Article

Global Media Journal – Indian Edition/ Summer Issue / June 2011

PRINT MEDIA UTILIZATION PATTERN AMONG HOMEMAKERS

Dr. Shamsul Hasan

Professor Department of Agricultural Communication

College of Agriculture, G. B. Pant University of Agriculture & Technology Pantnagar,Uttarakhand, India

Website: http://www.gbpuat.ac.inEmail: drshasan97@rdiffmail.com

&

Arpita Sharma

Ph. D. Scholar Department of Agricultural Communication

College of Agriculture, G. B. Pant University of Agriculture & Technology Pantnagar,Uttarakhand, India

E mail: sharmaarpita35@gmail.com

Abstract: Mass communication is the process of delivering information and ideas to a sizeable and

diversified audience through the use of media developed for that purpose. These media include

newspaper, magazine, books; magazine, radio, mobile phone and television are much more

influential than others. The concrete tasks of these vehicles of mass communication are to provide

large audience with information, culture and entertainment. They raise the overall level of skills and

knowledge of users along with a mixture of entertainment and information contents. The scientific

and technological advancements have brought about steady fast development in the media world.

New media are coming up while the old ones are being improved upon and in this process their

availability has increased manifolds. They are now conquering even the remote and distant regions of

the world. This multifaceted development has brought about a lot more variety than could be

imagined. There has been growing multiplicity between the media and this process is still continuing.

As a result the Indian audience is facing plenty of choices. Print medium was the first to be used as

mass media for communicating the information. Till today print media is one of the powerful media

among the rural people. Print media included newspaper, magazines, booklet etc. Women the

reservoir of productive human resources constitutes almost half of the country’s total population. For

the homemakers, life revolves around her family and mass media are mainly used for entertainment

and relaxation or at times to add value to the homemakers. They make them more responsible

towards their society. There are various mass media used to give the information regarding health,

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society development, entrepreneurship and various other aspects. The heterogeneous females have

different needs, interests, leisure time and socio economic background. Present research

investigation is an attempt to know the socio economic background and media utilization pattern

among the women.

Keywords: women, mass communication, mass media

Introduction

In today’s complex, complicated and highly competitive world, lots of

communication technology such as newspaper, magazines, radio, video, computer, television,

mobile phone, internet, cassette recorder exists. Therefore villagers have to choose

appropriate media for conveying the information to the potential users. The priorities will

have to be given to such technology which is capable of passing information quickly and

more effectively. Print medium was the first to be used as mass media for communicating

the information. In India, the first newspaper to be published was ‘Bengal Gazette’ also

called ‘Calcutta General Advertiser” in 1780. Since then the use of newspapers and

magazines kept on increasing in terms of their number, variety, circulation and readership.

Quite often new newspapers and magazines are introduced while the older ones change their

pattern of presentation. A newspaper is a publication containing news and information and

advertising, usually printed on low-cost paper called newsprint. It may be general or of the

special interest, most often published daily or weekly. The first printed newspaper was

published in 1605, and the form has thrived even in the face of competition from technologies

such as radio and television. Recent developments on the Internet are posing major threats to

its business model, however paid circulation is declining in most countries, and advertising

revenue, which makes up the bulk of a newspaper's income, is shifting from print to online;

some commentators, nevertheless, point out that historically new media such as radio and

television did not entirely supplant to existing population.

A magazine is a periodical publication containing a variety of articles, generally financed by

advertising and/or purchase by readers. Magazines are typically published fortnightly,

weekly, monthly or quarterly, with a date on the cover. They are often printed in color on

coated paper, and are bound with a soft cover. Magazines fall into two broad categories:

consumer magazines and business magazines. In practice, magazines are a subset of

periodicals, distinct from those periodicals produced by scientific, artistic, academic or

special interest publishers which are subscription-only, more expensive, narrowly limited in 2

circulation, and often have little or no advertising. Women are pivotal in society’s social,

cultural, educational programmes. In India, women are the central figure of family life. Most

of them are homemakers and confined primarily to the household activities. Consequently

they have greater leisure time at their disposal. Hence, they use more media than their male

counterparts or the career women. The female have different socio economic background and

mass media utilization patterns, in order to seek the media utilization pattern among the

women. The two major objective of the study are, to study the socio- personal characteristics

of the homemakers of Pantnagar (Uttarakhanda) locality and to reveal extent and pattern of

mass media utilization among the respondents.

Review of Literature

Bedi (1994) expressed the need of readership balance representation for regional

interests and aspiration. There should be full utilization of the existing terrestrial telecast

facilities for regional programmes contents relevant and meaningful for social people. Media

news Vidura reveled that majority of households (82 per cent) with television sets did not

have cable connection. Menon et.al. (1995) revealed that among the housewives the

readership were higher for women’s magazines, followed by general interest. Dua (1976)

reported that India had 13,320 newspapers in 65 languages. Of this there were 875 dailies in

all language. The number of Hindi language news was 3,289 and 2,765 of English language

newspaper. Total circulation of all newspaper mounts over 34 million copies. Pauline et.al.

(2002) conducted the study on “Media accessibility and utilization by Kenyan rural women”.

The study revealed that women require only health related and Agriculture information.

Because of low literacy, majority of women cannot comprehend radio transmission in

English and Kiswahili which are not their vernacular language. Despite rating the radio

relatively high (26 per cent) as the leading media for information compared to other media,

several social and economic barrier including lack of time to listen to radio programme were

mention. Alternative media resources as rural extension worker and fellow women and friend

were rated high. The study recommended that alternative media resources like women groups

folk media, religious gathering and exhibition be promoted and extension service be

improved.

Research Methodology

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The research study was carried out in the Pantnagar University of Udham Singh Nagar District in

Uttarakhand. the study sample included 100 homemakers from Pantnagar township a rural

suburban and the main campus of a University were selected through Simple Random Sampling.

Interview schedule and observation was used to collect data. The collected data were classified,

tabulated and analyzed using appropriate statistical methods like percentage and mean scores.

Results and Discussion

A. Socio Personal Profile of the Respondents:

1. Age: Maximum number of respondents (50 per cent) belonged to middle age group

(35-45 years) followed by young age group respondents (44 per cent) whereas, only six per

cent respondents belonged to old age group (45 - above). Similar results were also reported

by Sharma (2009) who also found that majority of women were between middle age group.

2. Education: Data reveals that maximum number of respondents (60 per cent) had

completed education up to graduate level. Thirty per cent respondents were post graduate. A

limited number of respondents (10 per cent) had education up to intermediate level.

3. Caste: The table 1 reveals that maximum respondents (60 per cent) belonged to

General caste followed by Other Backward Caste (30 per cent) and Schedule Caste/Schedule

Tribe (10 per cent).

4. Income: A majority of the respondents (90 per cent) were of middle income

category. This was followed by respondents in the high income group (10 per cent) and low

income (10 per cent). This is supported by the findings of Bisnoi et al. (2005) that majority

were belonged to medium income group.

5. Media ownership: From the table 1, it can be inferred that all the respondents

owned television, mobile phone followed by print media (90 per cent) and magazine

(60 per cent) whereas, computer is possessed by 50 per cent of the respondents. This is

supported by the findings of Sharma (2009) that majority of respondents possess television

with cable connection and mobile phone.

Table1: Socio-Personal Characteristics of Respondents

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Sl. No. Characteristic Number of respondents Percentage1 Age

Young (25-35) 44 44Middle (35-45) 50 50Old (45-above) 6 6

2. EducationIntermediate 10 10Graduate 60 60Post graduate 30 30

3. CasteGeneral caste 60 60OBC 30 30SC/ST 10 10

4. Income level

High 10 10medium 90 90

Low 10 10

5. Media OwnershipTelevision 100 100Newspaper 90 90Magazine 60 60Mobile phone 100 100Computer 50 50

B. Mass Media Utilization

The utilization of different selected print media viz. newspaper, magazine, were studied

under different heads like purpose, daytimes, duration etc. to know the extent and pattern of

mass media utilization. The results on all these aspects have been presented for each media

separately here under.

1) Newspaper: In Pantnagar, the daily newspapers of English and Hindi language

are subscribed in the locale of the study. The newspaper readership pattern has been

dealt with here under. Table 2

a. Types of Newspaper Readership Subscribed: The newspaper which the

respondents subscribed gives some indication of preference to a particular newspaper

over others though many things like interests and requirements of other family

members also affect. The survey results showed that majority of the respondents (40

per cent) subscribed “The Times of India” followed by “The Hindustan Times” (30 5

per cent). 18 per cent respondents subscribed “The Hindu” followed by “Indian

Express” (3 cent), “Economics Times” (6 per cent) and “Employment News” (3 per

cent). Among the Hindi language newspapers the popularity of “Amar Ujala” was

maximum (45 per cent ). 25 per cent of respondents subscribed “Danik Jagran”

followed by “Uttar Ujala” (7 per cent), “Jan Satta”(5 per cent), “Hindustan” (10 per

cent) and “Panjab Kesari” (8 per cent).

Table2: Newspaper Subscribed Among the Respondents

Sl. No. Characteristic Number of respondents Percentage

A. English Language1. The Times of India 40 40

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2. The Hindustan times 30 303. Indian Express 3 34. Economic times 6 65. Employment news 3 36. The Hindu 18 18B. Hindi Language1. Amar Ujala 45 452. Uttar Ujala 7 73. Dainik Jagran 25 254. Jan satta 5 55. Hindustan 10 106. Panjab Kesri 8 8

b. Regularity of Reading Newspaper:Table 3 revealed that all the respondents were found

to read newspaper. Among the readers, majority of the homemakers (75 per cent) read

newspaper regularly, whereas 20 per cent of them read sometimes. However, five per

cent of them used to read it rarely.

Table3: Newspaper Readership of Respondents

Sl. No. Characteristic Number of respondents Percentage1. ReadersA. Regular 75 75B. Sometimes 20 20C. Rarely 5 5

c. Purpose: The purpose of reading a newspaper may vary from individual to individual.

However, an attempt was made to find out the reason that guide majority of the people

to read a newspaper through a structured questionnaire. Results showed that majority of

the housewives (75 per cent) read newspaper for news and information. However, 17

per cent of them had the habit of reading newspapers, while 6 per cent it to time pass

but only six respondents read for entertainment purpose. (Table 4).

Table 4: Purpose of Reading Newspaper

Sl. No. Characteristic Number of respondents Percent

age1. News and information 75 752. Entertainment 2 173. Pass time 6 24. Habit 17 6

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d. Daytime of Reading: It was found that majority of women (35 per cent) used to read

newspaper in the morning on week days while only 16 per cent respondents were

reading newspapers on Sunday. Almost the week day readers most of the housewives

(51 per cent) were in expanding phase of family life followed by 18 per cent of

contacting families. Only 26 per cent were in the beginning phase.(table 5).

Table 5: Day Times of Newspaper Readership among the Respondents of Different Family

Sl.

No.

Day

times

Number of respondents

Beginning phase Expanding phase Contacting phase

Total

Weekda

y

Sunday Weekday Sunday Weekda

y

Sunday Weekda

y

Sunday

1. Morning 5 4 20 6 5 6 35 16

2. Afternoon 4 5 9 35 3 5 16 45

3. Evening 9 3 10 5 6 7 25 15

4. Night 6 10 7 5 2 4 15 19

5. Late night 2 0 5 2 2 3 9 5

It is evident that the newspaper reading in the afternoon was 16 per cent, evening 25 per

cent and night 15 per cent throughout the week. It has also been observed that only 9 per cent

respondents read newspaper in late night.It was found that majority of respondents (45 per cent)

read newspaper in the afternoon while 16 per cent respondents read newspaper in the morning on

Sunday. 19 per cent read newspaper in Night. A small number of respondents read newspaper

late night.

e. Duration of Newspaper Reading: Normally on week days majority of the women (76

per cent) used to spend about 15 minutes in reading newspaper. While the maximum

time spent by the homemakers on Sunday was 30 minutes by majority of the

respondents (24 per cent). Among weekdays readers (51 per cent) were of expanding

phase, where only 18 per cent were in the contracting phase. Some of the homemakers

(31 per cent) used to read newspaper for 30 minutes and this group comprised of

majority women of expanding phase (51 per cent) followed by women of contracting

phase (18 per cent). Very few of the respondents reported reading newspaper for 60

minutes (14 per cent) or more.

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It was found that majority of the Sunday readers (77 per cent) spent 30 minutes reading

newspapers against 15 per cent respondents who used to read for about 15 minutes. The number

of the readers spending less or more time was negligible. Further most of the housewives (58 per

cent) spending 30 minutes with newspaper were of the expanding phase followed by women (35

per cent) in the contracting phase. Similarly among those spending 15 minutes in newspapers

readership, majority of women (35 per cent) were in expanding phase though 18 per cent women

were of contracting phase.

f. Content Preference: The data enclosed in table 7 depicts that preference for various

types of content that come in newspapers was studied in terms of the regularity of

reading them as also the type of content they prefer to read only in the newspaper. The

study revealed that almost all the respondents (cent per cent) used to go through the

broad headlines regularly while they used to read only certain things in details. It was

also found that Sunday special of the dailies was read regularly by majorly of the

respondent’s readers (98 per cent). While 13 per cent of the respondents read Sunday

special sometime. Majority of respondents (99 per cent) used to read newspaper for

news and information content regularly. Newspaper was regularly consulted for T. V.

programme through information supplement in on entertainment by 35 per cent

respondents though major section of newspaper readers (65 per cent) used to read it

only sometimes. A small numbers of the respondents (22 per cent) sometimes read

content on science and technology, health (25 per cent) and horoscope (23 cent).

Table 7: Content Preference According to Regularity of Reading

Sl. No. Characteristic Number of respondents

Regularly Sometimes1. News and information 99 12. Film based 66 343. Sports 20 804. Health 75 255. Audience response 10 906. Advertisements 99 17. Editorial 66 348. Crime news 87 139. Science and technology 78 2210. Cookery 98 211. Fashion 47 5312. Horoscope 77 2313. Infotainment 35 65

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14. Sunday special 98 1315. Business 33 6716. Headlines 100 2417. Matrimonial 55 45

It was Headlines surprising to note that almost all reported that they read the contents

related to fashion, advertising, business and cookery. The matrimonial that come in newspaper

were regularly read by 55 per cent of the homemakers though 45 per cent respondents used to

read it sometimes. There are different types of content which respondents prefer to get through in

newspapers rather than through any other media. The contents which housewives prefer to get

primarily from newspapers were found through personal interviews. The list of such contents is

given in Table 8. The compilation of the respondents revealed that in general, majority of the

homemakers (98 per cent) preferred reading news of national importance, riots, agitation. etc.

only in newspapers. The film stories were preferred by 91 per cent of the women. Other contents

like local news (87 per cent), day and date of the week (67 per cent), other people views (78 per

cent), weather forecast (77 per cent) etc. were also preferred by the respondents.

Table 8: List of Content Preferred by the Respondents to Get Only through Newspapers

Sl.

No.

Characteristic Number of respondents Percentage

1. News of national information riots,

agitation etc.

98 98

2. National political news 97 97

3. Local news 87 87

4. Date and day of the week 67 67

5. Other people opinions on an issue 78 78

6. Films stories 91 91

7. International news 35 35

8. Article on famous personal items 75 75

9. Cartoons 45 45

10

10

.

Weather forecast 77 77

11

.

Puzzles 10 10

12

.

Jokes 31 31

g.Use Of Newspaper Content

The table 9 reveals that the newspapers have changed their content a lot over the years

and now cover a wide range of topics. The type of information homemakers normally use from

newspapers in daily life was sought through the survey. The results indicate they use selected

aspects of information viz on though the number of respondents using this information was quite

low. It was found that 97 per cent of the newspapers readers used health related content provided

in newspapers while 85 per cent of them used information on cookery provided in these papers.

Seventy nine per cent respondents used information on fashion, 73 per cent used the information

related to stitching and embroidery.

Table 9: Use of Newspaper Content among Respondents

Sl.

No.

Characteristic Number of respondents Percentag

e1. Health 97 972. Cookery 85 853. Interior Decoration 65 654. Stitching, Embroidering etc. 73 735. Fashion 79 796. Agriculture 12 12

h. Newspaper Reading Situation: The situations, under which newspapers are read, vary

from persons to persons as well as from circumstances of the individuals. In view of

this, the respondents were interviews to find out all varying situations when any of the

family members read newspaper. In all 22 situations were reported during which the

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newspapers are read. However the number of respondents giving common situations or

most frequently referred was very less. Many of the respondents (75 per cent) told that

newspaper was read while resting i.e. lying on bed in the afternoon. A lot of women (58

per cent) read newspapers while waiting for either their husband or children at lunch

time after having prepared the meals. However, some of the respondents (25 per cent)

reported reading newspaper at times of national calamity viz. roits, agitations, etc. other

situations in which newspaper is read as reported were read time in morning and

evening , during free time when sitting outside in winters, etc.

C. Magazine

Readership of magazine among the homemakers were studied on various aspects viz. the

purpose, regularity, daytime of utilization, magazine and content preference etc. the findings of

the survey have been dealt with separately under each aspects.

a. Regularity of Magazine Reading

The survey data enclosed in table 10 revealed that majority of the homemakers (75 per

cent) used to read magazines while 25 per cent respondents did not report reading magazines.

Almost 65 per cent respondents read magazine sometimes while 10 per cent read it regularly.

Table 10: Magazine readership of respondents

Sl.

No.

Characteristic Number of respondents Percentage

1. Readers 75 75a) Regularity 10 10b) Sometimes 65 652. Nonreaders 25 25

b.Purpose : Magazine may be read for varying purpose which depends upon the individual.

However, in this research study four broad purposes were indentified and data collected

through a structural question. Analysis of the acquired data shows that most of the homemakers

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(72 per cent) used to read magazines for entertainment while 34 per cent read it to pass time.

Twenty five per cent respondents read the magazines for news and information. Only 10 per

cent of the respondents found to have cultivated the habit of magazine reading.

Table 11: Purpose of Reading Magazine

Sl. No. Characteristic Number of respondents Percentage1. News and information 25 252. Entertainment 72 723. Pass time 34 344. Habit 10 10

c.Daytime Reading: Table 12 revealed that in general, majority of the respondents read

magazines on weekdays. The afternoons of weekdays used to be utilized for reading the

magazines by maximum number of the respondents (47 per cent) while night period used to

be utilized by 15 per cent of the respondents. Some of them (5 per cent) read magazines in the

morning as well. Further, among the afternoon readers, (34 per cent) of the homemakers were

of contacting phase and 26 per cent in expanding phase. On Sunday, 55 per cent the

respondents reported to read magazines in the afternoon followed by 10 per cent respondents

reading magazines in the night. Among the afternoon readers most of them were in the

contacting phase of family life cycle.

Table 12: Day Time of Newspaper Readership among the Respondents of Different Family

Sl.

No.

Day

times

Number of respondents

Begning phase Expanding phase Contacting phase

Total

Weekday Sunda

y

Weekda

y

Sunda

y

Weekday Sunda

y

Weekda

y

Sunday

1. Morning 1 1 3 2 2 1 5 32. Afternoon 15 13 26 15 34 39 47 553. Evening 2 1 3 3 2 2 5 54. Night 3 3 2 7 10 0 15 105. Late night 1 1 2 1 0 0 3 2

d.Content Preference: The distribution of respondents according to regularity of reading

is presented in the table 13. Magazines contain various types of content, some of which are

read more by larger number of people; the media must consider the preferences of its target

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audience. In view of this, the preferences of the housewives were studied and it was found that

the majority of magazine readers (98 per cent) read regularly the section of magazines dealing

with the answers of audience problems. Stories and poems were also read regularly by many

respondents (98 per cent). Other contents like that on cookery and on knotting, embroidery etc.

were read regularity by a majority of the homemakers (76 per cent) respectively. Household

tips used to be read regularity by many of the respondents (87 per cent), in sometimes category

quite a number of responding homemakers (13 per cent) used to read film based articles. Health

related contents were also read by many of the respondents (78 per cent).

Table 13: Content Preference According to Regularity of Reading

Sl. No. Characteristic Percentage of respondents

Regularly Sometimes 1. News and information 35 242. Film based 67 333. Sports 10 904. Health 78 225. Audience response 98 26. Advertisements 98 27. Editorial 87 138. Crime news 10 909. Science and technology 45 5510. Cookery 76 2411. Fashion 44 5612. Horoscope 36 6413. Infotainment 76 2414. Sunday special 89 1115. Business 6 9416. Headlines 98 217. Matrimonial 2 92

There are certain types of content which people like reading in magazines. Such type of

contents which homemakers prefer reading in magazines only were listed out through interview

with the respondents and presented in table (14).

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Table 14: List of Content Preferred By the Respondents to Get Only Through Magazine

Sl.

No.

Characteristic Percentage of

respondents1. Personal problems, issues, matters or

topics

98

2. Cookery 763. Articles on family planning and their

solution

78

4. Teenagers problems 255. Articles describing husband-wife

relationships

98

6. Detectives, fiction and real stories 557. Travel special8. Information on new commodities in

the market

57

9. Needlecrafts 3510. Poem 1011. Party manners, tips for hosting

gathering etc.

67

12. Interviews of celebrities 2013. Beauty tips 8114. Fashion 5315. Matrimonial 54

It was found that majority of the homemakers (98 per cent) preferred reading articles on

husband-wife relationship solely in magazines. Contents on personal problems, issues,

matters or topics were also preferred in magazine by a large number of respondents (98 per

cent). Subjects like family planning, sex education, etc were also appreciated by 78 per cent

of the respondents. An equal numbers of homemakers liked reading on teenagers’ problems.

Many other types of contents like the ones on needlecrafts, real life family problems and their

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solutions, party manners and tips for hosting gathering etc. were found to be preferred by

many respondents in magazine only.

e.Use of Magazine Content : Magazines provide a lot of informative contents for its readers

to use. However, what all types of contents they use in practical life depends on the audience.

An attempts was made to find out the popularity of different broad areas of the magazines

and it was found that the contents on stitching, embroidery etc. were used by majority (97 per

cent) of the respondents also used some of the contents on health and cookery (88 per cent).

Sixty nine per cent of the magazine readers used some aspects of the things on interior

decoration provided in the magazines. Beauty tips and fashion related contents were also used

by 25 per cent of the respondents. But Agriculture related information was not used by any of

the respondents.

f. Magazine Reading Situations: A number of situations in which people read only

magazines were identified through interview. It was found that the majority of the respondents

(76 per cent) used to read magazines on travel. The use of magazines was reported by (55 per

cent) respondents when television could not be switched on due to some reason. Many of them

(45 per cent) reported read magazines when they felt sleepily and another 15 per cent

respondents reported reading magazines in winter season while sitting outside in sun or during

summer evening.

Conclusion

Women constitute almost half of the country’s total population. Her role in the

national development needs no reiteration. They have distinct interests, liking, preferences

and choices. Since different media attract segments users, a study of media utilization

become important. The total circulation of newspaper has increased over the years. Majority

of the homemakers are regular reader of newspaper. Women read the newspaper for taking

information, news and for the entertainment. Majority of the respondents are the sometimes

read the magazine. Print media like magazine and newspapers are powerful media to give the

information among the homemakers.

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