Infotainment is "information-based media content or programming that also includes entertainment content in an effort to enhance popularity with audiences and consumers." [1] It is a neologistic portmanteau A portmanteau (pronounced /pɔrtmænˈtoʊ/ , plural: portmanteaus or portmanteaux) or portmanteau word is used to mean a blend of two (or more) words or morphemes and their meanings into one new word. In linguistics, a portmanteau is defined as a single morph which represents two or more morphemes of information and entertainment, referring to a type of media Electronic media are media that use electronics or electromechanical energy for the end user to access the content. This is in contrast to static media (mainly print media), which are most often created electronically, but don't require electronics to be accessed by the end user in the printed form. The primary electronic media sources familiar to which provides a combination of information and entertainment. According to many dictionaries [2] infotainment is always television, and the term is "mainly disapproving."[3] However, many self-described infotainment websites exist, which provide a variety of functions and services.[4]
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Criticism
The label "infotainment" is emblematic of concern and criticism that journalism is devolving from a medium which conveys serious information about issues that affect the public interest, into a form of entertainment which happens to have fresh "facts" in the mix. The criteria by which reporters and editors judge news value - whether something is worth putting on the front page, the bottom of the hour, or is worth commenting on at all - are integral parts of this debate. Some blame the media for this perceived phenomenon, for failing to live up to ideals of civic journalistic responsibility. Others blame the commercial nature of many media organizations, the need for higher ratings, combined with a preference among the public for feel-good content and "unimportant" topics (like celebrity gossip or sports). In her critique of infotainment News Flash, Bonnie Anderson cited the CNN lead story of February 2, 2004. It was the accidental exposure of Janet Jackson's breast on national TV. The follow up story was about a ricin chemical attack on the U.S. Senate majority leader.[5]
A specialization process has also occurred, beginning with the rise of mass market special-interest magazines, moving into broadcast with the advent of cable television, and continuing into new media, like the Internet and satellite radio. An increasing number of media outlets are available to the public that focus exclusively on one topic such as current events, home improvement, history, movies, women and Christianity. This means that consumers have more choice over whether they receive a general feed of the most "important" information of the day, or whether they get a highly customized presentation that contains only one type of content, which need not be newsworthy, and which need not come from a neutral point of view. Some publications and channels have found a sizable audience in the "niche" of featuring hard news. But controversy continues over whether the size of that audience is too small, and whether those outlets are diluting content with too much "soft" news. Adding to the distinction between journalists and anchors and reporters are "human interest A human interest story is a feature story that discusses a person or persons in an interactive and/or emotional way. It presents people and their problems, concerns, or achievements in a way that brings about interest or sympathy in the reader or viewer", personality, or celebrity news stories, which typically are directed by marketing departments based on a demographic appeal and audience share. It's commonly accepted that anchors are also media personalities, who may even be considered celebrities. The very nature of corporate network news requires its media personalities to use their public appeal to promote the networks investments, just as network broadcasts themselves (morning shows, TV news magazines) schedule self-promotional stories, in addition to advertising. Critics might go so far as to view anchors as a weak link, representing the misplacement of both the credit and the accountability of a news journalism organization—hence adding to a perceived erosion of journalistic standards throughout the news business. (See yellow journalism Yellow journalism or the yellow press is a type of journalism that presents little or no legitimate well-researched news and instead uses eye-catching headlines and sensationalised stories to sell more newspapers. It sometimes also deceives the audience it is intended for. It may feature exaggerations of news events, scandal-mongering,.)
Most infotainment, especially television programs on the networks A television network is a telecommunications network for distribution of television content, whereby a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay TV providers. Until the mid-1980s, television programming in most countries of the world was dominated by a small number of broadcast networks. Many early television or broadcast cable, only contain general factual information on the subjects they cover, and should not be considered as formal learning or instruction. For example you may learn that a motorcycle contains an engine, or how fast one can travel, on American Chopper American Chopper is a reality television series that airs on The Learning Channel , produced by Pilgrim Films & Television. The series centers on Paul Teutul, Sr. and his son Paul Teutul, Jr. (also known as Paulie or simply Junior), who started a business creating custom motorcycles in their workshop, Orange County Choppers in Newburgh, New, but you will not learn the inner-workings of the engine, the physics and chemistry involved when it is running, or how to customize a motorcycle on your own using schematics.
Infotainment versus Journalism
Some define "journalism" only as reporting on "serious" subjects, where common journalistic standards Journalism ethics and standards comprise principles of ethics and of good practice as applicable to the specific challenges faced by professional journalists. Historically and currently, this subset of media ethics is widely known to journalists as their professional "code of ethics" or the "canons of journalism". The basic are upheld by the reporter. Others believe that the larger "news business" encompasses everything from professional journalism to so-called "soft news" and "infotainment", and support activities such as marketing, advertising sales, finance and delivery. Professional journalism is supposed to place more emphasis on research Research can be defined as the search for knowledge or as any systematic investigation to establish facts. The primary purpose for applied research is discovering, interpreting, and the development of methods and systems for the advancement of human knowledge on a wide variety of scientific matters of our world and the universe. Research can use, fact-checking, and the public interest The public interest refers to the "common well-being" or "general welfare." The public interest is central to policy debates, politics, democracy and the nature of government itself. While nearly everyone claims that aiding the common well-being or general welfare is positive, there is little, if any, consensus on what exactly than its "non-journalistic" counterparts. Because the term "news News is the communication of information on current events which is presented by print, broadcast, Internet, or word of mouth to a third party or mass audience" is quite broad, the terms "hard" and "soft" denote both a difference in respective standards for news value News values, sometimes called news criteria, determine how much prominence a news story is given by a media outlet, and the attention it is given by the audience. A. Boyd states that: "News journalism has a broadly agreed set of values, often referred to as 'newsworthines'..." News values are not universal and can vary widely between, as well as for standards of conduct, relative to the professional ideals of journalistic integrity Journalism ethics and standards comprise principles of ethics and of good practice as applicable to the specific challenges faced by professional journalists. Historically and currently, this subset of media ethics is widely known to journalists as their professional "code of ethics" or the "canons of journalism". The basic.
The idea of hard news embodies two orthogonal In mathematics, two vectors are orthogonal if they are perpendicular, i.e., they form a right angle. The word comes from the Greek ὀρθός , meaning "straight", and γωνία (gonia), meaning "angle" concepts:
- Seriousness: Politics, economics, crime, war, and disasters are considered serious topics, as are certain aspects of law, business, science, and technology.
- Timeliness: Stories that cover current events—the progress of a war, the results of a vote, the breaking out of a fire, a significant statement, the freeing of a prisoner, an economic report of note.
The logical opposite, soft news is sometimes referred to in a derogatory fashion as infotainment. Defining features catching the most criticism include:
- The least serious subjects: Arts and entertainment, sports, lifestyles, "human interest", and celebrities.
- Not timely: There is no precipitating event triggering the story, other than a reporter's curiosity.
Timely events happen in less serious subjects—sporting matches, celebrity Generally speaking, a celebrity is someone who gets media attention and shows an extroverted personality. There is a wide range of ways by which people may become celebrities: from their profession, appearances in the mass media, or even by complete accident or infamy. Instant celebrity is the term that is used when someone becomes a celebrity in misadventures, movie releases, art exhibits, and so on.
There may also be serious reports which are not event-driven—coverage of important social, economic, legal, or technological trends; investigative reports which uncover ongoing corruption, waste, or immorality; or discussion of unsettled political issues without any special reason. Anniversaries, holidays, the end of a year or season, or the end of the first 100 days of an administration, can make some stories time-sensitive, but provide more of an opportunity for reflection and analysis than any actual "news" to report.
The spectrum of "seriousness" and "importance" is not well-defined, and different media organizations make different tradeoffs. "News you can use", a common marketing phrase highlighting a specific genre of journalism, spans the gray area. Gardening tips and hobby "news" pretty clearly fall at the entertainment end. Warnings about imminent natural disasters or acute domestic security threats (such as air raids or terrorist attacks) are considered so important that broadcast media (even non-news channels) usually interrupt other programming to announce them. A medical story about a new treatment for breast cancer, or a report about local ground water pollution might fall in between. So might book reviews, or coverage of religion. On the other hand, people frequently find hobbies and entertainment to be worthwhile parts of their lives and so "importance" on a personal level is rather subjective.
Entertainment and news crossovers
Infotainers are entertainers in infotainment media, such as news anchors A news presenter is a person who presents a news show on television, radio or the Internet or "news personalities" who cross the line between journalism (quasi-journalism) and entertainment. Notable examples in the U.S. media are Barbara Walters Barbara Jill Walters is an American broadcast journalist and author, who has hosted morning television shows (Today and The View), the television newsmagazine (20/20), and co-anchor of the ABC Evening News and correspondent on ABC World News (then ABC Evening News), Katie Couric Katherine Anne "Katie" Couric is an American journalist, currently the anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News, a correspondent for 60 Minutes, and host of @katiecouric (her twitter handle), a webshow on CBSNews.com. She is the first solo female anchor of a weekday evening news program on one of the three traditional U.S, Keith Olbermann Keith Theodore Olbermann is an American news anchor, sportscaster, writer, and political commentator. He hosts Countdown with Keith Olbermann, an hour-long nightly news and commentary program on MSNBC, Bill O'Reilly William James "Bill" O'Reilly, Jr. is an American television host, author, syndicated columnist and political commentator. He is the host of the political commentary program The O'Reilly Factor on the Fox News Channel, which is the most watched cable news program on American television. During the late 1970s and 1980s, he worked as a, Maury Povich Maurice Richard "Maury" Povich is an American TV talk show personality who currently hosts his self-titled talk show Maury. He is married to journalist Connie Chung, Deborah Norville Deborah Norville is an American television broadcaster and journalist. A graduate of The University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia, since 1995 she has been host of the syndicated American television program Inside Edition. She hosted Today on NBC, substitute anchored both the NBC Nightly News, and the weekend CBS Evening News, and was a host and, and Geraldo Rivera Geraldo "Gerry" Rivera is an American attorney, journalist, writer, reporter and former talk show host. He is known to have an affinity for melodramatic, high-profile stories. Rivera hosts the newsmagazine program Geraldo at Large, and appears regularly on Fox News Channel among others.
Barbara Walters Barbara Jill Walters is an American broadcast journalist and author, who has hosted morning television shows (Today and The View), the television newsmagazine (20/20), and co-anchor of the ABC Evening News and correspondent on ABC World News (then ABC Evening News), though not the first to cross the line between news and personality stories, is for many the quintessential news-media icon An icon is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, from Eastern Orthodox Christianity and Catholicism. More broadly the term is used in a wide number of contexts for an image, picture, or representation; it is a sign or likeness that stands for an object by signifying or representing it either concretely or by analogy, as in semiotics;. Her career dates back to the 50s, and her current prominence at ABC is largely due to celebrity interviews, with a long running co-anchorship on 20/20 20/20 is an American "television newsmagazine", , broadcast on ABC since June 6, 1978. Created by ABC News executive Roone Arledge[citation needed], the show was designed similarly to CBS's 60 Minutes but focuses more on human interest stories than international and political subjects. The program's name derives from the "20/20" with Hugh Downs Hugh Malcolm Downs is a retired American broadcaster, television host, producer, and author. He served as anchor of 20/20, host of The Today Show, announcer for The Tonight Show with Jack Paar, host of the Concentration game show, host of the PBS talk show Over Easy and co-host of the syndicated talk show Not for Women Only and, later, John Stossel John F. Stossel is an American consumer reporter, investigative journalist, author, libertarian columnist, and former co-anchor for the ABC News show 20/20. Stossel began his journalism career as a researcher for KGW-TV and later became a consumer reporter at WCBS-TV in New York City before joining ABC News as consumer editor and reporter on Good until 2004, and her overlapping morning infotainment show The View.
When Geraldo Rivera Geraldo "Gerry" Rivera is an American attorney, journalist, writer, reporter and former talk show host. He is known to have an affinity for melodramatic, high-profile stories. Rivera hosts the newsmagazine program Geraldo at Large, and appears regularly on Fox News Channel became the host of his own news-oriented talk show on CNBC CNBC is a satellite and cable television business news channel in the U.S., owned and operated by NBC Universal. The network and its international spinoffs cover business headlines and provide live coverage of financial markets. The combined reach of CNBC and its siblings is 390 million viewers around the world. In 2007, the network was ranked as, others within the NBC organization voiced their protest, including Tom Brokaw Thomas John "Tom" Brokaw is an American television journalist and author best known as the anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News from 1982 to 2004. He is the author of The Greatest Generation (1998) and other books and the recipient of numerous awards and honors. He is the only person to host all three major NBC News programs: who was reported to have threatened to quit. Rivera had a notorious history as a "sleaze reporter" and daytime talk show A talk show or chat show (British) is a television or radio program where one person (or group of people) will discuss various topics put forth by a talk show host. Sometimes, talk shows feature a panel of guests, usually consisting of a group of people who are learned or who have great experience in relation to whatever issue is being discussed host, where he and one or two others were representative of "Tabloid talk shows Tabloid talk shows are a genre of American television talk-shows that achieved peak viewership during the late 20th century. Airing mostly during the day and distributed mostly through syndication, this genre originated with The Phil Donahue Show and was popularized by the personal confession-filled The Oprah Winfrey Show.Tabloid talk shows have"; television seen to have little social value or redeeming intelligence, but still popular with viewers.
Fox News is sometimes classified as infotainment as it increasingly relies on loose fact checking policies, distortion of facts and celebrity personalities to present a more entertaining, although less factually accurate, version of events.[6]
Apocrypha
Infotainment the word was created by Joseph L. Putegnat III in January 1979. He also created his first company with the same name. The company advertised colleges and universities to high school students via VHS video tape made available with no charge to the high school's library. In this way the student could preview the college campus without having to travel. Several press releases were published in 1979 announcing the company formation.
The terms "Infotainment" and "Infotainer" were first used in September 1980 at the Joint Conference of Aslib, the Institute of Information Scientists and the Library Association in Sheffield, UK Sheffield (pronounced /ˈʃɛfiːld/ ) is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the city has grown from its largely industrial roots to encompass a wider economic base. The population of the City of. The Infotainers were a group of British information scientists who put on comedy shows at their professional conferences between 1980 and 1990.
An earlier, and slightly variant term, "Infortainment" was coined in 1974 as the title of the 1974 convention of the Intercollegiate Broadcasting System (IBS), the association of college radio stations in the United States. It took place on April 5–7, 1974, at the Statler Hilton Hotel, now the Hotel Pennsylvania. It was defined as the "nexus between Information and Entertainment."
In a letter dated February 25, 1974, Russell C. Tornabene, then Vice President and General Manager of NBC Radio, wrote to Convention Chairman Robert S. Tarleton, who had coined the term, "The title of your national convention is indeed clever. May we borrow it some day to describe something we may attempt." Whether NBC's rather limited use of the term led to the 1980 event and variation is unclear; what is clear is that the second version stuck.
Footnotes
- ^ Demers, David, "Dictionary of Mss Communication and Media Research: a guide for students, scholars and professionals," Marquette, 2005, p.143.
- ^ Merriam- Webster, The Cambridge Online Dictionary
- ^ Cambridge Online Dictionary
- ^ "an extraordinary form of strategic internal communications" (www.infotainment.be) and historically accurate factoid collections (www.how-infotaining.com)
- ^ Anderson, Bonnie M.,"News Flash," Wiley 2004, p. 1, p. 33.
- ^ Bonnie Anderson, News Flash: Journalism, Infotainment and the Bottom-Line Business of Broadcast News, 2004
See also
- Infomercial Infomercials are long-format television commercials, typically five minutes or longer. Infomercials are also known as paid programming . This phenomenon started in the United States where infomercials were typically shown overnight (usually 2:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m.)--outside of peak hours. Some television stations chose to air infomercials as an
- Subliminal message Subliminal stimuli , contrary to supraliminal stimuli or above threshold, are any sensory stimuli below an individual's absolute threshold for conscious perception. Visual stimuli may be quickly flashed before an individual may process them, or flashed and then masked, thereby interrupting the processing. Audio stimuli may be played below audible
- Product placement Product placement, or embedded marketing, is a form of advertisement, where branded goods or services are placed in a context usually devoid of ads, such as movies, the story line of television shows, or news programs. The product placement is often not disclosed at the time that the good or service is featured. Product placement became common in
- In car entertainment In-Car Entertainment, sometimes referred to as ICE, is a collection of hardware devices installed into automobiles, or other forms of transportation, to provide audio and/or audio/visual entertainment, as well as automotive navigation systems . This includes playing media such as CDs, DVDs, Freeview/TV, USB and/or other optional surround sound, or
- Junk food news Junk food news is a sardonic term for news stories that deliver "sensationalized, personalized, and homogenized inconsequential trivia", especially when such stories appear at the expense of serious investigative journalism. It implies a criticism of the mass media for disseminating news that, while not very nourishing, is "cheap to
External links
- Infotainment news by Telematics Update
- Information | Entertainment | News
- "Award winning Government infotainment"
- "Soft news and critical journalism eroding audiences"
- "Tough times for hard news, but good journalism goes on"
- Hollywood Representation of News Journalism, 1976–1999
- Mass Wire Media Association News
- UK graduate course in infotainment
- Category Management and infotainment/retailtainment
- "Thats Infotainment" article from Skeptical Enquirer
Categories: Infotainment Categories: Entertainment | Television series by genre
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