Radio-TV Journalism 1998 Abstracts
Radio-TV Journalism Division
Local Television Journalism: Developing Ethics through Discussion • Chris W. Allen, Jeremy H. Lipschultz and Michael L. Hilt, Nebraska-Omaha • The purpose of this paper is to examine the views of local television news producers about ethical policies and situations they face, and to see if their political orientation makes a difference. A majority of respondents agreed that it was important for a television newsroom to have a code of ethics or discussion of ethics in the newsroom. Most often producers perceived that their newsrooms were involved in discussions of fairness, balance, and objectivity; allocating airtime to opposing interest groups or political candidates; and, providing right of reply to criticism.
Network Television News Coverage of the Environment and the Impact of the Electronic Newsletter Greenwire • Claudette Guzan Artwick, Washington and Lee University • This study examines the role of the electronic newsletter Greenwire in setting the environmental agenda for network television news. A content analysis found that networks that subscribe to Greenwire covered more environmental news than the network that did not subscribe. It also found differences in the types of environmental stories covered. Interviews with news personnel suggest that Greenwire plays an indirect agenda-setting role for its network subscribers. Greenwire appears to highlight the environmental news agenda, while events drive what network television news reports on the environment.
The Relationship of Affiliation Change to Changes in Television News Ratings • Marianne Barrett, Arizona State University • This study uses Nielsen ratings data from February 1994, 1995 and 1996 to examine the relationship between network affiliation change and changes in ratings for local and network television news. The key finding is that, contrary to what was expected, there is a significant negative relationship between a change in local news ratings and affiliation change, particularly a change to Fox, but that no such relationship exists for network news programs.
Advertising’s Influence on Broadcast News Content: A Study of Student Attitudes • Hubert W. Brown and Beth E. Barnes, Syracuse University • Much has been written in both the trade and popular press regarding advertising’s influence on new content. Virtually all of the discussion around the issue is from the news point of view. The present study presents both the news and advertising perspectives through results of a survey of broadcast journalism and advertising students. Students were asked to indicate their relative agreement with a range of statements on the issue of advertising’s influence on news content.
Constructing International Spectacle on Television: CCTV News and China’s Window on the World, 1992-1996 • Tsan-Kuo Chang, Minnesota and Chen Yanru, Nanyang Technological University • Using the perspective of social construction of reality as a framework, the purpose of this paper is threefold: First, to examine the form and content of China’s national TV news in different settings (foreign news vs. foreign policy news); second, to determine the changes, if any, of its reporting of international sepctacle over time; and third, to identify the fundamental pattern of its window on the world through an analysis of network of countries that have persistently attracted China’s news attention and are presented accordingly.
Albert M. Primo: Creator of the “Eyewitness” Television News Format • Marie Curkan-Flanagan, Tennessee-Knoxville • Albert Primo is far from a household name but what he set in motion 30 years ago, in the field of broadcast news, set the standard and style for future generations of broadcast journalists. This study focuses on the man who began his career as a mailroom attendant, and quickly scaled the ladder as copy writer, reporter, film editor, and finally, news producer. Finally in 1968 he was given the news director’s job at WABC, in New York City.
A Content Analysis of Dateline NBC and NBC Nightly News: The Infiltration of the Youformation Story into News Magazines and Mainstream News • Jeff Demas, Ohio University • Recent criticism of “mainstream” news includes charges that the lines between it and “magazine-style” programs have become more blurred. Critics say that mainstream news includes more tabloid-style reporting and celebrity news than hard news. Through content analysis of NBC Nightly News and Dateline NBC, this study researches those charges. The study also researches a particular genre of “Could this happen to you?” type stories, called youformation by the researcher. Results indicate that from 1992 to 1997, Nightly News content begins to look more like Dateline, and not vice versa.
Priming Reporters: A Study on How the Willie Horton Case Altered the Portrayal of Criminals • James Devitt, Pennsylvania • This paper reports that after the William Horton case became prominent, network new altered visual depictions of black and white criminals. Black criminals increasingly appeared in visual similar to those that depicted Horton while white criminals were shown in different ways. These findings are evidence of visual framing. As an explanation for visual framing, this paper suggests the concept of visual priming, a process by which the news media alter the visual portrayal of issues or phenomena to reflect a salient incident.
Legal Concerns in TV Newsrooms: A National Survey of Local Television News Directors • Paul D. Driscoll, Sigman L. Splichal and Leonardo Ferreira, Miami • A mail survey of 360 local television news directors was conducted to measure concerns about media law issues and the extent to which legal considerations may affect news decision. Respondents answered a series of questions about their experiences and concerns regarding a variety of legal issues, including libel, invasion of privacy, trespass while newsgathering, and station news policies. Responses to the survey were compared with one conducted in 1995.
Computer-Assisted Reporting: A Nationwide Survey of Television Newsrooms • Sonya Forte Duhe, South Carolina • This study, reveals that computer-assisted reporting is employed only in its most basic form • use of the Internet. Fewer than half of the respondents said their newsroom uses spreadsheet, database manager, statistical and mapping software. However, data indicate that at least eight of ten newsrooms have the necessary hardware and software for information analysis.
Learned Helplessness in Local Television News: A 12-Year Update • Grace F. Levine, Quinnipiac College • Local newscasts of three major market network owned stations were found to focus on themes of helplessness in 68.3% of the time devoted to news. Helplessness was most often experienced by the general public. It’s causes were more likely: to be attributed to environmental factors, and described as generalizing across time frames and situations. After a 12 year period, the nature of helplessness in New York local newscasts remained virtually the same.
They’d Rather Be in Pictures, or Would They?: A Content Analysis of Video Bite Bias During TV Network News Coverage of the 1992 and 1996 Presidential Campaigns • Jon A. Shidler, Dennis T. Lowry and Charles Kingsley, Southern Illinois University • In this study bias was evaluated in terms of total air time for each candidate; positive, neutral, and negative presentation of the candidates and their wives; and crown reactions. The overall conclusions were that network coverage of the campaigns dropped by more than 50% in 1996 in terms of number of stories, video bites, and total seconds of air time; video coverage by political candidates was not balanced; the liberal bias hypothesis was supported in both elections in terms of positive coverage.
Women in Television News Management: Do They Make A Difference? • Laura K. Smith and John W. Wright II, Florida • The present study investigated whether females in small, medium, and large market local television news operations make news decisions differently than their male counterparts. The study also investigated perceptions of television news stories produced by males and females. As the proportion of women in local news management increases, the degree of interest females have in the station’s stories increases. As the proportion of women in local news management increases, the proportion of women included as sources in news stories increases.
Youth Voters in 1996: Searching for Political Information From Television News • Karon R. Speckman, Truman State University • Turnout for youth in 1996 was only 33% compared with 37% in 1988 and 38% in 1992. This paper explores the role of television in providing information to young voter. News abstracts from ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN were examined from September 1, 1996, to November 9, 1996, for coverage and ties to youth voters. Issues of importance to youth were not covered well, nor were stories tied to them as voters. Youths also were not used as sources.
Television News Stand-Up Reports: A Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Market Case Study • Patrick J. Sutherland, Ohio University • A content analysis was done of packages containing stand-up reports of 105 six p.m. newscasts. Interviews about uses of stand-ups were conducted with reporters and executives. Results showed significant difference in stand-upper lengths and styles. #1 KDKA’s packages averaged longer than competitors’ and featured in-depth anchor/reporter exchanges. WTAE’s reports averaged under 90 seconds with little time on-camera for reporters. Most of WPXI’s stand-up reports lasted between 90 seconds and two minutes with little anchor/reporter interaction.
Promise Keepers and TV News Coverage of the Stand in the Gap Rally: Conservative Protestants as an Audience and Public • Hillary Warren, Texas-Austin • Interviews with 22 conservative Protestant families who were members of Promise Keepers, the evangelical men’s movement, were analyzed in conjunction with news media criticism by Christian authors at the time of the Fall 1997 Stand in the Gap Washington, D.C. rally. This paper demonstrates that conservative Protestants operate as both an audience and a public and use their understanding of news frames to challenge the media and reinforce their alignment with their evangelical culture.
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