Just Call it History Rhetorical Analysis

Just Call it History


Introduction
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
“Advertise on History Channel Comcast Spotlight Advertising.” Advertise on History Channel Comcast Spotlight Adverting. Web. 14 Oct. 2015. <http://www.comcastspotlight.com/network/history-channel>.
Bonnardel, Nathalie, Annie Piolat, and Ludovic Le Bigot. “The Impact of Colour on Website Appeal and Users’ Cognitive Processes.” Displays 32.2 (2011) 69-80. UCF Database. Web. 14 Oct. 2015.
Ellingsen, Steinar. “SEISMIC SHIFTS: PLATFORMS, CONTENT CREATORS AND SPREADABLE MEDIA.” 150 (2014): 106-13. Academic OneFile. Web. 14 Oct. 2015.

Ferro, Julio. “History of Graphic Design.” Webjam.com. N.p, 21 Apr. 2008. Web. 14 Oct. 2015
Georgakas, Dan. “Oliver Stone’s Untold History of the United States: The Course of Emprie.” 38.4 (2013): 15-19. Academic OneFile. Web. 14. Oct. 2015.
Lafayette, Jon. “History Pitches Branded Content That Tells a Story.” 145.2 (2015): 15. Business Source Premier. Web. 14 Oct. 2015.
Moss, Linda. “History Revises Its Brand.” Multichannel News 29.13 (2008): 10. Academic OneFile. Web. 14 Oct. 2015.
Poggi, Jeanine. "H2 Network is a Hit with Men, Advertisers." 84.7 (2013). Academic OneFile. Web. 14 Oct. 2015. 
Rheingold, Howard. Net Smart How to Thrive Online. Cambridge: MIT, 2012. Print.
Taves, Brian, “The History Channel and the Challenge of Historical Programming.” The Public Historian 30.2 (2000): 137-41. EBSCO. Web. 14 Oct. 2015.
Taves, Brian. "Film and Electronic Media Reviews.” The Public Historian 19.1 (1997): 133-38. JSTOR. University of California Press. Web. 14 Oct. 2015. < http://www.jstor.org/stable/3379009>.

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