Download BULGARIA - Katia Mihailova

COST IS0906
WG 4 – AUDIENCE TRANSFORMATIONS AND SOCIAL INTEGRATION
Author : Katia MIHAILOVA
Institution affiliation: UNWE
Country: Bulgaria
Email: [email protected]
Key words: media, audience research, children, family
The state of Audience Research in Bulgaria
What’s happen with media audience/s in the contemporary digital communication
environment is one of the core research questions in front of the media sociologists to day.
Alongside with it, the sociologists in general are facing the questions: what’s happen with
people, families, and social structure in the new network or information European society;
how the new digital stratification of the broadband society at both European and national
level looks like; what are the parameters of the social inclusion and exclusion in the new
societies.
On the other hand we are witnessing the so called “third mediamorphoses” and as a
researchers we need the proper methodological tools to research, understand and explain
the ongoing processes of media transformations, the evolving new media forms as well as
their impact on people, families and societies. The digital media environment is consisted of
traditional mass media and new social media; traditional and new media audiences as well
as traditional and alternative approaches to media regulation. We should try to predict the
best possible balance between traditional and new in order to strengthen the positive
effects of media and new technologies on children, families, social structures and to limit
the negative one.
On this base and in the context of WG 4, the following processes could be of interest:
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Micro level – Transformation of the family by the different models of media use
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Macro level – Digital divide in the contemporary society, based on the different
media use by the families
What is the state of research in Bulgaria?
Media Sociology is a relatively new scientific field in Bulgaria, developed in the last 30
years. Some of the names, who have established the research tradition are Hristo Bonev,
Elit Nikolov, Todor Petev and others. The focus is mainly on the media as social institutions.
There have been established some trends in research such as: Press Studies (Vladimir
Simeonov); Radio Studies (Snejana Popova); Television studies (Lilia Raycheva) and New
media studies (Orlin Spasov). Also, there is a tradition in research of history and functions
of the Public Service Broadcasters in society. The questions in general are: how can the PSB
serve the public interest in the traditional and in the new media environment; do we need
PSB at all.
Media audience, particularly children and families as audiences, has been researched
mainly in the frame of Sociology of Youth and Family (Mihail Mirchev), Media Psychology
(Tolia Stitsova), and Pedagogy (Bojidar Angelov). A number of audience marketing
researches have been done regularly in the last 20 years (Alpha Research, Market Links,
ASSA-M, TNS and others).
In the recent years (2005-2010) some new research of children and families as media
audience appeared (Bojidar Angelov, Katia Mihailova). The new media environment and the
transformations of audience in it are also a challenging topic (Maria Popova, Stela
Konstantinova).
A very concise summary of the transformations of the family in the last years is presented
here. The digital divide in the contemporary society starts from the different models of
media use within the family.
More and more young families or couples living in so-called “free unions” postpone
childbirth for reasons connected to their professional careers. The two-children family
model prevailing in the near past is replaced now by the contemporary idea of a one-child
model. The three widespread models of the contemporary Bulgarian family are well
presented in the first three editions of the Bulgarian version of the reality show “Vip
Brother” (“Big Brother” with celebrities). In the first edition (2007) it was the model of a
single parent family - about 21% of all children in Bulgaria are raised in single-parent
families. In the second (2008) – traditional two parents family – mother and father and a
small child. In the third (2009) – divorced parents who both are sharing the responsibilities
of their child rising.
Today’s children are the so-called Bulgarian “Digital Natives”. As “Digital Natives” or the
Web Generation, most of the contemporary children remain immersed in information and
communication technologies for all their lives. They were born in the digital world and are
growing up with the new technologies such as computer, internet, mobile phones, Mp3, ipod and so on. Most importantly, they have sophisticated technical skills, but due to their
immaturity they are not able to grasp the meanings in the surrounding digital world. This
contradiction together with the fact of their loneliness raises their vulnerability in the cyber
world.
The internal relations of the family are still dominated by the patriarchal traditions. They
are mixed today with the values of the new individualistic culture. Intensive living and
stress, accompanied by а poor financial status, regretfully, do not encourage the
establishment of harmonic family relations. In this situation, children tend to build their
own patterns of social, consumer and communication behaviour, which are completely
different form those of their parents and even of their elder siblings. This is also in force for
the different models of media use and the different level of media literacy between children
and parents. These differences are the starting point of the digital divide on a micro level,
within the families.