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.in Email: 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 countrys 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, 1

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 todays 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
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circulation, and often have little or no advertising. Women are pivotal in societys 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 womens 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

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. 1

2.

3.

4.

Characteristic Age Young (25-35) Middle (35-45) Old (45-above) Education Intermediate Graduate Post graduate Caste General caste OBC SC/ST Income level High medium Low

Number of respondents 44 50 6 10 60 30 60 30 10 10 90 10

Percentage 44 50 6 10 60 30 60 30 10 10 90 10

5.

Media Ownership Television Newspaper Magazine Mobile phone Computer

100 90 60 100 50

100 90 60 100 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
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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. A. 1. Characteristic English Language The Times of India
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Number of respondents 40

Percentage 40

2. 3. 4. 5. 6. B. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

The Hindustan times Indian Express Economic times Employment news The Hindu Hindi Language Amar Ujala Uttar Ujala Dainik Jagran Jan satta Hindustan Panjab Kesri

30 3 6 3 18 45 7 25 5 10 8

30 3 6 3 18 45 7 25 5 10 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. 1. A. B. C. Characteristic Readers Regular Sometimes Rarely Number of respondents 75 20 5 75 20 5 Percentage

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. 1. 2. 3. 4. Characteristic News and information Entertainment Pass time Habit
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Number of respondents 75 2 6 17 age 75 17 2 6

Percent

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 Weekda Sunday y 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Morning Afternoon Evening Night Late night 5 4 9 6 2 4 5 3 10 0 20 9 10 7 5 6 35 5 5 2 Expanding phase Contacting phase Weekday Sunday Weekda Sunday y 5 3 6 2 2 6 5 7 4 3 Total Weekda y 35 16 25 15 9 16 45 15 19 5 Sunday

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 respondents 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. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. Characteristic News and information Film based Sports Health Audience response Advertisements Editorial Crime news Science and technology Cookery Fashion Horoscope Infotainment Number of respondents Regularly 99 66 20 75 10 99 66 87 78 98 47 77 35
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Sometimes 1 34 80 25 90 1 34 13 22 2 53 23 65

14. 15. 16. 17.

Sunday special Business Headlines Matrimonial

98 33 100 55

13 67 24 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. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. News of national information riots, 98 agitation etc. National political news Local news Date and day of the week Other people opinions on an issue Films stories International news Article on famous personal items Cartoons 97 87 67 78 91 35 75 45
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Characteristic

Number of respondents 98 97 87 67 78 91 35 75 45

Percentage

10 Weather forecast . 11 Puzzles . 12 Jokes .

77

77

10

10

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. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Characteristic Health Cookery Interior Decoration Stitching, Embroidering etc. Fashion Agriculture Number of respondents 97 85 65 73 79 12 e 97 85 65 73 79 12 Percentag

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. 1. a) b) 2. Characteristic Readers Regularity Sometimes Nonreaders Number of respondents 75 10 65 25 75 10 65 25 Percentage

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. 1. 2. 3. 4. Characteristic News and information Entertainment Pass time Habit Number of respondents 25 72 34 10 Percentage 25 72 34 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 Weekday Sunda y 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Morning Afternoon Evening Night Late night 1 15 2 3 1 1 13 1 3 1 Expanding phase Contacting phase Weekda Sunda Weekday Sunda y 3 26 3 2 2 y 2 15 3 7 1 2 34 2 10 0 y 1 39 2 0 0 Total Weekda y 5 47 5 15 3 3 55 5 10 2 Sunday

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. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. Characteristic News and information Film based Sports Health Audience response Advertisements Editorial Crime news Science and technology Cookery Fashion Horoscope Infotainment Sunday special Business Headlines Matrimonial Percentage of respondents Regularly 35 67 10 78 98 98 87 10 45 76 44 36 76 89 6 98 2 Sometimes 24 33 90 22 2 2 13 90 55 24 56 64 24 11 94 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. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. Characteristic Personal problems, issues, matters or topics Cookery Articles on family planning and their solution Teenagers problems Articles describing Percentage respondents 98 76 78 25 98 55 57 35 10 67 20 81 53 54 of

husband-wife

relationships Detectives, fiction and real stories Travel special Information on new commodities in the market Needlecrafts Poem Party manners,

tips for hosting

gathering etc. Interviews of celebrities Beauty tips Fashion Matrimonial

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 countrys 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.

References
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Dua, M. R. (1980). Thesis in Indian communicator New Delhi, Metropolitian Book co (P) Ltd.164P. Shakya, S.K. (1973). A study of farm radio listening characteristics of radio owning young and adult farmers in Nepal. M. Sc. Thesis, India Agriculture Research Institute, New Delhi. Sharma, A. (1989). Impact of television on tribal : A study of Buxa tribe in Nainital district of U.P. (Unpublished), M. Sc. Thesis, Department of Agriculture communication G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar. Sharma A. (2010). Community Radio for Rural Development. 2010-11 Budget Yojana (A Development Monthly). March-2010. Vol.54.pp.60-63. Sharma A. (2009.) Effectiveness of Media Mix in imparting Nutritional Education among Rural women in District Udham Singh Nagar of Uttarakhand. Unpublished thesis G. B. Pant University Pantnagar. Sandhu, A. S. (1970). Characteristics, listening behaviour and programme preferences of radio owing farmers in Punjab. Ph.D. Thesis, Division of India Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi. Saxena, A. K.; Thakur, P. and Srivastava, A. (1995). Utility of farm information and television. Maharashtra Journal of Extension Education. 14 : 65-68. Weaver D. H. & Mauro, J. B. (1979). Newspaper readership pattern, Journalism quarterly. discrimination through radio

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