Local regulatory agencies for cable television

A complex pattern of radio regulation emerged during the mid‐1920s, one in which a close‐knit relationship arose between regulator and regulated. Working together to get radio service to the public were the “regulators”—Herbert Hoover and the Department of Commerce—and the “regulated”— Westinghouse, General Electric (G. E.), the Radio Corporation of America (RCA), and American Telegraph and Telephone (AT&;T). Together, these two groups set radio's agenda and policy through 1927. This essay shows how that synthesis became the blueprint used even today for broadcast license allocation and station licensee assignments.     

Program exclusivity and competition in the cable television industry

The authors argue that program exclusivity will be an important factor in the future of the cable television industry. They assert that prohibiting cable program exclusivity may limit the First Amendment rights of cable programmers and operators. The authors conclude that the best chance for increasing competition if program exclusivity continues is to increase the number of market participants.     

The impact of Korean television drama viewership on the social perceptions of single life and having fewer children in married life

The purpose of this study was twofold. On the ground of Gerbner's cultivation theory, it examined the effect of South Korean drama consumption on the perceived prevalence of single life and having fewer children in married life. It also tested the causality of cultivation effects through a priming methodology. Results indicated that the perceived prevalence of having fewer children in married life was significantly affected by exposure to dramas which positively feature single life and having fewer children in married life on television. The findings provide public health policy-makers and communication campaigners with valuable theoretical relationships, as well as their practical implications.     

MAGIC transaction logs as measures of access, use, and community

Transaction logs, non-intrusive objective measures of use, track user navigation and, in the case of MAGIC, track active selections from the collection. This article analyzes MAGIC and shows who uses the digital collection and what they use most. Homer Babbidge Library, University of Connecticut, U-Box 5M, Storrs, Connecticut 06268.     

Television coverage of the 1995 legislative election in Taiwan: Rise of cable television as a force for balance in media coverage

This research examines how television reported the campaign, parties, and candidates during the 1995 Legislative Election in Taiwan. Results of this study showed that state‐owned broadcast television stations were far more likely than privately owned cable television channels to give greater coverage to the ruling party and its candidates, to use ruling party officials as news sources, and to offer more news coverage favorable to the ruling party than to other parties. We conclude that cable television has become a force for balance in coverage, diluting a pervasive pro‐government party bias. The rise of cable television from virtual “outlaw” status to government‐licensed status appears to have responded to a more liberal society and made a contribution to the development of democracy, as have the expanded elections themselves.     

Children's expectations for television entertainment vs. television news events

Young children's limited ability to recognize and defend against commercial messages has led to numerous concerns about advertising that targets child‐viewers. Industry self‐regulation of child‐oriented advertising content is one response to those concerns. With the demise of the National Association of Broadcasters Code in 1982, guidelines maintained by the Children's Advertising Review Unit (CARU) of the National Council of Better Business Bureaus comprise the only industry‐wide self‐regulation. This study evaluates the extent of compliance with the CARU standards across a sample of over 10,000 ads directed to children. The results indicate a high overall rate of adherence to the guidelines. Two problem areas emerged which accounted for most of the violations observed: ads that featured premium offers, and ads for recorded telephone message services. The findings are discussed in terms of their implications for the child audience.     

The beginning television course

All too often, strong opinions are held without regard to detailed knowledge of the subject involved. Current controversies show that the question of course content in professional broadcasting education is no exception. Regardless of the viewpoint held, a supply of adequate data relevant to the question should be welcomed by all. The Journal undertakes to supply as much data as possible relevant to broadcasting education, the most recent example being Harold Niven's “Fourth Annual Survey of Colleges and Universities Offering Course Work in Radio and Television, 1958–1959”; published in the Fallissue.     

Viewing television talk shows

We examined how motivation, audience activity, and attitudes influenced the likelihood of watching societal‐issue and relational topics on television talk programs. Path analysis supported differences in ritualized and instrumental motives for watching talk shows. Information and exciting‐entertainment motivation predicted greater’ realism of, affinity with, involvement with, and intent to watch talk television. Pass‐time motivation predicted reduced affinity with and intent to watch talk television, and reduced likelihood of watching relational topics. Information motivation predicted greater likelihood of watching relational topics. We discussed these findings in light of the concept of audience activity.     

Commercial television in Japan

Broadcasting trade papers in recent months have devoted an increasing amount of attention to the rapid strides being made by commercial television in various nations abroad. In this issue of the Journal, Richard Friedman presents an intensive analysis of commercial television in Japan, the result of several months' research in that country recently.     

Understanding the 9/11 Commission archive: control, access, and the politics of manipulation

This article examines a range of issues surrounding the archive developed by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, better known and the ??9/11 Commission.?? We provide a partial biography of the 9/11 Commission??s archival record as it was being assembled. This contemporaneous analysis of the politics surrounding this archive during its formative stage lends insights into the political and power dynamics shaping this archive. We review how the public record and public knowledge of 9/11 were shaped by the processes surrounding the accretion of this archive by charting records access and control controversies before, during, and years after the Commission submitted its final report. Despite claims from all sides that what was needed was an unfiltered, non-partisan and accurate review of what went wrong and how it went wrong, the story we outline underscores that the composition, accumulation, access to, and control of the archival record surrounding 9/11 was shaped as much by political concerns over blame and responsibility (and evading it) as it was by good faith efforts to get to the heart of the matter. In the charged atmospherics of modern US politics, custodial power over the record and access to it was used to prevent political embarrassment and to submerge??as opposed to surface??basic facts. Those with powers over access were not willing to risk having the documentary record either accessed or analyzed in a truly independent manner. This does not bode well, and in fact represents a deeper structural reality that will confound similar future governmental investigations that require access from those it is investigating. There is no reason to doubt that, absent a seismic shift in how the record is maintained and controlled, the archive will continue to be used as a means to shape and interfere with legitimate inquiries.     

Using mobile technologies to give health students access to learning resources in the UK community setting

Objectives: This article describes a project which explored the potential for mobile technologies to give health students in the community access to learning resources. The purpose included the need to identify possible barriers students could face in using mobile technologies. Another focus was to assess the students perceptions of the importance of being able to access learning resources in the community. Methods: This 1‐year project used two main approaches for data collection. A review of the literature on mobile technologies in the health context was conducted. This was used in a systematic way to identify key issues and trends. The literature review was used to inform the design and production of a questionnaire. This was distributed to and completed by a group of community health students at Northumbria University, UK. The questionnaire was piloted and there was a 100% completion rate with 49 returned forms. Results: The literature review indicated that most mobile technology applications were occurring in the US. At the time of the review the most prevalent mobile technologies were PDAs, laptops, WAP phones and portable radios with use being concentrated around doctors in the acute sector. A range of advantages and disadvantages to the technology were discovered. Mobile technologies were mainly being used for clinical rather than learning applications. The students showed a low level of awareness of the technology but placed great importance to accessing learning resources from the community. Conclusions: Significant development and changes are taking place in mobile technologies. Since the data collection for this work was completed in 2004 podcasting and videocasting have become significant in mobile learning for health professionals. Librarians will need to address the relevance and implications of m‐learning for their practice. Care and consideration needs to be given on the time and resources librarians allocate for the necessary development work around mobile technologies. Collaboration and partnership working will be most effective approach for librarians wishing to integrate their services with m‐learning technologies.     

Public relations in educational television

This is the report of a limited inquiry into public relations activities of educational television stations, showing how educational broadcasters have at least one problem in common with their commercial brethren —namely, the need to publicize their efforts.     

Violence on television in Asia

Tan Yew Soon and Soh Yew Peng The Development of Singapore's Modern Media Industry Times Academic Press, Singapore 1994, pp. 263     

Diversity in local television news

This study was designed to determine if VCR satisfaction, VCR use, and interpersonal communication about VCRs are related to three functions: home entertainment, displacement, and social utility. A survey of VCR households yielded 338 responses. Differential patterns were found across the three functions.     

The selectors of television programs

Difficulties in indexing the degree of motivation or attention to television by people in the same room with a “live” television set have long been recognized. One element of this problem has been the question of determining which member of the household actually makes the selection of specific program or channel, and whether there are differences between types of households or socio‐economic classes that are related to different patterns of channel or program selection.     

Underground comix as television criticism

Underground “comix” use a comic book format to comment, often with blatant sexual scenes and profanity, on American society. The author traces the history of comix, exemplifies their criticism of television, and compares comix' methods and influence to more usual critical outlets and to television itself.