ECREA16-Abstract

Friday, November 11

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PS 004

The Experiential Mode of Reception. Conceptualization of an Integrative Framework Concept

F. Frey

LMU München, Communication Studies and Media Research, Munich, Germany

In recent years, a variety of concepts and models has been developed to describe the processing and experience of narrative messages, e. g., deictic shift

(Segal, 1995), transportation (Green & Brock, 2000), narrative engagement (Busselle & Bilandzic, 2008), and suspension of disbelief (Böcking, 2008).

However, some of these concepts partly overlap, others encompass each other and their relationships to other relevant concepts like presence (Lee, 2004),

perceived realism (Potter, 1988), flow (Csikszentmihalyi, 1975), and identification (Cohen, 2001) remain unspecified (Busselle & Bilandzic, 2009). The ob‑

jective of this paper is to develop a framework concept, on the basis of which existing concepts can be integrated into one comprehensive description

of narrative processing and experience in a theory-driven manner. Rather than construing this framework concept inductively, it is derived from the concept

of human subjective experience, because various links between narrative and experience have been suggested in the literature. Therefore, we propose to

conceptualize narrative reception as an experiential process in that it resembles human experience to a greater extent than non-narrative reception does.

This specific quality of experientiality was conceptualized as a reception mode (Michelle, 2007) and elaborated in two steps: First, we developed a compre‑

hensive concept of (everyday, primary) experience drawing on psychological and phenomenological insights. In a second step, this concept was adapted

to media reception. The resulting concept of a prototypical experiential mode of reception comprises elements on three levels: (a) Experiential processing

of media content consists in the associative, automatic and unconscious activation of sensorimotor mental representations and the construction and updat‑

ing of a dynamic situation model (Wyer, 2004; Zwaan, 2004). The situation model represents specific, mesocosmic entities localized in egocentric reference

frames of time and space (Busselle & Bilandzic, 2008; Vollmer, 1984; Wirth et al., 2007; Zwaan, 2004). Cognition, emotion, motivation, moral evaluation

and motor systems operate highly integrated and under a medium level of self-regulation (Hohr, 2013; Krämer, 2013). (b) On a second level, the states and

processes constituting experiential processing are controlled by a procedural schema (Monsell, 2003). (c) On a third level, automatic feedback from uncon‑

scious processes induces perception-like subjective experience (Schubert, 2009). Individuals experience such reception processes as subjectively effortless,

meaningful, passive, continuous and episodic (Epstein & Pacini, 1999; Kahneman, 2011; Neisser, 1976; Rasmussen, 1986). They perceive themselves as

spatially and temporally present within the depicted situation and as participating in the events (Wiesing, 2014; Wirth et al., 2007). Entities and events are

experienced in the form of multimodal mental images and appear as non-mediated (Lombard & Ditton, 1997; Wyer, 2004; Zwaan, 2004). The recipients

construe the depicted entities and events as objective, autonomous, permanent, and real. Moreover, they suspend any doubt about the depiction being

accurate (Schütz, 1945). Finally, individuals have the impression of undergoing a primary experience of a real-world situation rather than being involved in

media reception. Based on this conceptualization of an experiential mode of reception, hypotheses on factors potentially influencing the degree of experi‑

entiality of a reception episode and on potential effects of experiential reception are derived.

PS 005

Public Media Services in Serbia – How to Meet the Communication Needs of Digital Natives?

D. Valić Nedeljković

, Z. Geler

, K. Bala

Faculty of Philosophy- University of Novi Sad, Department of Media Studies, Novi Sad, Serbia

The Law on Public Media Services in Serbia (2014) states that the Radio Television of Vojvodina (RTV) and the Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) must meet

the communication needs of all citizens, including children and teenagers. Studies, suggest that their audience is the aging population, mostly people

graduated from college, vocational school or university, and mostly concentrated in the cities. A longitudinal research project conducted by the Department

of Media Studies, Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad, currently running for six consecutive years, shows that children and teenagers are not the audience

of the public media services. Simultaneously, an analysis of RTV's and RTS's program diversity showed that programs of public media services aimed at

digital natives are few and inadequate. The research aims to map, monitor and analyze the programs intended for children and young people broadcast by

the two public media services in Serbia, in order to deconstruct their editorial policy regarding this neglected audience group. The second aim is to analyze

young people’s attitudes towards the programs of public media services and their expectations from them, which are, by definition, established, funded

and should, therefore, also be controlled by the citizens. Public media services, according to relevant laws, should be media leaders in offering new, modern

media forms and programs which should satisfy the communication needs of digital natives, too. A best practice model will be created through a compara‑

tive analysis of the media content offered to children and young people and of the communication habits and needs of digital natives. For monitoring RTS's

and RTV's programs for children and young people, we are using quantitative and qualitative content analysis for the January-June timespan in 2016. For

this purpose, a special coding protocol was created for each type of media output. The attitude of the audience will be tested by questionnaires designed

for the focused sample of about 300 students of the Department of Media Studies. Students of journalismwere selected as a motivated target group whose

curriculum includes courses which analyze the phenomenon of public media service and media content for children. They represent a qualified audience

who can contribute to raising the professional standards in producing media content for children. Preliminary results indicate that the selection of content

for children and young people offered by public media services is very limited. It boils down to radio drama miniatures for children, a teenage round table

program and music programs, as well as educational programs that are not clearly formatted and designed for this age group. As for programs of public

media services, the offer of children programs boils down to imported animation programs, a talk-music entertainment show with a long tradition and few

talk-music shows which are not marked by age. The study will serve as an advocacy tool during the process of drafting a new media strategy for Serbia for

the 2016–2020 period, the public hearing on which is scheduled for the end of this year.