Just Call it History Rhetorical Analysis
In the book Net Smart by Howard Rheingold, he restates philosopher-activist
John Dewey’s belief that to resolve the citizen’s ignorance is “through better
public education and better informed through better journalism (61).” This
statement reminds me of history and how many people are ignorant in this type
of subject because of cultural misperceptions and biases. In digital writing
environments we do not seem to think about history with technology. When we
think of history we think of solely the traditional applications, only seen in
print medium, but history lies alongside with the technological advancements.
The History Channel, for example, has
made improvements in their network and has manage to get their audience to
continue to watch their shows and likings. I argue that the History Channel has demonstrated their
adaption to the change toward digital media and has improved its approach of
presenting the past on its website and on TV. Its improvement is seen in
reaching out to a broader audience and innovative marketing to grow its
audience. The analysis is divided into sections: the changes, audience,
emergence of other technologies, interaction with others, and design of
website.
The Changes
The History
Channel’s name was changed to just History.
The creators simplified the name and represented a new look. Even the slogan
changed from “Where the Past comes Alive” to “History: Made Every Day.” Why
make changes? The transition of how the History Channel is now was influenced
from the viewers’ criticism. One of those criticisms was extensive themes on
World War II to the point that people called the channel the Hitler Channel. In
doing so, the network-chain owners moved the war documentaries to a separate
channel called Military History. However,
this was condemned in centering only on American History and its stereotypes.
Then, they launched the History
International, which the name changed to H2. History needed to be
rebranded and fill in the gaps because of these new sister channels. The new slogan
perfectly fits to the company’s mission. Every day we make history allows the
company to creatively broaden the shows toward a broader audience, including
the original, specialized audience. The new slogan makes it relevant to the
audience.
Before the changes were made on the
Channel, the market idea was quite the contrary. The irony is the creators
accepted the History Channel to focus
on more specialized viewers and refused to shift toward sensationalized or
trivial subject matter, which was the opposite objective from rival programs
such as TLC and Discovery (Taves 14). The stronghold seemed as though it cost
the Channel in revenue and the survival of its existence. As a result, the
creators revamped the channel to a 180-degree change. The channel was losing
stickiness, the engagement and attention from the audience, because their
target audience was tired of replaying the same documentaries and themes. An
example of how much power the viewers have in the survival of a network. In
addition, the History Channel relied
“on pre-existing material… [to] fill programming time for a comparatively low
cost” (Taves 139). Although the channel was able to replay certain shows and
save money, quantity over quality does not benefit in good ratings. There
needed to be an investment in creating new work so there can be growth and
profit in the company. Currently, History
has produced new shows that are geared to reality and everyday productions.
A change the creators realized that was needed and was successful in other
networks such as Discovery and SyFy. The Network is now not restricted
from just documentaries, but it is able to create new style shows and
encourages creativity.
Audience
Before the changes the demographic was
more for older people. The new vision of History
focused on getting new people because some of their committed audience went
to other networks such as Military
History and H2. In my
interpretation, the adjustment would not have been too hard because of the new
slogan. The idea that everyday is history opens and justifies in making reality
shows. In a sense, reality shows can document a person’s life and the viewers
can analyze the “autobiography” of this person. The purpose of History is not to teach the audience to
be historians, but to entertain and inform them about certain historical topics
or some kind of relevance.
Originally, the target audience was men
between 25-54 years of age. Although they are not adolescence, they have an
interest in history and form architecture of participation. The usual rerun
documentaries are found on the H2 channel
and as a result, the former target audience was lost in that transition. In
achieving the goal of getting new audience for History, the company started to produce historical fiction such as
the mini series Houdini and Bonnie & Clyde. According to
Jenkins, he defined cultural resistance “based on the assumption that average
citizens are largely locked outside of the process of cultural production and
circulations (Rheingold 116).” Jenkins includes the example of fans’ rendition
of Star Trek episodes. History has its first and only scripted
series, The Vikings, but in any
historical recreation there will be fanatics who criticize the historical
inaccuracies and irrelevance. This has a reverse effect from Jenkins example
where the fans are upset of the series’ creators instead of the contrary.
However, the show still appeals to the same audience and has been successful
because the show is on its fourth season.
History
is part of A+E networks
and each channel has its own specialized audience. In other words, the parent
network has a different demographic suited to the other networks like History. Even the broader audience who
watch History is still focused, compared
to the other channels. According to the Comcast Spotlight, men take the lead
from the women when viewing this network, 60 percent versus 40 percent
(Comcast). Stereotypically, we imagine a history buff or an academic historian
to be portrayed as an old white man. However, in the study done by Kimerly A. Neuendorf,
David J. ATkin and Leo W. Jeffres from Table 1A, the History Channel had more views from black people than white
people (472). In this context, there are factors that determine this outcome
such as socio-economics and age. The study proved that seniors and lower social
status viewers watched more television in which case have a higher channel
repertoire, “the number of channels that a viewer chooses to watch, without
much regard to the total number of channels available” (465). The factors were
considered from the creators of History when
the network shifted to a new market image.
Emergence of other technology
History has emerged its content seen on the
website and has extended its presence on History
app for mobile devices. The app allows participation on social media,
especially for each show series. Some middle-aged men have been receptive to
the shows that air on the History.
Even though competitors such as the Discovery Channel may be replicating
certain approaches in how they attract greater audience from creating more
reality shows, History from the
A&E Networks has different styles of shows. The shows have historical
themes, but with a twist. There presents a mixture of reality, entertainment,
and scripted series. This is where we see the integration between the
traditional historical ideas with the addition of the technology.
The
particular audience that History reaches can be an advantage from other
competitors in the market. There are other sources to watch shows that are
licensed such as HBO, Amazon, and Netflix. According to Netflix’s company, it claims that the
use of linear TV, shows on a particular network, will be replaced with Internet
TV (Ellingsen 107). The company of History
has been aware of this change and has been innovative such as creating an
app. The app allows the users the same activities they would do online, but
there is a place to sign in with the users’ TV provider and directly watch
shows on History from Live TV
streaming. In addition, History has made progress in making its
presence through different media. In the Multichannel News, Nancy Dubuc,
executive vice president and general manager, changed the name because the
channel has reached out from linear TV to now including the Internet (Moss). Its
app is not only on History, but the
app is on the Xbox App, Apple TV, Roku, and Amazon. The existence on the
Internet allows History to be
recognized and exposed to people who may have never considered in watching the History Network such as a younger
audience.
Design of website
The
way the website looks can be the decision of a successful business or not, at
least online viewings. Not only success, but how the website’s layout can also
establish credibility. According to Nathalie Bonnardel, the cooler colors work
better on a website setting than warmer colors; however red elicits more
excitement while blue is more relaxing (71). This explains when the users
select a product to buy from the shopping section on History page changes red. The purpose is to get the users excited
and buy it. On the main History website,
the main headings’ color on the navigation bar, such as Shows, Videos,
Schedule, Topics, Games, and Shop, are blue. This indicates that the creators
wanted the users’ attention to be at the main headings first. The main headings
link and interconnect with the minor headings below, which are a grey color.
Even though the theme colors for History network
are a yellowish gold and red, the web designers did not incorporate those
colors on the website in general. The website is dominated by the color black,
white, grey, and blue. There is little red on the website, but overall it is
not the major color. The article, “The Impact of Colour on Website Appeal Ad
Users’ Cognitive Processes,” mentioned that the preferred colors for Germans is
blue and for the Canadians is grey on a Website (71). History site for Germans and for Canadians have the same
application. The effort that the creators created pages for the countries can
demonstrate they want to target to international audience. This supports their
idea on broadening the audience.
Interaction with Others
Another element that continues to keep History thriving is advertisers
sponsoring the network. According to Peter Olsen, executive VP of ad sales at
A+E Networks, he “does not think we expect too many people to sit with their
iPhone and watch an hour-long episode of Vikings. But watching a five-minute
compelling piece about your favorite character that’s a real story lends itself
to mobile” (1). Sprint is sponsoring the vignettes on the Vikings’ characters
and this partnership will benefit in creating investments. In addition, History is a part of the A+E Networks
such as A&E, Lifetime, LMN, fyi, C&I,
Lifetime Real Women, H2, Military
History, and History En Español.
Each network has to fit a particular paradigm toward an audience in which limits
what the network can air. The president of ad sales fro A&E Networks, Mel
Berning, mentions that the H2 network
targets a different group of men that may not watch sports channels and are not
necessarily watching the news as that would reach older men (Poggi 1). This is
the network to find some of these men because they may not watch broadcast in a
regular basis. As a result, “H2 is
attracting more high-end advertisers from the financial, auto and tech world,
said Marc Morse, senior VP-national buying, at RJ Palmer” (Lafayette 15). For
the advertisers this is an example of spreadable media and how they are trying
to bring stickiness to the selective men watching the network. The tactic,
stickiness, benefits H2 because the
network gets monetary gain from sponsors such as advertisers, but also the
network gains in content that the target audience will continue to be engaged.
History
has redefined its image
and has presented shows that do not seem historical or questioned in its
accuracies. Hollywood is famous in bending the truth out of films. The director
Oliver Stone breaks the status quo of mainstream historical films and history
in general. This may not be his main goal, but he has his own view of history
that is untraditional and unconventional. He is not a professional or credited
historian, but he still brings his own perspective. Aside from that, the medium
of film or even TV shows have a different end goal and way to get the message
across compared to print media, especially in history related materials. According
to Dan Georgakas, “the narrative of Stone’s documentary, like many Hollywood
films, has a penchant for interpreting historical decisions as dependent on
personalities (18).” If a character has a certain personality such as charisma,
then it will be overemphasized at times. Films and TV historical shows’ goal is
not necessarily portraying the audience the exact and accurate happenings of a
certain historical event, but contain, if needed, fabricated circumstance that
may not exactly have happened. The reason is it gives the audience an idea and
understanding during that time and shortly experiences the feelings from that
situation. For instance, the TV show Vikings
may not be fully historically accurate, but whatever part the producers may
add and may not have actually happened is for a purpose. The purpose is to challenge
the audience and allow another perspective of history without distorting the
information too much. History has broadened
its audience and some of them may not fully like the traditional documentaries.
To keep the interest, the producers have to alter certain aspects of the actual
historical content so those types of viewers can get them, first, interested
and be open in investing time on a show that informs historical relevance.
In to consideration, History’s website contains historical information. Apart from the
inaccurate historical series such as the Vikings,
the website has “This Day in History.”
The purpose is to include a major event that happened in a specific date
from the past and include a description of that event. This section includes as
well other facts for the users to read on. The website has a section on news
and shares articles on things people did not know about in history. In this
section, users can read on what news is treading now and gain more information
on that topic. There is a section called Ask History and has similar themes as
the other sections where authors write a topic on history. In this case, this
section is concentrated on a person or a group of people. One difference is the
section includes tags of major keywords. This section in itself is its own
archive. The website includes a section on speeches and audio. These are
usually primary sources and rich in knowledge on particular events. With all of
this information there is architecture of participation. The users can become
fact checkers if they catch any information that is historically inaccurate. In
reality, what history buffs cannot get from History
network in terms of historical accuracy, they can actually get it on the
website. They can network and collaborate to maintain that accuracy.
Conclusion
History
has gone through changes in the way it looks and its approach. The change
was influenced by the audience’s criticisms and was needed for its survival.
The change created new sister networks such as Military History and H2.
In this transition, the creators needed to revamp History because a good amount of their committed viewers went to
the sister networks. Those who enjoyed the rerun documentaries made the jump to
the sister networks. The empty space of viewers needs to be filled. In doing
so, History did a similar change in
its image like Discovery and SyFy. History’s marketing goal was
targeting different audiences including internationally. The creators changed
slogan and design of the logo. The vision became everyday is history and this
allowed the network to program more reality shows and more historical fictions.
In addition, the creators moved toward the technology alongside their
competitors. They created an app and different resources on the web. The new
image allows a relationship with sponsors and advertises History’s shows and products. History
has a demographic of men that other channels do not reach. It has an
advantage when making relations with advertisers. Even History’s website design has a purpose in the layout and color
schemes. All ways to broaden its audience.
Work Cited
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