Radio-TV Journalism 2001 Abstracts
Radio-TV Journalism Division
Hype Versus Substance in the Final Weeks of the Broadcast Television Networks’ 2000 Presidential Election Campaign Coverage • Julia Fox and James Angelini, Indiana University • An analysis of the broadcast television networks’ coverage of the final two weeks of the 2000 presidential election campaign found significantly more hype than substance in both the audio and video messages of presidential election campaign stories. Furthermore, even when audio messages contained substantive coverage, accompanying visuals often emphasized hype rather than substance. The importance of these results is discussed in the context of recent research findings about how viewers process audio and video messages.
Identifying Juvenile Crime Suspects: A Survey of Ohio Television Stations and Newspapers • Gary Hanson, Kent State University • Journalists traditionally have not reported the names of juveniles who are accused of committing crimes. Since the mid-1980s, this paternalistic approach has been challenged by the changes in the frequency and seriousness of juvenile crimes. As a result, news directors and editors in Ohio have begun to rethink their policies regarding the identification of juvenile suspects. This survey compares the way in which television stations and newspapers approach the issue.
Gatekeeping International News: An Attitudinal Profile of U.S. Television Journalists • Hun Shik Kim, University of Missouri-Columbia • This study explores the attitudes of U.S. television journalists toward international news and examines their selection criteria. Q factor analysis of 31 journalists from major national networks and local TV stations yielded three factors: Pragmatic Idealists, Global Diplomats, and Bottom-line Realists. The network journalists support a global view, selecting international news with diverse themes while the local journalists take a more pragmatic stance due to business pressures and audience demands, choosing international news with a local angle. All the journalists give priority to international news with U.S. involvement and are strongly opposed to governmental and advertiser influences.
Change Frames on CSPAN Call-in Shows: The framing of citizen comments • David D. Kurpius, Louisiana State University and Andrew Mendelson, Temple University • A content analysis of C-SPAN call-in shows was conducted to examine how citizen-callers frame the political ideas they present The main issue of concern was do people rely on the same frames the mainstream news media rely on, focusing on image, strategies and conflict or do they rely on an issue frame? A secondary issue was how the guests and hosts of these calI4n shows react to the different frames. Results show that callers were more likely to rely on issue frames in discussing political issues, though there was no difference in length of time spent by the callers on the different frames. The hosts/guests responded for a much longer time when callers used a conflict frame. However, when we examined the format of the response by the host and guest, we saw that they were much more likely to ask a question or elaborating on something said when a caller used an issue frame.
The Credibility of Women Sportscasters • Michael A. Mitrook and Noelle Haner Dorr, University of Central Florida • This work used an experimental design to explore the impact of a radio sports broadcaster’s gender on their perceived credibility by listeners. Results indicate that female sportscasters are not perceived to be as credible as their male counterparts. Furthermore, the results also exhibited a tendency for both male and female respondents to rate the male broadcaster higher than the female, but the male respondents provided much lower ratings for the female broadcaster than the female respondents.
Network Television Coverage of the 1980 and 1984 Olympic Boycotts: A Content Analysis of the Evening News on ABC, CBS and NBC • Anthony Moretti, Ohio University • The United States and the Soviet Union led boycotts tarnishing the 1980 and 1984 summer Olympics. This study examined how the ABC, CBS and NBC evening news programs covered the boycotts. The press nationalism model holds that media follow the “official” government line in reporting international affairs. Based on abstracts from the Vanderbilt University television archives, this content analysis found evidence to support the hypothesis that press nationalism influenced coverage of the boycotts.
Commercial Quality Influence on Perceptions of Television News • Stephen Perry, Dana Trunnell, Chris Morse, and Cori Ellis, Illinois State University • The impact of high and low-quality commercials upon high and low quality television newscasts were examined using Elaboration Likelihood Model and contrast effects research. This study showed some support for contrast effects. Results also suggest an interaction between news quality and the presence of commercials within newscasts in producing an emotional response. Additionally, we found that when commercials were present within the news program, participants were able to recall fewer of the news stories.
Non-Users of Internet News: Who are They and Why Do They Avoid TV News and Newspaper Web Sites? • Paula Poindexter and Don Heider, University of Texas-Austin • Who are non-users of Internet news and why do they avoid online news that is produced by TV, cable, newspapers, newsmagazines, and radio? To answer this question, randomly selected adults with Internet access in a southwestern metropolitan area were asked why they did not read news on the Internet. Survey respondents who ignored news online represented 42 percent of all Internet users. Both an age gap and a gender gap distinguished non-users and users of news on the Internet. Non-users of Internet news were significantly more likely to be younger and older. Non-Internet news users were also significantly more likely to be female than male. The primary reason for avoiding news on the Internet is lack of interest. Slightly more than one-quarter of non-users of Internet news said they ignored online news because they weren’t interested. Almost one-fifth indicated that they didn’t read news online because they had already read newspapers and 18 percent said they avoided online news because they didn’t have time. Seven percent said online news was too time consuming and four percent indicated that they avoided online news because they preferred TV news. The age distinction and reasons for avoiding news on the Internet are similar to what is known about nonviewers of network and local TV news and nonreaders of newspapers.
To Be On TV or To Be a TV Journalist: Students’ and Professionals’ Perceptions of the Role of Journalism in Society • Ron F. Smith and George Bagley, University of Central Florida • The Jane Pauley Task Force found that news professionals were dissatisfied with the ethical and journalistic attitudes of new graduates. This study compares news directors’ perceptions with those of broadcast majors and finds several significant differences between them. The higher percentage of students placed great importance in providing entertainment. Professionals are more likely to see their role as investigating government claims. Also, students and professionals differed on half the ethical issues presented to them.
A Content Analysis of TV News Magazines: Commodification, Conglomeration, and Public Interest • Kuo-Feng Tseng, Michigan State University • This study conducts a content analysis of television news magazines to find out the impacts of media commodification and conglomeration on public interest. It finds that news story topics and presentation styles become more tabloidism than prior researches did, especially for 48 Hours, 20/20 and Dateline. Crime stories and sexy images were the popular strategies to attract audiences. News story topics have associated relationship with advertising and news sources. News magazines prefer to stories and sources from their conglomerate or partnership.
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