A qualitative study on the goals, interests, and work environments of food media content creators

Isabelle Cuykx, Hilde Van den Bulck, Heidi Vandebosch, Sara Pabian, Charlotte J. S. De Backer

Research output: Contribution to conferenceAbstractScientificpeer-review

Abstract

Food media have grown in volume and diversity for years and are often assumed to influence food-related attitudes and behaviours. Consequently, many scholars research food media, their users, and their potential outcomes. Much less scientific attention is paid to the professionals creating food media content. This is surprising, given their profound contribution to a media landscape rich in
messages related to numerous food outcomes. This contribution explores food content makers’ goals, interests, and perceptions, and the forces (economic, technological, political, social) influencing them. We also research what they see as contributing elements that help them succeed in their media goals, and which
gratifications they believe to be fundamental to their audiences. One-on-one
interviews are a preferred technique for exploratory qualitative research on potentially sensitive information (e.g., business insights, previous negative experiences), so 14 semi-structured interviews with professionals in food media were conducted (on average 64 minutes), using an interview guide based on previous studies on content creators’ work experiences and on uses-and-gratifications in food media. All interviews were transcribed, pseudonymised, and coded using the software Nvivo. An intercoder reliability test yielded a kappa of 0.88, surpassing the 0.62 benchmark. Preliminary results show that food media content producers demonstrate a high need to pass on knowledge, make their audience think more critically, inspire, and diversify the topics within food media. The same themes recur in their expectations of their audience members’ gratifications: seeking knowledge, inspiration, and entertainment are the most common answers; other potential gratifications, such as social or identity-building motivations, are rarely mentioned. Food content creators are influenced by the competitive work environment with its accompanying income uncertainty but also by social trends, such as the often-recurring call to make food media more inclusive in terms of gender, class, and cultural/ethnographic background. All analyses will be completed before the conference.
Original languageEnglish
Pages53
Number of pages1
Publication statusPublished - 2023
EventFood & Communication: Communicating 'good' foods - örebro, Sweden
Duration: 13 Sept 202315 Sept 2023

Conference

ConferenceFood & Communication
Country/TerritorySweden
Cityörebro
Period13/09/2315/09/23

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