The changing market structure of local television news

Local television news markets have been defined in terms of oligopoly theory, in which the number of competitors is limited and firms must pay significant attention to pricing behavior and product differentiation. The author explores how the development of independent television stations, cable television, and video recorders is changing the market from oligopoly to monopolistic competition.     

Determination of continuing medical education needs of clinicians from a literature search study. Part II. Questionnaire results.

Part II of this study of the needs of clinicians for continuing medical education (CME) examines the results of a questionnaire sent of Oklahoma physicians to determine if they would request formal CME courses in the same subject areas in which they had previously requested in formation from librarians. The degree of correlation between literature search requests and responses to the questionnaire confirms that the analysis of library information requests may be one approach to determining CME needs.     

The television news interview: A field study

The participant observation technique and interviews provide the methodology for observing the television news interview process. The author provides a critical analysis.     

A content analysis of local television newscasts: Answering the critics

Local television newscasts have been criticized for being too frivolous, but an analysis of San Diego stations indicates more newscast time is devoted to significant issues of the day than to anything else.     

Newsgathering technology and the content of local television news

A preliminary study suggests that newsgathering technology may have a negative effect on local television news content and on the autonomy of news directors.     

Country Music Radio Part II: The Mid-Day Merry-Go-Round

From 1936 to 1961, this jingle alerted listeners to the beginning of the most popular local radio show in the history of Knoxville, Tennessee. For it was during those years that radio station WNOX aired the "Mid-day Merry-Go-Round." During the period when radio was king, stations produced a variety of programs in addition to those available through network affiliation. These local programs connected radio with their audiences, but the influence of the "Mid-day Merry-Go-Round" extended far beyond the listeners in Knoxville. The purpose of this paper is to explore the evolution and influences of one such locally-produced show, the "Midday Merry-G0-Round."     

Mental illness on television: A study of censorship

This study was part of a larger project directed by C. E. Osgood and J. C. Nunally of the University of Illinois, conducted under a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health. It is especially interesting, not only because of the current controversy over television program control, but for the light it throws on the operation of the network departments charged with the censorship function.     

Deregulation and public perceptions of television: A longitudinal study

The deregulation of television and resulting implications for programming and the public interest have been the focus of considerable debate. This study investigated perceptions of issues related to current policy, perceptions of the effectiveness of television in meeting informational needs, and whether perceptions have changed since deregulation. Significant differences were found between pre‐ and post‐deregulation attitudes toward policy‐related issues and the quantity of commercials on television. Perceptions of the amount of news broadcast, coverage of local issues, and the extent to which programming meets local needs revealed no significant change since deregulation. The results revealed strong public support for the requirement that broadcasters cover more than one side of controversial issues.     

Program audience duplication: A study of television inheritance effects

Inheritance effects, especially high levels of audience duplication between adjacent programs, are a widely observed but little understood feature of audience behavior. This study places inheritance effects within a theoretical model of television program choice that attributes the general phenomenon to underlying patterns of audience availability. The absolute level of audience duplication between adjacent programs broadcast on the same network is determined by the rating of each program, the structure of available program options, and similarities in program type.     

Background and training of television directors employed at small local stations

Traditional analyses have treated TV violence as a homogenous entity disregarding the nature and context of the violent acts. A new coding scheme was designed to examine the amount of violence portrayed on TV; the degree to which it is obtrusive; and the messages it conveys. The final, 37 item coding scheme is sensitive to features of televised messages whether in fiction, or in non‐fiction. It included contextual themes concerning intensity (seriousness, realism, way of dramatization), and attractiveness (justification, glamorization, efficacy) of TV violence. The coding scheme was applied to an analysis of a program sample which consisted of all genres (N = 259) presented on Finnish network television during one week. The analysis showed that television violence does not exist as a homogenous entity, since portrayals of violence vary in amount, intensity, and attractiveness.     

Jury Instructions: A Bibliography Part II:

Pattern jury instructions are used by trial judges to explain the law to jurors in language that they can understand and that provide consistency from one trial to another. This criminal jury instructions bibliography of 169 entries is a companion to a previous bibliography on civil jury instructions. An index to acronyms for both criminal and civil jury instructions is also included.     

Violence in television news: A case study of audience response

On February 2, 1968, about 20,000,000 Americans watched South Vietnam's Gen. Nguyen Ngoc Loan shoot a suspected Viet Cong in the head on a Saigon street. Color film of that execution was shown on NBC's Huntley‐Brinkley Report. There was also a black and white still photograph by Eddie Adams of Associated Press. The impact of that single news story on public opinion about the war will be argued for some time. In an attempt to analyze the audience reaction to the NBC film report, a content analysis of audience mail to NBC was performed. Further, questionnaires were sent to the letter‐writers for additional information and to further explore their reasons for writing.     

The informative speech as a television news package

Objective: To expand an informative speech into a television news package Type of speech: Informative Point value: 5% of course grade (Note: The original informative speech is worth 10% of the course grade) Requirements: (a) References: 3; (b) Length: 30 seconds; (c) Visual aid: 3; (d) Outline: Yes; (e) Prerequisite reading: Chapter 14 (Whitman & Foster, 1987), Chapter 15 (McKerrow, Gronbeck, Ehninger, & Monroe, 2000), Chapter 14 (Andrews, Andrews, & Williams, 2002), Chapter 13 (Zettl, 1985), Chapter 11 (Gibson, 1991), Chapter 9 (Berner, 1991); (f) Additional requirements: Need use of television camera and editing station This assignment demonstrates the interrelationship between speech communication and mass media. Having students take the components of an informative speech and placing the components into a “news package” teaches students how to effectively organize a television news package. Moreover, this assignment teaches students basic television production and news techniques (e.g., source attribution, editing techniques) and illustrates the value of effective visual aids to communicate the information.     

The quiz program: A network television staple

The quiz program has received considerable comment in recent weeks, so this article by Patrick E. Welch is particularly appropriate at this time. The article is based upon a chapter in Mr. Welch's PhD. dissertation, “The Development of Audience Participation Programs on Radio and Television Networks Through the Season of 1956–57.”;     

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.     

The words of children's television

The dialogue and nonverbal formal features of six children's television programs are described. The findings of this study have implications for models of young viewers' information processing when viewing, and possible effects of the medium on children's language development.