Simulasi dan Tabloidisasi Informasi Hiburan di Televisi

Abstract

This research aimed to clarify the reasons why media performed simulation and tabloidization information-entertainment (infotainment) on television, why the community consumed such infotainment and how the patterns of consumption took their courses. In addition, this research tried to define infotainment as an effort to portray celebrities’ lifestyles and the way industry of media operated. This research took place at Perumahan Bumi Prayudan, Magelang. Simulation of Jean Baudrillard (2001) was used as the perspective of this research, employing receptive analysis model on the viewers’ reception on television programmes Ien Ang (1990). The whole data were collected through in-depth interviews and involved-observations, documentations, books and any other reading materials. Besides, there was analysis on some episodes of infotainment broadcasted in 9 private TV stations, which were recorded accordingly. Analysis on the data gained from the informers focused on exposing why gossiping on celebrities had been a sort of daily conversation. In the other part, analysis on the content of the media tried to bring to light media’s tendency to perform simulation and tabloidization. What this research found confirmed that: firstly, in a various informal opportunities infotainment constituted an access through which the viewers might come to public discouses. As a means of gossiping, infotainment had triumphantly diverted the viewers’ attention from any other social problems that required grave thought and attention. Secondly, the viewers realized that simulation and tablodization represented commodification of entertainment world taken by media, so that uncertainty in the news of celebrities’ world composed a certainty the viewers took convincingly. In other word, the function of information as an effort to reduce uncertainty, on the contrary, intensified an uncertainty of a reality. Thirdly, the way the viewers consumed infotainment gave rise to anxiety and vulnerability. For instance, watching infotainment over and over again was likely to stick viewers with addiction. In this situation, being able to recognize reality of media and reality of ordinary life would help the viewers not getting stuck in imagery world media had already created. Fourthly, those who viewed infotainment belonged to contemporary communities whose emergence was determined by communication technology, television in particular. Jean Baudrillard distinguished viewers as community that experienced implosion, changing into masses The manners of the viewers and their reactions in defining infotainment no longer referred to given characteristics of social roles and structures attached to them, such as education level, occupation and any other social positions. Rather, they were dissolving into viewers’ communal psychology. Consumption behavior of these viewers tended to be loose, without any social boundaries as they defined infotainment their reactions, emotions, and empathies were relatively alike. Fifthly, the government tended to let loose the exaggerating growth of infotainment as they regarded it as being harmless and not disrupting the governmental execution in a direct way. On the contrary, infotainment was regarded as a means for escapism, as a catharsis medium and as a way for relaxation to its viewers. Sixthly, a protection was considerably necessary for the viewers who did not necessitate certain information in certain hours, and campaign on media literacy was as well (intended to the viewers with media literacy)