DUBLIN CITY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATION STUDIES SUPERVISOR : DR PASCHAL PRESTON MAKING THE VIEWER VISIBLE: A STUDY OF TELEVISION VIEWING. BY DES MC GUINNESS. March 1993 Declaration I hereby certify that this material, which I now submit for assessement for the programme of study leading to the award of Master of Arts is entirely my own work and has not been taken from the work of others save and to the extent that such work has been cited and acknowledged within the text of my work. Des Me Guinness Date ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all I would like to single out the following people whose assistance was invaluable. The ten families who participated in this project, whose time and hospitality was given so generously and those contributions form the centrepiece of this project. Dr Paschal Preston and Dr Barbara O'Connor my first and second academic supervisors at Dublin City University. I couldn't have asked for better. A special thank you to them both. Tony Fahy: Head of Audience Research Department RTE, whose advice and encouragement was was always at hand. RTE, whose scholarship made possible this research project. Noreen Byrne: for the many, many hours she gave in discussing the issues addressed in this research project and her feedback on each and every draft....not to mention her love and friendship. Then in no particular order I wish to acknowledge the following people: Pat Ayton,Northside Reading & Writing Centre,Colaiste Dhulaigh Brendan Butler, Northside Centre for the Unemployed. John Clarkin, Boundaries Department. Ordance Survey Office. Sheila Coakley,Census of Population Central Statistics Office. David Conn, Head Office, Xtra-vision Professor Farrell Corcoran and Mr Luke Gibbons for their advice on the initial research proposal. Alan Curtis,Co-author of Coolock: An Area Profile(1989) The Fingal Writers Group Pam Galvin,Secretary of the School of Communications,DCU, for sharing her expertise on soap operas and good humour. Breda Gleeson, former chief librarian, Coolock Public Library Adriana Kerry Keane, Irish TAM Matt Larkin,National Organisation of Tenants Organisations.(NATO) Chris Lynch, Community Officer. Coolock Brian Lyons, Housing Allocations Department,Dublin Corporation Liam Maher, Manager of UCI Cinemas. Coolock Louise Me Dermot, for her kindness and encouragement Aishling nic a T-Sithigh. Information Department.IDA Eoin O'Murchu, for his perceptive insights on Dublin working class culture. Parents Alone Resource Centre(PARC) A special thanks to Carmel, Louise, Noreen and Pauline. Pat Synott. Darndale Family Centre The Library Staff, Dublin City University, a wonderful group of people. The Library Staff, RTE, who were always welcoming and helpful. The Library Staff, Combat Poverty My neighbours: Claire, Helan, Cathleen, Peter, Laura, Mandy, Paul, Sarah and Teresa Carmel, Laura, Michelle and Trish for their work on the transcribing Maggie Morse, for some wonderful advice and encouragement. The management of The Acorn, Bunratty Stores and The Mascot for their assistance in providing me with information on paper sales in the Coolock area. An An Post official, for his assistance. The staff of the School of Communications.Dublin City University Frank and Damien, for their assistances with sound equipment, sound men both ! Dave, Dennis, James, Pat and Paul for making the world of personal computers more accessible for one with a PC resistant virus! Suzanne, for her help with the printing. My fellow post-graduates at Dublin City University: Cathy, Celia, Jean, Meldy, Niall, Sharon and Tanya, who know the ups and downs of doing research like no one else. For their kindness and support I thank them and wish them every success in their futures. And then there was Avril, Giath, Ignati, Mairead and Willie with whom I shared an office. And a big hug for the hill walkers 1 All the authors whose writings I have quoted. Catherine, Dave, Frances, James, Noreen, Peter and Teresa for their proof reading. And last, but certainly by no means least, the canteen, cleaning, porters, security and gardening staff at Dublin city University, honourary degrees to each and every one of them. TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements Table of Contents List of charts, maps and abbreviations. Abstract Page No. 1. Introduction 1 2. Working Class Culture (1.1) Introduction 9 (2.2) Cultural Studies 9 (2.3) Ideology and Discourse 16 (2.4) Irish Working Class Culture 23 3. Communication and Television Audience Research (3.1) Introduction 28 (3.2) The Power of the Text 29 (3.3) Active Reception 34 (3.4) Conclusions 43 4. Profile of the Coolock Area (4.1) Coolock: description of place and its development during the past thirty years. 47 (4.2) Population, class and work. 51 (4.3) Education, religion and electoral political in the Coolock area. 53 (4.4) Existing amenities, service and leisure facilities in the Coolock area. 55 (4.5) A sense of neighbourhood and place. 60 5. Methodology and Audience Research 63 Page No. 6. Time use patterns and media consumption (6.1) Introduction. 76 (6.2) Television viewing patterns. 76 (6.3) Television programme and channel choice. 87 (6.4) Conclusions 95 7. Responses on culture and identity (7.1) Introduction. 96 (7.2) How the family members identified with television representations of working class way of life. 97 (7.3) How the participants identified with representations of rural Ireland in RTE programmes. 108 (7.4) Some responses on 'Irishness' and national identity. Ill (7.5) Conclusions 119 8. Questions of ideology and critical awareness (8.1) Introduction. 121 (8.2) The families'responses to news, current affairs and documentaries. 122 (8.3) Topics which provoked discussion in the home and were perceived to be biased by family members. 133 (8.4) Conclusions 142 9. Gender, age and television (9.1) Introduction. 143 (9.2) Gender differences in response to television genres. 144 (9.3) Gender differences in audience activity. 155 (9.4) Age as a factor in audience response and activity. 158 10. Analysis, Conclusions and Implications, 163 References Pages 1-3 Appendix No. 1. Biographies of the ten families Pages 1-9 Appendix No. 2. Responses of the under 14s Pages 10-12 Appendix No. 3. Interview Schedule Pages 13-16 Appendix No. 4. Family Profile Questionnaire Pages 17-18 Appendix No. 5. Letter and Diary Form Pages 19-22 Appendix No. 6. Times spent watching television Pages 2 3-26 Appendix No. 7. Time use patterns Pages 27-35 Appendix No. 8. Time use diaries Pages 36-45 Appendix No. 9. A breakdown on time use diaries Pages -46 Appendix No.10. Television programmes watched Pages 47-54 Bibliography Pages 1-11 A LIST OF CHARTS, MAPS AND ABBREVIATIONS. (i) CHARTS Table 2.1 Rottman et al's(1982) breakdown of social classes in the south of Ireland Table 4.1 Population statistics for the Coolock area Table 6.1 Average weekly hours during which television was viewed by family members in the February to April 1991 period Table 6.2 Summary information on the ten families Table 6.3 Favourite TV programme(s) of the ten families Table 6.4 The top ten programmes on RTE1 and Network 2 according to information recorded by family members in the time use diaries Table 6.5 Irish TAM's Top Twenty ratings for the week ending October 20th 1991 Table 6.6 The top ten watched programmes on non-RTE channels in the week ending October 20th 1991 Table 6.7 The most watched channels by family members during February to April 1991 Table 6.8 The most watched channels according information recorded in the time use diaries (ii) MAPS. Dublin City east Ordnance Survey Map, 13th Popular Edition 1984 Chapter Four, Page 49. (iii) ABBREVIATIONS ETC ( ) Interviewee response [ ] Interviewer questions or remarks i Emphasis, humourous or otherwise. (7) A bracketed number indicates a reference, all of which are presented in the 'Reference' section after Chapter Ten. Glenroe. Programme titles and publications underlined. ABSTRACT This study investigates aspects of the relationship between a small, but broadly representative, group of Dublin working class viewers and television. Working with forty seven members of ten families from a predominantly working class suburb in north Dublin the following key research questions are addressed at both a theoretical and empirical level: (1) The programmes and channels which members of the ten families watch. (2) How much television they watch. (3) What the responses of the families to drama and sport reveal about Dublin working class culture. (4) What the responses of the families to actuality programmes reveal about the operation of ideology and levels of critical awareness. (5) The gender and age factor in responses and audience activity. The thesis comprises ten chapters. Chapter One provides an introduction to the research dissertation. Chapter Two critically reviews some key theoretical writings on ideology, discourse and working class culture. Chapter Three explores aspects of communication and television audience research in terms of 1 active audience1 and 'powerful text1. Chapter Four presents a profile of the suburb of Coolock where the ten families live. Chapter Five assesses the research methodologies of ethnographic interviewing and time use diaries, which are employed in this study. Chapter Six consists of infomation on the families' time use patterns and media consumption. Chapter Seven and Eight present and analyse the responses of family members to questions on the genres of drama, sport, news, current affairs and documentaries, in order to determine what they reveal about Dublin working class culture, the operation of ideology and levels of critical awareness. Chapter Nine examines the extent to which gender and age were factors in the responses and audience activity of the families. Chapter Ten concludes the thesis by presenting the most pertinent points to have emerged from the research.