TV stations should rethink the use of opinion polls or ask more meaningful questions

Interactive television is now a common feature in Kenya. This is driven by numerous factors but majorly the desire to enrich TV-watching, and to make programming more interactive and interesting or appealing to viewers.

Accordingly, to beat competition and attract and retain audiences or consumers, media houses and various production houses have had to innovate to survive in what is increasingly becoming a very competitive media market place.

Television stations have to particularly compete for audiences, especially because they all offer their evening news at the same time.

Personal experiences

In Kenya, interactive television involves inviting viewers or consumers to participate in programmes. Oftentimes, viewers are encouraged to send in comments via text or short messaging service (SMS), tweet, or contribute to Facebook discussions. Thus news bulletins are particularly organised so as to accommodate the views of viewers.

Television viewers can be divided broadly into two groups – active and passive consumers – based on their levels of engagement with the products offered. It is said that active televisionconsumers can derive different meanings from media content based on various factors including their status, positions in society, and personal experiences.

For instance, politicians or particular political party members may interpret content differently based on the subject, the sources, and the way the news is packaged. Perhaps one of the most popular ways of encouraging viewer participation in Kenya today is the now common opinion poll available in main news bulletins across popular television stations. The opinion polls can be useful instruments/tools for collecting feedback and gauging the popularity of stories as well as the characters or subjects of various content.

Not scientific

That said, it is important to think critically about the efficacy of such engagements and whether the questions asked by the stations have the potential to generate the kind of data or information expected (and necessary) to inform conversations around or debates about different things. Granted, it is wise that the stations warn that the polls are not scientific and in essence are merely meant to tell other viewers what those who watch the bulletins think about certain issues.

This is particularly true of open-ended questions which offer the viewer an opportunity to say what they think or expound on their answers in the often ‘No’ or ‘Yes’ questions. Whatever the case, it is important ensure that the questions not only make sense but also help advance conversations around issues.

Look at recent questions on Citizen TV and KTN. On March 14, 2017, Citizen TV’s question was: Do you think Jubilee Party nominations will be free and fair? On April 5, 2017, KTN asked: Do you think IEBC (Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission) is right to bar ODM (Orange Democratic Party) from holding primaries until list of candidates is gazetted? What questions!

KTN’s question was based on ODM party leader and National Super Alliance (NASA) principal Raila Odinga’s assertion that IEBC does not have the power to run the party’s (or indeed any other’s) primaries and they have the prerogative to determine who their candidates would be. On the other hand, IEBC had warned that party primaries will be only be conducted after the Commission gazettes names of aspirants on April 13, and that the all party primaries should be held between April 14 and 26.

Number of respondents

While the stories upon which the questions are based provide the grounding for the question, and give viewers the information they need to participate in the opinions, it is not clear whether ‘ordinary’ viewers possess the competence or expert knowledge to authoritatively participate in the polls, or contribute to debates surrounding party primaries or nominations and attendant elections, or whether nominations would be fair.

Besides, of what value is the ‘No’ or ‘Yes’ responses to such questions? On the Citizen question, how would viewers tell whether the polls will be free and fair beyond mere conjecture? Put differently, on what grounds would they competently determine whether the elections would be free and fair?

Furthermore, the television stations have never really revealed how many people respond to their questions or opinion polls. While there is no doubt that few people are motivated to participate, it would be interesting to know the number of respondents particularly when they tell us that a certain percentage of viewers think it is, in the case of KTN’s question, ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ for “IEBC bar ODM from holding primaries until list of candidates is gazetted”.

Besides, it would be good for the stations to tell viewers the number of respondents. After all, how do you create percentages when, for instance, you have only received 10, 20 or even 30 responses? It is often clear from the sampled views that the responses are quite low, and the percentages generated are not meaningful.

It could be that the opinion polls are not taken seriously, they have outlived their usefulness, or that the TV stations have stuck with meaningless practices that no longer add value to news bulletins and, by extension, the viewer experience and engagement. Maybe it’s time to kill those silly opinion polls.

The writer lectures at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Nairobi.