Radio-TV Journalism 2003 Abstracts
Radio-TV Journalism Division
The Canadian News Directors Study: Demographics, Values and Attitudes of Television Decision Makers • Marsha Barber and Ann Rauhala, Ryerson • This is the first study to attempt to understand more about the men and women who make key newsroom decisions in Canada. The authors surveyed all television news directors across the country. Survey highlights suggest that, unlike American journalists, Canadian news directors’ politics and attitudes are generally in line with those of the general population. The survey also reveals that white males are disproportionately represented in senior positions.
Fox News and its Links to Hawkish Support for the War in Iraq • Christopher Beaudoin, Indiana; Michael Antecol, Magid and Esther Thorson, Missouri • With telephone survey data from March 2003, this paper examines cable TV news dependency and links to attitudes and behaviors related to the war in Iraq. Fox News dependents are more supportive of the war effort than are other cable news dependents. Fox News dependents who watch the broadcasts more often are more supportive of the war effort than are other Fox News dependents. Findings are discussed in terms of news content and the concepts of media dependency and “television diplomacy.”
The Effects of Natural Sound Breaks in News Stories on Orienting and Arousal • Mary Beth Bradford, Alabama • No abstract available.
Taking the Show on the Road: Local TV News Anchors and Their Public Appearances • Katherine Bradshaw and James C. Foust, Bowling Green State and Joseph P. Bernt, Ohio • Based on a web survey conducted from September 2002 through February 2003, this study examined the behaviors and opinions of 451 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. local television news anchors on ABC, CBS, and NBC affiliates about community appearances. Nearly all television news anchors make community appearances. There is no charge or guidelines for the appearances that management expects of anchors. Anchors believe appearances are beneficent and connected to improved ratings, career success and community betterment.
Sex, Drugs and TV News: When a Reporter is arrested • Nancy Dupont and Mary Blue, Loyola • On January 21, 2000, television newsrooms in New Orleans faced a major journalistic and ethical crisis. The highest-paid and one of the most respected television news reporters was arrested in a sex and drug scandal that shocked his fellow reporters and the officers in the New Orleans Police Department. Since Mike Longman had worked in four different broadcast newsrooms in the city, many of the television news managers and his fellow reporters knew him well.
Increasing Candidate-Centered TV Discourse: Evaluating Local News Coverage of Campaign 2000 • Stephen Farnsworth, Mary Washington and S. Robert Lichter, Center for Media and Public Affairs • No abstract available.
Gays in the Military: A Second-Level Agenda-Setting Analysis of TV News Coverage • Rhoda Gibson and Joe Bob Hester, North Carolina-Chapel Hill • Network news stories (N=209) about the gays-in-the-military issue from 1992-93 were examined for amount and tone, and this coverage was compared to public opinion. The study provides evidence of limited second-level agenda-setting effects. Results indicate that news coverage was primarily positive or neutral in tone. However, there was a significant second-level agenda-setting relationship between news stories that were anti-gay in tone and public opinion, with negative tone significantly associated with a later decrease in overall support for allowing homosexuals to serve in the military.
America’s Narrow Window to the World • Guy Golan, Louisiana State • The current study analyzes how evening news programs from the CNN, ABC, CBS and NBC television networks covered the world in 1999. Through a content analysis of every evening news program from the year 1999, the study measures and analyzes the nature of international news coverage on the four networks. The results reveal substantial differences in the nature of coverage between the networks.
Measuring Newscast Accuracy: A Survey Of Television News Managers’ Attitudes • Gary Hanson, Kent State • Measuring accuracy has been apart of academic literature since the mid-1930s. Most of the studies surveyed the opinion of news sources. Little of research has focused on the attitudes of journalists. This study, based on a national sample of television news managers, looks at the managers’ perceptions of various reporting errors and at the different levels of punishment for those employees who commit them.
An Examination of a Channel Change Phenomenon in a Multichannel • Jongbae Hong, SIU • Based on an active audience perspective, this study examined the relationships between motives for channel change and 5-step channel search patterns, depending on heavy and light TV viewing. The findings of this study show that there are considerable differences in the relationships between seven motives for channel change and each 5-step channel search pattern and those relationships are heavily influenced by heavy and light TV viewing styles.
Seeing, Listening, Reading: Comparing Campaign Communication Channels • Lynda Kaid, Andrew Williams and Kaye Trammell, Florida • This experiment investigated debate affect based on exposure channels (TV, radio, Internet video, or Internet text) among respondents (n=136) through a pretest/posttest design. Debate exposure across channels resulted in significant positive change for one candidate and negative change for the opponent, significant decline in feelings of political cynicism, limited support for change in the levels of voter information seeking and participation across channels, and no influence on viewer agenda of issues across channels.
Remembering the News: The Effect of Chronological Presentation of Information on Memory for Broadcast News • Mark Kelley, Syracuse • This experiment tested the hypothesis that presenting a television news story in chronological style will produce greater cued recall than presenting the same story in broadcast style. Subjects viewed a newsbrief containing two target stories. Those who saw the stories in chronological style scored slightly higher on a cued recall test than those who saw the same stories in traditional broadcast style. The difference in recall was statistically significant for one of the target stories.
Total Coverage?: A Case Study of Convergence Between Two Private Media Companies In Oklahoma City • Stan Ketterer, Tom Weir and James Black, Oklahoma State and J. Steven Smethers, Kansas State • This article examines the convergence between two independent media companies in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and compares their actual performance to their stated objectives. The study finds this arrangement is not fulfilling its promise to “to provide more in-depth news and information to their readers and viewers to better serve them.” Coordination appeared sporadic, and few in-depth stories appeared. Also, the partners are not setting the agenda for other media. Implications for media convergence are discussed.
Television News Coverage of Welfare and Welfare Recipients During a Period of Legislative Change • Catherine A. Luther, Tennessee • This research examines how network television news covered welfare and welfare recipients during a period when the United States was undergoing a major change in its welfare program. One finding was that the news stories tended to provide a positive frame for the new welfare program, while providing a negative frame to the old. Another finding was that race appeared to play a role in how welfare recipients were portrayed in the news stories.
Concern about Future Terrorist Attacks: The Impact of Age and News Media Use on Level of Concern • Smeeta Mishara, J. Zhou, T. Sullivan and Paula Poindexter, Texas-Austin • This paper examines how socio-economic status and news media use affect people’s concern for another terrorist attack in a three-variable relationship. The results are based on a survey of 417 randomly selected adults in a metropolitan city in the Southwest. The results show that older adults are heavy users of news media, and are more concerned than younger adults about another attack on U.S. soil. Greater concern among older adults is not because they are fearful but because they watch more cable news.
The First Amendment Implications of Internet Only Radio on Campus • Mark Paxton, Southwest Missouri State • Over-the-air broadcasters at public college and university campus are subject to content regulation both by administrators and the FCC, while print media on those campuses are free from regulation. The development of Internet-only radio presents a constitutional question. This paper finds that court rulings have determined that university officials can engage in view-point neutral content regulation of campus computer systems because those systems are not traditional public forums.
It’s in the Visuals! Journalists and Gender Issues in Television Network News Coverage of the 1996 U.S. Presidential Election • Kimmerly Piper-Aiken, Michigan State • Content analysis of 157 election stories from ABC, CBS, and NBC found striking differences between news stories created by women and men. Women reporters were more likely to report on women’s issues than men reporters. They were also more more likely to use gender-relevant verbal frames, refer to the “women’s vote” and include more female sources in soundbites than men. An exploratory video content analysis method was also tested with promising results for future studies.
It Looks Like a Fun Job!: An Examination of Media Exposure and the Cultivation of Perceptions about a Broadcast Journalism Career • Laura Polus, Illinois State • This cultivation theory-based project examined the relationship between specific types of media exposure and career-related perceptions/expectations of aspiring broadcast journalists. A quantitative survey was completed by 191 students enrolled in journalism or mass communication programs at four universities. Exposure to television news produced significant correlations with expectations that a broadcast journalism career is prestigious, useful to society, and provides interesting work. Exposure to fictional characters in films and television sitcoms did not produce significant correlations.
Job Satisfaction of Newsmagazine Correspondents • Cindy Price, Wyoming • Ratings for television news shows have gone down in the last few years, but ratings for the newsmagazine shows seem to be holding steady. The question is, how does this affect the job satisfaction of regular news and newsmagazine correspondents? This paper examines any differences in job satisfaction levels between these groups. It found that newsmagazine correspondents are satisfied with their jobs and are significantly more satisfied than the regular news correspondents. Regular news correspondents report significantly more instances of budgetary constraints affecting their job satisfaction than do newsmagazine correspondents.
Al- Jazeera: A Broadcaster Creating Ripples in a Stagnant Pool • Stephen Quinn and Tim Walters, Zayed • Al-Jazeera is unique in the Arab world. In an environment of state-controlled or compliant media, this Arab-language news channel thinks of itself as a breath of fresh air or a source of fresh water. It broadcasts controversial subjects and, in doing so, it has attracted an audience of 35 million households glued to its programming – and criticism.
Newspaper Images of Ice Hockey: A Historical Look at Detroit Red Wings Photography in the Detroit Free Press, 1935-1995 • Quint Randle and Barbara Crownover, Brigham Young • This mixed methods case study examined if and how hockey photographs appearing in a daily newspaper have changed over a 60-year period. Sixty-five photographs were sampled from the pages of The Detroit Free Press and coded into several qualitative and quantitative categories. The content of hockey photographs in this newspaper has changed substantially during these years due to advancing camera technology, competition from television, the use of visual cues and the presence of hockey violence.
The Changing Role of Sports in Local Television News • Brad Schultz, Mississippi and Mary Lou Scheffer, Louisiana State • A study was conducted to assess how the sports segment within the local television newscast is changing. Literature suggests that many stations are eliminating or otherwise revising the sports segment in response to industry conditions. Results indicated changes, but more in terms of style and presentation than in time allotment. The sports segment is emphasizing more localism and appealing to casual fans. Major factors for change were audience ratings and competition from all-sports networks.
The Effects of Preferred Radio Format on Listeners’ Attention, Retention, and Loyalty • Thomas W. Smee, Jessica Matthews, Amanda Rotondo, Craig Stark, Pennsylvania State • Recall measures of attention given to radio were added to the traditional self report measures. Station format’s effect on the attention scores was then examined. Format preference effects on station loyalty were also studied. The results leaned toward more attention given to talk radio, and talk radio listeners were significantly more station loyal. Implications include the difference between self report and recall attention scores and practical implications for the advertising and radio industries.
In Whose Best Interest? FCC Deregulation and Local News: How Cross-Ownership, National Caps, and Duopolies Are Addressed in Three Commissioned Studies • Laura Smith, Texas-Austin • Within months, the Federal Communications Commission is expected to revise all six of the nation’s broadcast rules and regulations. To help guide its decisions, the FCC commissioned 12 empirical studies analyzing media ownership, market conditions, and content diversity/quality. This paper examines the studies pertaining to local television news, specifically: (1) cross-ownership; (2) the national cap; and (3) duopolies. The researcher identifies multiple theoretical and methodological shortfalls and suggests revised research strategies before the FCC changes policy.
Connecting TV and Newspapers in Political Gain • W. Joann Wong, North Carolina • Over the past 30 years, political science and communication researchers have constantly studied the impact of media sources on individuals being informed. Some studies contend the newspapers achieve political knowledge acquisition more efficiently than television; whereas, some have found a superiority of television in information transmission. Most research, however, has not examined the relationship among using various media, which has an indirect effect on knowledge gain, this study analyzes the relationship between television viewing and newspaper reading along with their impact on information learning.
Race and Gender: An Analysis of the Sources and Reporters in the Networks’ Coverage of the Year 2000 Presidential Campaign • Geri Zeldes and Fredrick Fico, Michigan State • More than 50 years after Hutchins’ Commission on Freedom of the Press and more than 30 years after the Kerner Commission, American discourse still focuses on racial disparities and the lack of minority representation in the media. Decades later, our content analysis of 333 campaign stories broadcasted by ABC, CBS and NBC during the 2000 presidential election found minimal representation of minorities and women as reporters and sources.
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