Uses and Gratification in Newspaper Columns:

Readers¿ reaction as an effective feedback mechanism, which thrives on subjectivity and marked individualism, is an important mode of sharing knowledge between newspaper audience and columnists. Little scholarly attention has been paid to the needs of readers of newspaper columns by mass media researchers. The study, therefore, analysed the thematic content and functional value of readers¿ reactions. Findings show that the content of the readers¿ reactions is a function of these variables: subject matter, style, and displeasure. Functionally, readers¿ reaction, by creating a forum for exchange of comment and criticism, fosters social integration, provides an avenue for columnists to improve the way they write, helps newspapers build and sustain readership, provides a means of assessing audience¿s understanding of, and disposition to, media messages, and gives column loyalists a platform for the propagation of viewpoints and ventilation of feelings. Readers¿ reaction, therefore, is a requirement for a free society. The book will, therefore, be useful to mass media audience researchers, media managers, columnists, and prospective columnists.