Abstract This article reports on a study that relied on in-depth semi-structured interviews with 10 black South African participants to explore what value these individuals derive from sourcing and consuming confession-based media texts that allow audiences to bear witness to, and vicariously experience, the self-disclosed (often intimate) “problems” and imperfections of distant others seeking (professional) intervention. Situated within the uses and gratifications theoretical framework, the study – which stemmed from the author's broader master's research project – engaged a qualitative content analysis of interview transcripts to elucidate what gratifications the participants derived from the confessional overtones on which these programmes thrive. The article explores the study participants’ own willingness to engage in mediated confession-driven practices by participating in public self-improvement efforts. This is followed by a critical evaluation of the participants’ perceptions about the people who do engage in public secret revealing practices. With its increasing popularity in South African media, the “self-improvement”/problem-solving text and its confession-based overtones was lauded as informative by the study participants who, in the same breath, expressed little interest in subjecting themselves to the practice of public(ised) secret revealing tied to these texts. This stance is driven by what the study participants claim to be a fear of judgement and an unwillingness to be “used” by the media through the commodification of their emotions and imperfections. For them, vicariously experiencing the confessions and secrets of distant “brave hearts” is enough to aid them in their own “private” self-improvement efforts targeted at personal issues similar to those witnessed on television, radio and other mass-mediated texts.

中文翻译：

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南非媒体的公开自我披露和自我提升：探索观众的看法

摘要 本文报告了一项研究，该研究依赖于对 10 名南非黑人参与者的深入半结构化访谈，以探讨这些人从采购和消费基于忏悔的媒体文本中获得的价值，这些文本让观众见证并替代体验，寻求（专业）干预的远方他人的自我披露（通常是亲密的）“问题”和缺陷。该研究位于使用和满足理论框架内，源于作者更广泛的硕士研究项目，对访谈记录进行了定性内容分析，以阐明参与者从这些计划蓬勃发展的忏悔暗示中获得了哪些满足感。这篇文章探讨了研究参与者通过参与公共自我提升努力来参与介导自白驱动的实践的意愿。接下来是对参与者对从事公开秘密泄露行为的人的看法的批判性评估。随着南非媒体越来越受欢迎，“自我提升”/解决问题的文本及其基于忏悔的暗示被研究参与者称赞为信息丰富，他们同时表示对实践的兴趣不大与这些文本相关的公开（化）秘密披露。这种立场是由研究参与者声称的对判断的恐惧以及不愿意通过将他们的情绪和不完美商品化而被媒体“使用”所驱动的。对他们来说，