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In the assertion “production and diction of text is heavily dependent on the audience,” is an
abstract idea illuminating an essence to give express jot of the terms “production and diction” as
basis to understanding “Audience” essence. Conspicuously, a layout on the definition of
production and an intrinsic clarity on diction is essential to precede justification of the assertion.

Production.

Normally, when the term “production” is mentioned, an idea of content generation, resource
mobilization, extraction processes, etc., comes to mind, but most important is an imagination of
the valuable invention to be realized. Well, similar to this, Tomasetti (Tomasetti, 2023)
enlightens,” Production is the process of making or manufacturing goods and products from raw
materials or components.” In other words, production takes inputs and uses them to create an
output which is fit for consumption – a good or product which has value to an end-user or
customer.

Well, in the context of this assignment, Production refers to writing, typing, editing, and any
other related activities to coming up with a piece of information on paper for disseminating to the
audience.

Diction.

According to Arianna (Arianna, 2019), “Diction is the style of speaking or writing as dependent
upon choice of words.” Similarly, it can also be described as a careful selection of words to
communicate a message or establish a particular voice or writing style- thus accent, inflection,
intonation, and speech encapsulation.

There are about nine (9) types of diction according to Ellis (Ellis, 2022): formal, informal,
pedantic, pedestrian, slang, abstract, concrete, poetic, and colloquial diction. All these are
distinct in application as audience in view may dictate.

In discussing the importance of diction, Jenkins (Jenkins, 2022) says that diction is an important
part of the craft of writing, public speaking, or singing, and it has a different meaning in each
context, but they all have a common goal – to help convey meaning. In speaking, singing, and
acting, diction usually refers to the clarity of speech. Writing, on the other hand, is about word
choice to accurately convey the meaning and authenticity of a character or your voice or message

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as an author. This therefore means that choice of words separates good writing from bad writing,
and words used in an appropriate manner help the recipient understand and respond easily.

Having given an express jot of the terms “Production and diction” in the context perceived
worthy, an embodiment justifying the assertion that production and diction of text is heavily
dependent on audience lies ahead.

ELEMENTS TO JUSTIFY THE ASSERTION.

In media studies, the audience is any group of people who receive a media text, and not just
people who are together in the same place. Additionally, they receive the text via a media carrier
such as a newspaper or magazine, television, DVD, radio or the internet. It can also be a mobile
phone, iPod or any other device that stores or receives media messages. Further, Hess (Hess,
2015) reveals that media producers use distinct research methods to understand and find their
target audience. These methods are the demographic, psychographic and investigative research
methods; once the target audience is determined, production and diction comes to play.

Below are some justifications for the assertion in question;

Text relevance.

For journalists, it remains important to produce and present content relevant at all times. This is
enhanced with audience consideration. It’s important to note that even a well written text read
without considering audience, becomes irrelevant and obsolete. In presenting his “defining
media audience” lecture on YouTube, Abbitt (Abbitt, 2018) says, “media producers have to
study their audience in order to ensure their products are meeting the audience’s needs.” In this,
it can clearly be said that if a text is to retain relevance, it must be in the interest of the audience.
How can it be? Inevitably consider choice of words.

Peradventure the example that could also suit here is comedy. A comedian is one person who
uses diction most effectively. He or she knows that the audience wants to laugh, and so words
must be selected discreetly or else his piece of art will be reproached. So a little twist of words
and rhymes sets laughter; what a wonder! It’s all about understanding audience, and using it to
determine the production and diction of text – thus text relevance retained.

Semantic noise.

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There is a difference between text relevance and semantic noise. With the former, one can read
the text, but ignore it because it isn’t considerable to them; in the latter, the message may
concern the audience, but for sophisticated and ambiguous words, they may discard it because
they are unable to comprehend and interpret it. The best way to understanding this, in relation to
justifying the assertion in question, is by defining semantic noise the Beauchamp and Baran
(Beauchamp & Baran., n.d.) way as published on Oxford University Press website for the study
of human communication. The dual wrote,” Semantic noise is the interference during the
construction of a message, as when your professor uses unfamiliar words.” This implies, it’s a
communication barrier caused by misunderstandings about the meaning of words resulting from
complex, technical, autochthonous, or grammatical communication errors. In other words,
semantic noise is related to people's knowledge level, their communication skills, their
experience, and their prejudices and so on. It all depends on the commonality of experiences on
the part of the receiver to understand message from the sender (Diaz, 2022).

Semantic noise may be difficult to handle, but the easiest thing journalists can do is to keep their
production and diction of text simple in accordance with their audience. Alternatively, radio and
TV programs can also be run in other languages in order to cater for such vices. Zambia National
Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) could be the best example; it’s 16:00hrs news is cast in seven
local languages – an indication of dependence on audience.

Audience preference.

Now, in looking out for elements to be considered when disseminating information, this subject
becomes important. Remember that target audience is that specific group of consumers most
likely to want your product or service, and therefore, the group of people who should see your ad
campaigns (Anon., 2022). By analysis, the text to be produced isn’t really about the writer, but
what the audience in question finds interesting. In discussing “thinking about your reader,”
Oxford Royale Academy (Anon., 2023) instructs,” consider the fact that not everyone will find
the subject as boring as you do. As you write, keep the reader in mind and imagine them to be
the world’s biggest fan of this subject.” Notice, the writer may not even find the text interesting
to themselves, but because it’s about the audience, they will have had no option but to bend their
production and diction to audience preference.

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Text conformity and alignment to subject and purpose, context, situation, and language
rules.

1. Subject and purpose.

All messages are about something (the subject) and are trying to do something (the purpose).
Whether you are reading an article, watching a commercial, or listening to a speech, you should
think about the subject of the message and its purpose (Anon., 2023). If the audience is to be
glued to a text, it must be written in conformity and alignment with the subject and purpose of
the message. Forsaking such an important element can bring reproach to the writer and the
institution they represent.

2. Context.

Context is the setting within which a work of writing is situated. Context provides meaning and
clarity to the intended message. Context clues in a literary work create a relationship between the
writer and reader, giving a deeper understanding of the intent and direction of the writing. In
relation to this, Master Class (MasterClass, 2021) wrote,” Context is information that helps the
message of a literary text make sense. Whether it’s a novel, a memoir, or a collection of short
stories, a piece of writing can be interpreted variably depending on the contextual factors you
provide as the author. Some context is obviously stated and some requires a close reading of the
literary work—so it’s important for every writer to know what context is and how to use it in
their own writing process.” All in all, the writer has to make the reader find it easy to connect
thoughts been communicated with the subject of the text.

Another aspect regarding context is that of denotation and connotation. Simply put, a word’s
denotation is what that word means or directly represents, while connotation refers to what that
word implies or suggests—or to the secondary meanings or implications that are associated with
it (Thesaurus, 2022). In other words, writing without understanding denotations and connotations
of words can impact the context of a text negatively.

3. Situation.

Literally, situation means the state of affairs; combination of circumstances (Thesaurus, 2002);
but explaining it rhetorically gives this subject much essence. To this effect, Justin Jory (Jory,
n.d.) writes,” rhetorical situation refers to the circumstances that bring texts into existence.” In

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other words, this means that, as a writer, thinking carefully about the situations in which you find
yourself writing can lead you to produce more meaningful texts that are appropriate for the
situation and responsive to others’ needs, values, and expectations. This can help writers and
readers think through and determine why texts exist, what they aim to do, and how they do it in
particular situations.

4. Rules of the language.

In linguistics, the language rules are the principles that govern the syntax, pronunciation, word
formation, and other elements of the English language (Print, n.d.). Paying attention to this
element is one of the accurate way to engage the audience in disseminating information.

The purpose of Journalism is people based.

It’s essential to talk about this. Journalism in itself as a profession is about engaging the masses
with information in various aspects of life. It wouldn’t make any sense if journalists presented
information that doesn’t resonate with the masses; because by so doing they are forsaking the
purpose of journalism, which is people based in nature. The American Press institute (Institute,
2023) enlightened this way,” The purpose of journalism is to provide citizens with the
information they need to make the best possible decisions about their lives, their communities,
their societies, and their governments.” What does this entail? Journalists act as researchers,
gatherers and interpreters of life’s happenings and Government’s policies for the vast population
that is heterogeneous in nature. One of journalists’ duties then is to try all means ensuring people
are fed with explicit and fact based-information, and they understand most of it. Otherwise, how
do people make right decisions if they don’t understand what is been communicated? Therefore,
audience becomes determinant of production and diction of text in this context.

Cultural Aspects.

Culture can be defined as all the ways of life including arts, beliefs and institutions of a
population that are passed down from generation to generation. It can also be called the way of
life for an entire society. According to Lisa (Lisa, 2019), a sociologist, culture consists of the
values, beliefs, systems of language, communication, and practices that people share in common
and that can be used to define them collectively. It also includes the material objects and
psychologies that are common to that group or society.

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With culture at play, the production and diction of text should be aligned according to the values,
beliefs, symbols, etc., of that particular audience or else it would be a reproach. Journalists have
to mind what they produce on media because culture is important throughout the world. Instead
of being in conflict with culture, it is better to study its diversity, and categorize content
according to that which is acceptable in cultural settings. This way, culture would be beneficial
to media programming. All in all, cultural barrier is real, and apart from rearranging content
discretionarily, nothing much can be done. Just take caution and align that text in accordance
with the culture of the audience as cognition of ethics.

In conclusion, the assertion that production and diction of text is heavily dependent on audience,
and the elements to look out for when dissemination information, have been discussed in six (6)
distinct views. These views are text relevance, semantic noise, audience preference, text
conformity and alignment to subject and purpose, context, situation and language rules,
the purpose of journalism as a profession and cultural Aspects. Of course, there are many
other aspects in which this subject could be justified, and every way one may explain it may
prove elements of truth. On the other hand, these elements discussed encapsulate many aspects
and elements one may bring about regarding this subject.

With this therefore, it can explicitly be said it’s essential to consider the audience when
producing text. The choice of words must resonate with the type of audience that is to receive
that piece of information. This way communication becomes accurate, concise, effective,
comprehensive, clear and complete. Audience must therefore determine production and diction
of text.

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