Televised violence and viewers’ perceptions of social reality: The Korean case

This study attempts to describe some possible elaborations of the cultivation hypothesis and present relevant evidence from a Korean student sample. Using the postulates and methodology of the cultivation analysis approach to mass communication, this investigation employs a two‐pronged research strategy: message system analysis and cultivation analysis. Message system analysis consisted of one‐week sample of Korean television programs from the three television networks in June 1991. For cultivation analysis, a questionnaire was administered to 1,200 Korean students attending eight junior and senior high schools from five different states in July, 1991. Within the clear limitations of measures, the results suggested that viewers differentially perceive the social reality of different content types. The findings seem to indicate that the degree of cultivation effects is not uniform across different kinds of television programming.     

REVIEW AND CRITICISM: BOOK REVIEWS: Crosley and WLW: A Broadcasting Legacy in Review

A one week sample of prime time television (8-11 p.m.) for ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC was constructed to represent broadcast entertainment programming for 1996. In a systematic content analysis/ the frequencies and attributes of ethnic minority and majority characters were documented, with particular attention to Latinos and their interactions with other TV characters. This study's findings update the current status of minority portrayals and identify prevalent attributes of minority portrayals that may impact viewer perceptions.     

A Model for Quantitatively Analyzing Representations of Social Class in Screen Media

Content analyses of prime-time television provide a picture of predominant cultural stereotypes and social trends. The present research is a quantitative content analysis of social class in popular broadcast and cable television in the United States. This research advances scholarship by systematically analyzing character class in addition to more commonly examined variables such as race and gender. A model for the operationalization of class for quantitative content analyses of mediated texts is offered. This proof of concept study demonstrates the viability of studying media representations of class quantitatively to systematically document patterns of portrayal.     

Food and Beverage Advertising on U.S. Television: A Comparison of Child-Targeted Versus General Audience Commercials

Major advertisers and children's television networks have announced marketing policies designed to combat childhood obesity. A content analysis of food advertising was conducted on programming from broadcast and cable networks most likely to be viewed by children. Unlike previous content analyses, the results show that nutrition appeals are among the most frequently used. However, as in past research, unhealthy foods are most frequently advertised. Further, child-targeted commercials employ production techniques and persuasive appeals that children have found difficult to evaluate critically. The potential impacts of this advertising landscape are discussed on both the individual and social level.     

European public service television and the cultural‐educational logic: A comparative analysis of children's and youth programming

One of the most recurrent themes in studies on European television trends, is that the policies of liberalization and deregulation have caused the industry to follow a more market‐oriented or crass commercial logic. New technologies and policies have led to an explosion in the number of commercial channels; new financial, organizational and programming strategies; increasing pressure from advertising and multinationals; and a decreasing role of the state in production and distribution.

This paper looks at how such pressures have affected the policies of European public service broadcasters (PSBs), by concentrating on their traditional commitment to education in an analysis of children's and youth programmes as an index of this change.     

Television Viewing Preferences: Programs,Schedules, and the Structure of Viewing Choices Made by Israeli Adults

Using analysis of program content and programming features, this study identifies patterns of television viewing preferences that explain why certain shows are frequently watched with certain other shows. Principal components analysis (PCA) of data collected from a sample of 750 Israeli adults was used to identify groups of shows often watched by the same viewers. A further analysis was conducted to uncover common features of these shows. The results replicate earlier findings indicating that program viewing preferences are explained by channel loyalty and genre loyalty, but the study adds a focus on the importance of programming language in non-English-speaking television markets.     

Verbal Aggression,Race, and Sex on Reality TV: Is This Really the Way It Is?

This content analysis examines verbal aggression, race, and gender presented in a composite week of popular reality TV programming on cable and broadcast television. Results show that African Americans were found to be overrepresented and depicted disproportionately as more verbally aggressive and more likely to be victims of verbal aggression than other races/ethnicities. African American women were more likely than men to be involved in verbal aggression, both as aggressor and victim. The results are discussed in terms of the potential effects of exposure to verbal aggression and the accompanying contextual factors found in reality TV programming.     

It's Not Always About The Money: Using Narrative Analysisto Explore Newspaper Coverageof the Act of Collecting

Over the last few years, the number of television dating shows has increased exponentially from 2 to over 28 during the period of 2000 to 2002. The purpose of this study was to examine demographic variables, personality characteristics, and attachment styles of individuals who view television dating shows. Furthermore, motives for viewing television dating shows and viewers' responses to the content were examined. A convenience sample of 601 participants, including 413 who watch television dating shows, were solicited to complete the Internet-mediated study. Results revealed significant demographic differences between the two groups and demographic variables were associated with specific television viewing practices. An exploratory factor analysis revealed three motives for viewing television dating shows: excitability, social learning, and escape. Sensation-seeking, attachment style, and motives for watching television dating shows were predictive of viewing practices. These findings suggest that viewing television programming such as dating shows may be a viable source of arousal for sensation seekers. Both theoretical and applied implications of these findings are explored.     

Sex,Love, and Risk-n-Responsibility: A Content Analysis of Entertainment Television

This study documents the extent of sexual content, including sexual health content, in scenes with and without expressions of love on network and cable television popular with emerging adults. Sexual talk and/or behavior was found in 20% of all television scenes coded across 53.5 hours of programming. One third of these scenes featured sex alongside expressions of love. An additional 10% of scenes suggested love but not sex. Coded as a separate category, 25% of analyzed scenes contained a passing joke or pun referencing sexual organs, making these nonspecific, comedic one-liners the predominant reference to sex in this sample. Beyond jokes, most of the sexual or loving talk in this sample consisted of expressing a romantic interest in someone; sex- and love-related behaviors largely consisted of kissing or flirting. Very few scenes specifically referenced sexual intercourse. Sexual health messages were also rare. The majority of scenes mentioning any health consequence (7% of analyzed scenes) concerned emotional heartache. One scene mentioned sexually transmitted infections; 12 of the nearly 2,600 scenes coded mentioned condoms or contraceptives. It is thus a challenging proposition to build upon existing sexual depictions on television to promote safe sex practices within sexual and loving contexts.     

Surviving Survivor: A Content Analysis of Antisocial Behavior and Its Context in a Popular Reality Television Show

The scope and nature of reality television has changed since researchers last conducted a content analysis of the antisocial behavior for this type of programming. This study examines the content of seven seasons of Survivor, one of America's longest running reality television programs, to determine the types, frequency, and context of antisocial behavior presented in the series as well as the possible effects of the program on longtime viewers using social learning and cultivation theories. In the 76.4 hours of programming analyzed for this study, 4,207 antisocial acts were documented in the coding database. Indirect aggression and verbal aggression were found to be the most frequently occurring types of antisocial behavior. The number (4,207) and the rate (45.7 acts per hour) of antisocial acts in the seven seasons of Survivor analyzed in this study is higher than the findings of a previous study of antisocial behavior in reality-based television conducted in 1997. This study clearly demonstrates that longtime viewers of Survivor get a higher dose of antisocial behavior than did regular viewers of news programming and other reality-based programs that aired slightly more than 10 years ago.     

Something Old,Something New,Something Borrowed From Something Blue: Experiments on Dual Viewing TV and Twitter

The use of second screens to dual-view television and social media is exponentially increasing. As a result, television producers are increasingly augmenting television content with social media comments from viewers, which may serve as a type of real-time public opinion indicator. The current research effort utilizes two experimental studies to explore the effects of this new media production practice on viewer's attitudes and opinions. In these studies, a Twitter feed was integrated in to entertainment (Study 1) and political (Study 2) television broadcasts and manipulated to convey either positive or negative opinions of the content. Participants' opinions were found to conform to the majority opinion presented in the manipulated Twitter feed in nearly all of the analyses. Implications for dual viewing and second screen use are discussed in light of findings.     

A structural analysis of market competition in the U.S. TV syndication industry, 1981–1990

The author explores how the structure of the national television programming market has changed during the past decade and finds that the market has become highly concentrated and is increasingly being dominated by foreign owners. The author argues that the trends provide support for relaxation of prohibitions on television networks’ participation in syndication     

Television realism measures: The influence of program salience on global judgments

Five versions (four experimental and one control) of a questionnaire were randomly distributed to 190 participants as part of an experiment investigating whether judgments of global television realism are influence by the salience of program genre. Questionnaires contained items asking respondents how often they watch either 1) news programs, 2) reality‐based crime programs, 3) crime drama programs, or 4) day and evening soap operas, followed by perceived realism and demographic items.

Global measures of television realism were influenced by the viewing questions that preceded them, such that questions about more realistic programming prompted judgments that television programming in general is more realistic. Except for one condition, questions measuring the perceived realism of a specific genre, rather than television in general, were not influenced by the salience manipulation. These results call into question the utility of global television realism items.     

Adequacy of coverage by still picture and film services: A study by the radio‐television news directors association

More than ever before, broadcasting stations are concerned with public service programming. Extremely relevant to this problem is the question of adequacy of news coverage. The Radio‐Television News Directors Association has initiated a series of studies into one of the major interest areas of the television news director, that of still pictures and news film. The first of these studies, dealing with the supply in various content categories of still pictures and motion picture films of news events, is reported below.     

Credibility of Radio News

This study used a statewide sample of 400 Alabama residents to analyze the relative credibility of local radio news, as compared to local television and local radio. The results indicated that local radio news has a level of credibility that is lower than that of local television, but is comparable to that of local newspapers. This finding confirms previous studies that have noted that media consumers tend to have a higher regard for television than any other news medium, but this difference was not as dramatic as those reported by studies that have used forced-choice questions. Local television is indeed more credible than local radio news, but not dramatically so.     

Daytime television talk shows: Guests,content and interactions

Strident controversy over the often‐bizarre subject matter of daytime television talk shows motivated this content analysis of 11 shows with the highest Nielsen ratings in 1994–95. A sample of 10 episodes of each of the shows was videotaped and subjected to a systematic analysis of the shows’ guests, topics of discussion and interactions. Results indicate that this genre of program indulges in overrepresentation of female, youthful and African American guests. The most prevalent major topic of discussion was parenting on nearly half the episodes. In general, these talk shows center around family issues, sexual activity and dating.     

Visual materials on local television news programs

When sight was added to sound, the problems of presenting the news of the day multiplied, as did the cost of such coverage. Nevertheless, few news directors are satisfied with the strict “man‐on‐camera” approach; they prefer to use the additional information channel for a certain amount of visual augmentation of the audio channel's content. Beacuse television stations in a given market rarely have a chance to examine the output of stations in other markets, the survey reported in the following article was made'. Both the sources of visual news materials and their uses are studied in a sample of midwestern stations. It is interesting to examine this report after a review of William Hazard's study for the Radio‐Television News Directors Association, “Adequacy of Coverage by Still Picture and Film Services” published in the Journal of Broadcasting, Vol. IV, No. 1, pp. 64–76, Winter, 1959–60.     

Standpoint: Television broadcasting leads Romania's march toward an open,democratic society

Television broadcasting started slowly in Romania and for decades languished under strict state control. However, since it helped break the shackles of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu's unique blend of Communist dogma and censorship, it has been leading Romania's march toward a more open, democratic society. At first, broadcast improvements were slow to develop as the first democratically elected regime in post‐revolutionary Romania maintained its Communist‐era monopoly overstate television. More recently Romania has seen a dramatic increase in broadcast competition and freedom. Four factors have played particularly significant roles in spurring improvements: the development of alternative networks, access to Western‐style programming and production techniques, the rise of private, independent broadcasters, and the international exchange of broadcast content.     

Structural determinants of the television news audience

This study examined the impact that program scheduling and market characteristics had on people's exposure to the early evening local news. Three factors combined to explain 81% of the variation in local news ratings across the U.S.: a station's network news rating, the lead‐in rating for the local news, and the size of the available television audience. We discussed how such structural factors might be better integrated into research and theory that emphasize individual characteristics as determinants of exposure to television programming.