overall quality of their trip (Fodness & Murray, 1997; Park, J. 2015).

Making newspapers reader-friendly is the “single highest potential area for growing readership”, an institute research paper states. Shockingly, according to the paper, ease of interpretation does not revolve around design or placement of articles (Clow & Baack, 2004), nor do factors such as graphics and color relate numerically to ease of reading. Alternatively, readers want such things as more practical “go and do” information in stories, including phone numbers, dates, addresses, working hours, and website information. Nowadays, this should be considered as good news for the contemporary tourism industry (Kotzé, F.C. 2005).

A great percentage of printable advertisements for travel products and services appears in newspapers and magazines. Naturally, they comprise about half of all travel and tourism advertising expenditure. Around 75% of the people in the United States read a newspaper on a daily basis. Based on the fact that newspapers appeal to such a large audience, they are initially important opportunities for travel suppliers to exploit. Major local and international travel suppliers, such as car rental agencies and airlines, advertise habitually in major daily newspapers, with over one million distributions in surplus (Burke & Resnick, 2000; Kotzé, F.C. 2005).

The role of communication in media management is to accomplish the goals of an organization. Media management is an area of business that deals with the supervision of media specialists, productions, and other channels. As managers, we must define what needs to be completed, when it will be completed, and how it will be completed. To achieve this, we must effectively communicate the plan to others in the organization. Efficient communication skills can help employees to have a better understanding of their roles in the workplace as well as the responsibilities they may have within the company.

The ability to communicate effectively is one of the important aspects of any organization because it helps to ensure that all members of the organization are working together towards a common goal. Communication skills are essential for effective communication. If you don’t know how to communicate effectively, then your organization will fail. Communications help workers to get involve and feel empowered to be engaged in changes that may happen within the business. This can also create good communication in an environment where people want to give their support to a business.

Communication is necessary to communicate effectively with employees to understand what’s going on in the company. In this business, we must convey ideas, generate thoughts or feelings through words and actions. It is the process of making decisions about how to act in any given situation. When it comes to the role of communications manager, what a person may depend on the part of collective communication in the organization. You may want somebody to focus just on internet commerce, websites, blogs, and social media. You may be somebody who will explore print advertisements in local cities or who will come up with and move on amazing results. Social media has a powerful effect on business activities and job processes. There are four channels by which social media resources will change into enterprise process capacities (Paniagua, Jordi & Sapena, Juan, 2014). The social media organization is a relatively new activity and there is no limited business structure.

The field survey of middle-and upper-level managers was attempted to inform managers’ choice of communication media. These findings suggest that media differ in their ability to transmit content cues. Directors like rich media for ambiguous connections and less rich media for unequivocal connections. This information indicates that high performing managers are more susceptible to the relationship between content expression and media richness than low acting managers. Implications for directors’ usage of data systems and electronic media are talked about (Daft, Richard L., and others). Also, it is suggested that there are some limitations to the use of data systems and electronic media. The study also suggests that a lack of knowledge on how to manage media can lead to poor decision making. The research also shows that the importance of communication in media management is not only limited to technical aspects but also includes other social aspects as well. The findings suggest that communication plays an important role in media management because it provides an opportunity to communicate with people from different backgrounds and cultures. The research also suggests that communication is a key component of the success of any organization.

It is either related with communication media, or that specific mass media communication jobs, e.g., print media and the press, business, advertising, film, telecommunication (radio and television), publishing (Lister and others.) And the end of selling. The purpose of media is to communicate information or ideas, especially those which can be communicated through media. This includes news, entertainment, sports and other forms of information that may be transmitted utilizing electronic media.

Communication and administration are closely related. Connection relates to the procedure by which data is exchanged between two or more people. Each of these organization roles—planning, organizing, running, and controlling—depends on efficient communication. Managers must be able to get precise data to define programs, and they must be able to deliver correct information for the programs to be implemented. When data is accurately sent and received, everyone in the organization will be informed.

Media is one of the tools or channels of communication used to store and convey information or data from one source to the other. In the modern democracy, media play important functions. Mass media is considered essential in the modern democracy. When the media is given freedom of expression by the government. Madison argues that democratic government requires informed and educated society for it to work effectively (166). He further affirms that democracy also imposes problem and require an institutional solution. The 1789 constitution of United States of America was meant to give the solution regarding the democracy.

According to Schlenker et.al, liberalism believes in progressiveness whereby the social standard of society is based on equalities where social inequality portray failing of the society instead of individuals (002). They further connote that conservative believes on traditional development of the society which represent the overall wisdom of ages, which enhance to meet the needs that affect culture and environmental and therefore, there is a need to preserve it. Conservatives individuals resist changing while liberalists are open-minded on the way they think and view things such as politics, social and economic situations. Despite mass media being effective in playing important roles to the public, it has been biased more toward progressive-liberal values and conservative values.

According to Lichter et.al, 85% of the journalist who graduated at Columbia University in the year 1982, they identified themselves as liberal while 11 percent of the graduates were conservative (48). Mass media biases occur in various ways such as when the media attack the particular politician, individual aspirant or certain ideology. Other forms of bias include corporate biases which involve selecting stories to please mass media ‘s corporates and mainstream bias which entails reporting what other media are reporting in order to avoid reporting stories that might offend someone despite them being facts. Journalist mainly concentrates much on covering and printing stories based on opinion rather than facts. This has not gone well with some individuals in the United State. This is because their affairs have been interfered with, causing harm to their day to day activities. In the United State of America, media play an important role in the system of government whereby it acts as a watchdog (McLuhan and Marshall, (20). It checks government power through investigating and reporting on government and affairs affecting the public. The modern mass media has also facilitated socialization role through presenting information and enhancing cultural values to the public.

Normally, most mass media are the private organization whose main purpose is to make money but are also expected to serve public roles such as informing the public on matters regarding government and non-government affairs. Watchdog and educative role are not the main objective of mass media but are to make money through providing entertainment, advertisement and also providing information. In the early days in America, mass media was not meant to convey fair press. Individuals and government officials influenced how the press would write and print about their affairs. This was a libel law. According to Reyes et.al, libel involves the action of exposing individuals in hatred manner, causing injuries to his business or to his profession (001). The early federal law limited the freedom of press due to its biases. This was even after the congress was prohibited from passing any law that would restrict freedom of the media.

The congress passed the law to prohibit the freedom of mass media so as to prevent an unnecessary attack to them and to the prominent individuals in America. In around 1900, the press started to change ways in which they reported events. This was promoted by Joseph Pulitzer who started journalism school at Columbia University (641-42). Joseph Pulitzer foresees the important of training journalist to be professional in their work. This promoted the quality of the coverage and the way the information is delivered to the audience without distortion. The journalist was trained to be objective, to avoid biases and separating facts from public opinion. By including reporter ‘s name in the newspaper facilitated in control of biases because the reporters would be held accountable for their reports. The public beliefs about government and politics influence what the mass media report the events. When people are provided with relevant information, they can use ideology to enable them to make sense and decision out of that provided information. According to Lenz and Holman, ideologies involve being committed to act on values (190).

Mass media use conservative biases whereby they use government and non-government corporate to accomplish their objectives or rather their goal but mostly committed to the private sector. According to a Washington post, there have been changes in the way media have been biased. The writer argues that, occurrence of biases have been seen during the campaign trail. One of the republican politicians Rick Santorum accused the New York Times reporter of being biased while Mitt Romney also claimed that the press had been so biased to him in the general election. The reporter argues that recent polls have shown that public has low confidence pertaining to the news media. 77% of the people who were interviewed by Pew Research Center in 2016, indicated that media show their biases by tending to favor one side compared to a research done in 1985 which indicated 53 percent. This shows public confidence objectivity of the media.

Over the past decades, mass media have been favoring one party. Recently in the ongoing campaign in the United State of America, cases of progressive -Liberal biases have been reported. One of the contested CNBC debate was affected by the way the reporters did their coverage. The republican candidate felt attacked by the CNBC reporters through questioning. According to republican candidates, the reporters were liberal. Although many reporters in major media responded to the claims, they responded with defenses claiming that the republican became upset due to the tough question in which they were asked concerning American affairs and matters pertaining their manifestos. These responses were wrong because the reporters potrayed biasness though the way in which they asked the questions to the Republican candidates and slanting their coverage.

In this scenario, even though the journalist are supposed to be effective in the way they do their coverage, some of them tend to be partisan causing ineffective in coverage. This has an impact on public opinion because the voters will judge the candidate according to the way information from media reaches them concerning the response of the given canditate. The figure below shows the scenario in which media showed biasness.

Broadcast media has become a major vessel for imparting information as nearly sixty percent of Americans use it as their primary source. Since the 1970’s criminologists and sociologists have measured the effects of crime on viewer’s tenets. Several studies have been done that show that increased viewership of crime instills fear, stereotypes and bias. (Alitavoli and Kaveh, 2018;Gilliam and Iyengar,2000; Soothill, 1998). It is understood that the media exploits its audiences’ values, beliefs and emotions to influence social construction. In this literature review the role that the media plays in viewer sensitivity, what people know and what is absorbed from the story is explored.

American and Tehranis scholars have stated that the American media develops the social construction of society and greatly influences what they think. American media causes viewers to make inferences about news stories and the state of society that can be both positive and negative. Criminologist Keith Soothill argues that consumption causes some individuals to fear crime and others to imitate the violent behavior that they see. While Gilliam and Iyengar hypothesize that consumption only heightens awareness and primarily effects those with increased sensitivity. Moreover, is it is believed that the media can impact law and policy as it is studied how media consumption influences racial bias.

To appeal to the audience, local news stations use scripts that play to its viewership’s emotions. The employment of such practice stimulates viewers to draw upon prior knowledge and instills experience, despite the person not first-hand doing the action. This is believed to be true because people instinctively synchronize events to remember details (Alitavoli and Kaveh, 2018). In synchronizing events viewers become invested in the storyline. Thus, they began to use their past experiences to infer details about the crime. Such details include those surrounding the commission of the crime, characteristics of the perpetrator and potential outcomes. This is amplified through a study conducted by Frank Gilliam and Shanto Iyengar. The study examined the relationship between the scripts and racial attitudes. There were 4 controls of the study — the description (or lack thereof) of the suspect’s race and the presence or absence of violent crime.

After viewing the clip of the news story, participants completed a questionnaire through which they were asked to recall the story and to react to what they had seen. The respondents provided unerring answers to the questionnaire on all topics except race. In the control where the news script lacked a perpetrator, and therefore a racial identification, participants recalled having seen one and in 70 percent of the responses the malefactor was African American. Because, the story lacked details, viewers were forced to draw conclusions . Those conclusions were predicated on previous exposure to crime. That previous exposure could come from personal experience or from news stories and scripted television shows. The selection of an African American perpetrator is influenced by the fact that in many violent crime stories the perpetrator is identified as a Black male. (Gilliam and Iyengar, 2000). This influence is not surprising to academics like Rayeheh Alitavoli and Ehsan Kaveh. They have written that the media employs the tactics of stereotyping and gatekeeping, or filtering information for publication. (Alitavoli and Kaveh, 2018). As the media filters information they are in distorting the image. The misrepresentation of crime encourages viewers to develop stereotypes towards those the media considers violent criminals—African Americans (Soothill, 1998).

The development of racial bias is not the only negative effect of the media’s role in the social construct. ). According to Keith Soothill, the misconception of crime has resulted in an increased sensitivity to it. He writes that people fear the concept of crime and the idea of falling victim to a violent wrongdoing. The Center for Media and Public Affairs provides evidence as to why this might be the case. The Center conducted a study that found that coverage of murder increased by 700% and that overall crime coverage increased by 300%. However, it is worth noting that over the course of the study crime in the United States had decreased from 80% to 20%. This misrepresentation of reality causes individuals to believe that crime is a more prevalent issue thus they fear it more (Alitavoli and Kaveh, 2018).

Hungarian professor, George Gerbner coins this phenomenon “mean world syndrome”. Gerbner used the term “mean world syndrome” to articulate the product of newspapers and local news stations telling their viewers that the world is more dangerous than it actually is. This action of exaggerative gatekeeping increases the likelihood that viewers will develop the syndrome. Increased media consumption coupled with “mean world syndrome” subsequently leads to a fear of crime and a mistrust of the community. Additionally, the increase causes the information to be more prevalent in their mind, which makes it seem like an even grander issue (Soothill, 1998). However, this concept is not accepted by everyone in the field. In their 2000 article, Frank Gilliam and Shanto Iyengar acknowledged that many believe that the media’s portrayal of violent crime increases fear amongst all viewers but argued that fear targets those who are more sensitive. Those sensitivities are decided by uncontrollable factors such as gender, past criminal experiences and their socio-economic status. Gilliam and Iyengar thought this so implicit and uncontrollable that they neglected to account for it in their study.

It is well accepted in the field that the media forms the social construct and subsequently affects what people think and feel. The media has the ability to instill fear and draw upon people’s emotions and sensitivities by exploiting crime stories and stereotypes and employing the process of gatekeeping. The media’s influence on crime perception has been studied for decades and will likely continue to be examined with the expansion of media platforms.

Throughout the history, Indian media remained mostly independent. It was used as a mouthpiece and spokesperson of the government, the only time was during the emergency but after the end of the emergency era, the media emerged as an even stronger unbiased industry. Still media is a very strong industry, which performs very vital role in government policies; it has a role in major decisions by any companies or government. Globalization had its set of impacts on the Indian media. The media had now restructured itself as a full-fledged industry and had in some way compromised on the role of social service which it had donned since decades. In the over obsessive hunt for TRPs, higher viewer-ship and readership ratings, credible and commendable content took a backseat.

(Croteau & Hoynes, 2006) In the public sphere model audiences are seen as citizens who are encouraged by media messages to learn about their world. The public interest is served through the presence of “diverse, substantive, and innovative content, even if not always popular” (Croteau & Hoynes, 2001, p.37). As the market economy cannot ensure that the public interest is served, regulations are needed to protect the public interest. Diversity refers to different levels. On the level of the media market it refers to the presence of different media channels, on the level of channel it refers to the presence of different types of programs, and on the level of content it refers to the presence of different points of view on issues. All types of diversity are important to serve the public interest. They ensure that the interests of different audiences are addressed. Media in public sphere model, according to Croteau & Hoynes (2001), should be characterized by diversity, innovation, substance and independence. Innovation means creative and fresh content rather than the presence of new technologies. Substantial media messages are those that address significant issues, educate audiences, and promote participation in social life. To meet the fourth criterion, content should be independent from corporate and governmental interests. Government and other organizations should not limit the range of presented perspectives on issues.

2.1 Media Education

(INDYER, 2014) According to Jacob Srampickal and Leela Joseph (2002) ‘Media Education is an attempt at making media users critically conscious of the impact of media on their lives, in order to enable them to become creative users of the media. It may be defined as a process of education by which people become aware of the ways in which the various media influence their thinking, affect their value system and change society. As a result, they become critical and discerning receivers of media messages capable of demanding quality media programs and even creating their own media. They are thus able to respond intelligently to media creations and manipulations.’

Why Media Education?

The child of 21st century is born in a multi-media culture. He/she does not only depend on old means of mass media for his/her information as he/she wakes up checking their e-mails, receiving current news from the facebook, goes onto the World Wide Web to check the news of the day. Thus, before he/she is out of his/her bedroom, he/she knows what is happening around their environment in particular and the world in general. In another development, the school or a college, which was considered and also accepted as the second means of socialization, competes with the various media including all social media. The digital media have taken this role. This is contrary to those days’ system when one was dependant on the newspaper in the early morning, the radio and television at night to get news and other types of entertainment around his/her environment of relevance as well as news on international issues.

Roxana Morduchowicz (2008) says: ‘The media and information technologies have become a place for today’s youth – sometimes, the only place that speaks about them and to them.’ He contends that understanding how the media represent reality and tell us about what is going on can put people in a better position to participate, act and make decisions. He therefore observes that the challenge of today’s schools is to recognize that knowledge is spread and circulates in new ways. He is of the view that with Gutenberg, in the 15th century, we say that society moved from oral to written culture. In the 20th century, we took the giant step from the culture of words to images. Now, in the 21st century, we have taken the next step, from linear reading to simultaneous perception.

Generally adolescents live in a different cultural experience from their elders, with new ways of perceiving, feeling, listening and seeing. These dimensions must not be skipped over in media education.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child recognizes the importance of the media in children’s and young people’s development. The media is seen as playing a crucial role in shaping societal attitudes towards children’s rights, equipping children with information central to their wellbeing in a child friendly environment, and soliciting youth’s views on matters that affect them. However, through the production of their own media, youth can be empowered to tell their stories about the issues that they see as most important, and to share these with the world. Producing media is a way for youth to creatively engage with their society, their family, their friends, themselves. It allows them to create their own media representations, and to become aware of the ethical responsibilities of their media messages.’

This study will do investigation on the perception of young adults about the role of media in creating awareness about drug abuse. In this modern age the use of drug is increasing day by day. Drug abuse is very common in mostly young people and they are not properly aware about what they are using and what could be the result of drug abuse. Mass media has become a key player in socialization and social change and people rely on mass media news. In this modern era of technology media is playing a huge role in our society so this is very important for the media to play its role in creating awareness about drug abuse.

A co-relation survey method based on quantitative research approach will be designed to identify the objectives of this study. This study will examine how much coverage main stream media is giving in order to aware people about drug abuse. This study will aware people that media should play its role about creating awareness about drug abuse in young adults. There will be a study that how much students are aware about the drug abuse and its effects. In this research questionnaire survey will be conducted by doing purposive sampling.

Introduction/Background of the Study

Drug abuse is a drug in amounts or through practices that damage an individual or others. Drug abuse is when you use drugs in a way that you should not. You can use medication to make you feel good, stress-relieving or reality avoidance. Drugs are chemicals which influence the brain and body. Similar medications can have different effects on a body. Many medicines have long term effects and they can effect on the health badly. For example, when the drug injected in a bloodstream directly then it effects immediately while ingestion in body is delayed. Ultimately, drug can effect the ability of the brain and stops the ability of a person to choose which results in intense fear and compulsory use of drugs. This habit can over time grow into dependency on a substance or drug dependence. Drug usage problems are related to a variety of health effects which can be both short and long term. It may vary depending on the type of medicine and how many time it is taken, and the overall health condition of a person. By doing drug abuse there can be deadliest effects on the body and every part or organ of a body can be effected.

People of every age have their problem with the use of drugs and it vary in every person. Some people use recreational drugs just to experience them or in their curiosity to check them. However, it can lead them to drug abuse and addiction, not only illegal drugs like cocaine or heroin. There are many medications like painkillers, sleeping pills etc. which may cause similar issues with prescription medications. Obviously, drug use whether it is illegal or prescribed doesn’t take someone to drug abuse automatically. Some people can take recreational or prescription drugs without any adverse effect, while others believe that the use of medications affects their health and well-being. (Dejong, 2002).

There is no particular issue when use of drugs moves from daily routine to problem in life. If the use of drug is creating problem in someone’s life and like school, home or in a relationship then they have a problem of drug abuse or they are addicted to drugs. If drug is fulfilling some important need then you can rely on it. Then you will take medicines or illegal drugs to calm yourself or to make yourself energetic. You will risk your life more when you start abusing the medicines and some illegal drugs to fill a gap in your life or to complete your work at school or to make yourself busy just to focus on something (Alford, 1983).

In educational institutions throughout Pakistan, drug abuse is increasing day by day. Students in the universities or schools are using drugs at higher rate and they are putting their lives in danger and they are risking the lives of people who are around them like their parents and friends. There are several reasons why students are drug addicted. In such families where parents do not give time to their families then adults of those families start abusing drugs. In this modern age people use drugs just to look cool and that’s why they get addicted to drugs and this is the one of the main reason of getting addict to drugs. Then there are a lot of friends who force them to use drugs. If there are some people who are safe from drugs then people don’t accept them in their groups.

In this modern age the use of drug is increasing day by day. Drug abuse is very common in mostly young people and they are not properly aware about what they are using and what could be the result of drug abuse. In this modern era of technology media is playing a huge role in our society so this is very important for the media to play its role in creating awareness about drug abuse. Mass media is now a big agent in socialization and in this era people started believing what they are watching on news and they are relying on media news. Media has a potential to solve many social issues of the society. When people watch a lot of advertisements about any product or service on tv then they would like to use that product or service. Under conventional wisdom, mass communications could be used to get people to act for their own good, health or to do right things. (DeJong & Winsten, 2000).

Media plays an important role in development of a country because people watch media for information and they rely on it. Mass media is a channel where any message on media can reach to a lot of people at one time. Mass media transfer its ideas and information to target people of the society to achieve its goal. Media is a powerful source where we can get any type of information and media can reach to every part of the society. Media can inject any idea in a society or awareness about some serious issue of by using different tools (Nelson, 2013).

Literature Review

Zaman, Razzaq and Hassan (2015) conducted a study on Drug abuse among the university students of Lahore to explore that what were the main cause of drug abuse in Medical students depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, as well as a personality disorder like antisocial personality disorder.

Dejong (2002) conducted a study on The role of mass media campaigns in reducing high-risk drinking among college students to explore the current media initiatives aimed at reducing drinking by college students, reviews key campaign design principles and provides suggestions for future campaigns.

DeJong and Winsten (1990), in particular among American young people, conducted a research on the use of mass media in the transmission of messages about preventing drugs abuse. They found that public health advocates still have a great deal to learn from the business successes by utilizing the power of the mass media to convince people to change behaviour, while producing increasingly sophisticated media campaigns.

Gillis, H. Mubbashar (1995) conducted a study to examine those psychosocial characteristics which differentiated 60 heroin addicts from 60 nondrug-using controls in Pakistan. Most of the drug-abuse factors identified earlier were significant in Pakistan as well. The relation between the condition and number of risk factors was also analyzed.

Bandy and Alford (1983) carried out a study on recent literature on the promotion of drug abuse prevention, concentrating on four target audiences: teenagers, parents, women and the elderly. They also discussed effectiveness of media, advantages and disadvantages of each medium according to target audience. Women were the goals of awareness campaigns, usually on the implications of drugs to reassure, while elderly people were tackled on the issue of the appropriate legal use of drugs.

Allara and Ferri (2015), has conducted a study to see whether mass media campaigns would help reduce illegal drug use and the purpose of use.

The rationale of the Study

In this modern age the use of drug is increasing day by day. Drug abuse is very common in mostly young people and they are not properly aware about what they are using and what could be the result of drug abuse. In this modern era of technology media is playing a huge role in our society so this is very important for the media to play its role in creating awareness about drug abuse. By conducting this study the drug users mostly students will get to know about the deadliest effects of drug abuse. From this study people will get to know that does media is creating awareness about drug abuse in young people. From this study people will understand how much role media is playing in creating awareness about drug abuse in young adults.

Objectives of Study

The objective of this study is to see the perception of young adults about the role of media in creating awareness about drug abuse. To see what campaigns are running and already been held on media about drug abuse. To aware students about the disadvantages of drug abuse. To see whether media is playing any role in creating awareness about the drug abuse in young adults.

Research Question

• Do u think Media is creating awareness about drug abuse in Pakistan?
• Do young adults are getting awareness from media about drug abuse?

Method

Research Design:

This research will be designed to find out the perception of young adults about the role of media in creating awareness about drug abuse. There will be a quantitative research approach by using co-relation survey method. A questionnaire survey would be conducted in two universities of Lahore.

Sample and Sample Strategy:

There will be a sample of 100 students from two universities of Lahore, 50 from each university containing 25 boys and 25 girls. The students will be of age between 18-25 years. It will be a purposive sampling.

Assessment Measure/ Procedure:

To study the perception of young adults, questionnaire will be distributed among 100 students in two universities of Lahore. Questionnaire will be designed according to research questions of the study. The data will be gathered and analyzed to study what young adults think about the role of media in creating awareness about drug abuse.

References

1. Zaman, Muhammad & Razzaq, Sobia & Hassan, Rabia & Qureshi, Junaid & Ijaz, Hira & Hanif, Muhammad & Chughtai, Fazal. (2015). Drug abuse among the students. Pakistan Journal of Pharmaceutical Research. 1. 10.22200/pjpr.2015141-47.
2. DeJong, W. (2002). The role of mass media campaigns in reducing high-risk drinking among college students. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, Supplement, (14), 182-192.
3. [bookmark: _Hlk29505555] Gillis, J. S., & Mubbashar, M. H. (1995). Risk Factors for Drug Abuse in Pakistan: A Replication. Psychological Reports, 76(1), 99–108. https://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.1995.76.1.99
4. DeJong, W., & Winsten, J. A. (1990). The use of mass media in substance abuse prevention. Health Affairs, 9(2), 30-46.
5. Allara, E., Ferri, M., Bo, A., Gasparrini, A., & Faggiano, F. (2015). Are mass-media campaigns effective in preventing drug use? A Cochrane systematic review and meta-analysis. BMJ open, 5(9), e007449.
6. [bookmark: _Hlk29506174]Bandy, P., & President, P. A. (1983). Recent literature on drug abuse prevention and mass media: focusing on youth, parents, women and the elderly. Journal of Drug Education, 13(3), 255-271.
7. Asghar, sana. (2018, February 9). Drug abuse in Pakistan reaches alarming level. Retrieved January 10, 2020, from https://nation.com.pk/10-Feb-2018/drug-abuse-in-pakistan-reaches-alarming-level.
8. Addiction and Negative Effects of Drug Abuse on the Human Body & Brain. (n.d.). Retrieved January 10, 2020, from https://www.gatewayfoundation.org/faqs/effects-of-drug-abuse/.
9. Robinson, L., Smith, M., & Segal, J. (2019, October 30). Drug Abuse and Addiction. Retrieved January 10, 2020, from https://www.helpguide.org/articles/addictions/drug-abuse-and-addiction.htm.