Media Management and Economics 2000 Abstracts
Media Management and Economics Division
The Rise of Corporate Journalism: Providing the Basis for a Hostile Takeover and the Split of the Scripps Newspaper Empire • Edward E. Adams, Brigham Young • E.W. Scripps was among the early adopters of establishing corporate ownership for newspapers. It helped him to develop a chain, and provide incentives to editors and business managers who could own stock in the individual newspapers. The corporate structure also helped create the first corporate split in a newspaper company. This paper examines the corporate structure created by Scripps and the events that led up to the split. It also reviews how a separation was possible and the subsequent consolidation of the remaining Scripps papers.
Syndicated Service Dependence and a Lack of Commitment to Localism: Scripps Newspapers and Market Subordination • Edward E. Adams, Brigham Young • With the exception of only two markets • Cincinnati and Cleveland • all of the Scripps papers maintained a subordinated position. This paper suggests that Scripps papers held a subordinate market position due to heavy dependence on syndicated services and smaller amount of local copy when compared to competitors. Scripps papers maintained skeleton staffs and the newspaper content was heavily dependent on articles from other papers through the UP and NEA services.
The Television Joint Venture and News Content Diversity • Todd Chambers, Texas Tech; Dennis Harp; Jimmie Reeves, Texas Tech; Jeff Klotzman; Opal Lertutai; Joanna Miller and Ann Befort • The recent ownership rules changes for the local television industry have created new management opportunities and problems related to the provision of news programming. Shared service agreements that allow one company to manage the news and/or sales departments of another local television station have raised questions about the diversity of local news programming. This content analysis sought to explore the link between ownership structure and the diversity of television news content within a local market.
Strategic Competition in the Multichannel Video Programming Market: An Intra-Industry Strategic Group Analysis • Sylvia M. Chan-Olmsted and Jack C. C. Li, Florida • This paper applied a multichannel strategic group competition theory to assess the strategic patterns of the multichannel video programmers and the relationship between group membership and performance. Seven strategic groups were identified by a cluster analysis, including broadcasters’ cable niche group and cable-casters’ broadcast tier. There appears to be a relationship between strategic group membership and financial performance. Contrary to general industry belief, neither size nor vertical integration has played an important role in elevating the programmers’ financial performance.
The PBS Brand versus Cable Brands: Assessing the Brand Equity of Public Television in a Multichannel Environment • Sylvia M. Chan-Olmsted, Florida and Yungwook Kim, Illinois State • This paper assesses the brand equity of public television in a multichannel media environment by examining the brand image of public television and PBS in comparison to comparable cable networks. The authors found that public television continues to enjoy a very positive brand image among its viewers. The popularity of cable networks such as A&E, Discovery, and Nickelodeon did not dilute the positive brand perception of public television, nor did it change significantly the perceived importance of public television and the audience’s viewing behavior.
Who Owns Cable Television? Media Ownership Concentration in Taiwan • Ping-Hung Chen, National Taiwan Normal University • This study examines ownership concentration in Taiwan’s cable television industry by using concentration ratios (CR4 and CR8) and found that Taiwan’s cable systems and channels were highly concentrated in the hands of few media conglomerates, meaning that the cable industry has become more oligopolistic. Communications researchers in Taiwan should pay more attention to media ownership concentration across various communications industries or conduct further studies on cross-industry concentration in the communications sector.
Weekly Newspaper Industry: A Baseline Study • David Coulson, Nevada-Reno and Stephen Lacy, Michigan State and Jonathan Wilson, Nevada-Reno • This is the first study to examine important elements of the weekly newspaper industry. It will serve as a baseline for analyzing long-term changes in the business. A stratified random sample of 1,027 weekly newspapers was used. The industry was found to exhibit a great deal of variation in type of ownership, type of circulation, geographic location and day of publication. These variations affect advertising rates, advertising cost per thousand and circulation.
The Relationship Between What Managers Do and How Newsroom Workers Respond in Times of Change • George Daniels, Georgia • A key concern of many newsroom managers is successfully implementing change. Based on a survey of workers at CNN Headline News, where six major changes occurred simultaneously in 1998, information about how change relates to long-term goals was, by far, the most valuable predictor of how newsroom workers might respond to change. There was no relationship between an employee’s perceived level of communication and how likely an employee is to quit in a time of change.
The Influence of Timing of Market Entry on Competition in Local Cellular Telephone Markets • Hugh S. Fullerton, Sam Houston State • The American cellular telephone industry from its inception until the early l990s furnished a classic example of duopoly market structure at the local level. Earlier studies showed that firms in some markets exhibited substantial competitive behavior, while in other markets, firms were comparatively noncompetitive. In an effort to determine the roots of competitive behavior, this paper examines the influence of the timing of entry of the second firm into each market.
The Cultural Transformation of U.S. Newspapers: A Comparison of Management and Rank-and-File Attitudes Toward a Conceptual Model of Organizational Development • Peter Gade, Oklahoma • This study refines previous models of organizational development and in an attempt to build a stronger theoretical framework for understanding the process of change in the newspaper industry. A purposive sample of 18 newspapers affiliated with the American Society of Newspaper Editors Change Committee was used to survey a census of top newsroom managers and a random sample of rank-and-file most experienced with industry-wide change initiatives. The results indicate that management and rank-and file view the change process very differently.
How Magazines Covered Media Companies’ Merger: A Case of the Evolution of Time Inc. • Jaemin Jung, Florida • ABSTRACT NOT AVAILABLE.
Predicting Digital Cable Adoption: Who Will Be Upgrading to Digital Cable, and How Soon? • Myung-Hyun Kang, Michigan State • Digital cable is a technological innovation in the area of cable telecommunications, featuring more channels, more convenience, and more interactivity. The present study investigates the factors that influence the adoption of digital cable in terms of demographics, media use, technology ownership, their innovative attitudes, and their satisfaction with their cable company. Results of this study indicate that the earlier adoption of digital cable is more likely among those who watch television heavily, are satisfied with current cable service, and see themselves as well as their cable operator as technically progressive.
Looking for the Right Partners in the Information Era: A Longitudinal Study of Acquisition Strategies by the Communications Industries • Jack C.C. Li, Florida • The present paper uses the new industrial classification system (NAICS) to examine the acquisition patterns of the communications industries (TV, radio, cable, and telephony) from 1980 through 1999. Attention is focused on diversification strategies of entering the information industry. It is found that the 1996 Telecommunications Act has significant impact on the M&A patterns. The industries’ diversification strategies are also found to be influenced by the characteristics and historical background of the existing industries.
Great Expectations: Revealing a Placebo Effect in Brand Equity Evaluations of Network News Reporting • Walter S. McDowell and Steven J. Dick, Southern Illinois-Carbondale • The purpose of this study was first to explore the theoretical common ground shared by the concepts of placebo effects and brand equity and then to introduce the notion of media brand placebo effects within the context of audience evaluations of television program content. A controlled experiment, focusing on the perceived credibility of a network news report, provided support for two out of three hypotheses derived from this proposed branding construct.
Using Audience Turnover to Reveal the “Double Jeopardy” Effect In Television Daypart Ratings Performance • Walter S. McDowell and Steven J. Dick, Southern Illinois-Carbondale • Scores of conventional consumer goods studies have revealed that successful brands exhibit disproportionately greater consumer loyalty in terms of repeat purchases than less successful brands do. This phenomenon places struggling brands in a kind of “double jeopardy” posture, where they attract not only fewer customers, but also fewer loyalists. Studies of prime time television audience behavior in the 1980s found a similar double jeopardy effect.
Thriving on Chaos: A Case Study of Newspaper Cultural Change • Richard Somerville, Missouri • Newspaper managers are finding that major economic, social and technological shifts have thrown into the air all the revered assumptions about people and management practices. But accepting a need to adapt is not enough. The process of change has proved difficult to achieve even at modest levels. Massive paradigm shifts also are shaking up the field of organizational studies, with some theorists looking to chaos theory as a model for the 21st century business.
News Hole Sizing Polices At Nondaily Newspapers • Ken Smith, Wyoming • This study examined the methods used by nondaily newspapers to determine the sizes of their news holes. The results indicate that a large majority of nondailies (77.8%) base their news holes on a percentage of their advertising inches. In most cases, the type of advertising used to determine the sizes of the news holes was ROP advertising. Most nondailies did not take preprint advertising into account in sizing their news holes.
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