Author : Dagoon, Nellie Joy P.

Summary : The study aimed to: characterize media communicators' empathy for and consensus of views with Western Visayas society in terms of their media involvement and sex roles; recognize the effects of media-audience sex role homophily on empathy and consensus of views; differentiate between high-power and low-power groups in society as perceived by media; determine the extent of the effect of media communicators' power level perceptions on their expressed empathy for and consensus of views with particular sectors of society; identify what relationships among the various empathy measures and consensus of views; and determine the effects of media involvement, media sex role, power level/consensus of views, and empathy scale score on the predictive value of the empathy regression equations for particular societal sectors of the Western Visayas society. Forty-six media communicators and 151 audience respondents in Western Visayas were surveyed. Data were collected by means of interviews and questionnaires. Frequency counts, mean value scorings, chi-square test, T-test, ANOVA, Pearson product-moment correlation and multiple regression were used for statistical analysis. Findings showed that print media communicators were more empathic than those in broadcast; they also attained a higher level of consensus of views with mass audience. Media men more strongly identified with Western Visayas society, as both male and female. Media women, however, were more accurate predictors of the female audience group. Males, urban dwellers, government employees, and persons with high income comprised the high-power group; and females, rural villagers, and the nongovernment and low-income sectors the low-power group. The media communicators achieved greater consensus with, and more accurate attitudinal prediction of the high-income group rather than the low-income audience sector. They accorded more sympathy and a higher level of sympathy for the nongovernment than the government sector. Predictive accuracy and consensus of views were directly related. Media sex role, perceived power level and media involvement, consensus of views, and the empathy scale score had predicted empathy for the high-income group, government sector, and Western Visayas Society, respectively. Predictive accuracy could be indicated by consensus of views, identification, and the empathy scale scores.