Effect of presentation mode on recall of news infromation

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EFFECT OF PRESENTATION MODE ON RECALL OF NEWS INFROMATION

ABSTRACT

A media comparison study was conducted to compare undergraduate's recall of news information presented in three different conditions; to establish which form of medium is most effective in conveying information. A sample of 93 psychology undergraduates were presented with a series of violent and non violent new stories; either audio-visually, in audio or in print. Immediately after presentation, subjects were tested for cued recall of story content. Significant result of presentation medium and content type was found. As predicted recall of information was best in the print and was worst in the audio condition. Overall violent content was recalled better than non-violent content, especially in the audio-only and print modes. Statistical results indicate that reading the news produces a much more effective retention of information than listening or watching the news. This also confirms previous findings on adults that recall of material presented in print medium is superior to that from radio or television presentation. Therefore results have implications for future presentation of news information

INTRODUCTION

It has always been part of human nature to obtain information about the world surrounding it and the people within it from some kind of source. In the past, it was often family or the church (religion) that provided information to the people. In modern society, however, we have various sources that provide us with the required information. The main ones include the radio, newspaper, magazines and the internet; however with the wide spread of technological advances television has become predominately the main source of information. In particularly when providing people with knowledge about what is currently happening in the world (current affairs).

In public opinion surveys, people frequently claim television as their most important source of news information. The provision of news is also regarded as one of the key functions of television and as one of its major source of gratification for viewers. Despite the fact that many people claim that they refer to television for much of their news information, and that they learn a great deal from television bulletins. Research with broadcast news has shown that When subjects are tested immediately after presentation of news bulletins content; viewers and listeners frequently fail to remember very much from specific news programmes.

There are many factors that lie within the audience that can account for the lack of retention, such as attention, motivation and background knowledge relating to the news content. Recently, researchers are becoming increasingly aware of the various presentation factors that can have significant effect on learning. The main question that arises out of this particular research is whether conveying important information via television medium compares favourably or unfavourably with either print or radio medium.

The visual images of television are often said to set television news apart from other news media. The pictures, color, and motion help to make television's portrayal of events quite "real" (Graber, 1988). As Ron Nessen, Press Secretary for President Gerald Ford, once said that "Television is reality ... if it hasn't happened on television, it hasn't happened" (Gunter, 1987). This element of reality associated with television pictures enhances the credibility of news reports. The majority of the public has come to rely heavily on television as their primary source of news and deems it more believable than radio, newspapers, and magazines. In America television was identified as a news source by 65% of the population in a recent national survey, compared to only 42% who mentioned newspapers, 14% radio, 4% magazines, and 5% other people.

It was also discovered that if there were conflicting reports of the same story, television stories would be most believed by 49% of respondents, whereas 26% would believe newspapers, 7% radio, and 5% magazines (Stanley and Niemi, 1990).

The ability to view events and to judge them for oneself through the visual images of television helps to make television believable. But does that mean that television visuals help people to learn and recall information presented better in comparison to other mediums?. Recently researchers have demonstrated considerable differences in the perception of actors as a function of the channel of communication. When comparing learning from print and television presentation of the same material, results have indicated that learning may be better from print. Therefore contradicting the publics subjective view that they learn a great deal more from television than print.

In William, Paul and Ogilvie (1975) study , television, radio and print conditions of presentation were compared, it was found that there was significantly better memory performance for material from television than from radio, and with radio been significantly better than print. However, a more recent study, by Wilson (1974) in which these three mediums were compared it was found that retention was much better in the print condition than television or radio. One reason to explain the reverse of these results may be due to the difference in the tests employed by the researchers. In William et al. study they used the recognition method, whereas Wilson used the free recall method. It is possible that free recall performance is better after a print presentation than television; this may be because reading requires more cognitive effort and facilitates greater depth of information processing than television viewing.
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There are potential advantages that are gained when using any of these three media. The major advantage of using print over television and radio is that the reader has the opportunity to consume news at their own pace, unlike broadcasted news where the pace of presentation is determined by producers. Another learning advantage that is thought to exist when information is presented in print and to some extent in radio is that the reader or listener has the ability to produce his/her own images from the presented information. Whereas with television viewers they are already supplied with ready-made ...

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