Convergence Concerns in Local Television: Conflicting Views From the Newsroom

This nationwide survey studies the impact of convergence on reporters and producers in small and medium local television markets. The article examines the manner in which convergence-related responsibilities affect the daily routines of these news workers. It also assesses their perceptions of convergence and challenges they face, including concerns about the impact of convergence on the quality of their work. Authors compare these views to the opinions of news directors across the United States (gathered in previous research), finding significant differences between news workers' perspectives and those of their bosses.     

Perceived Source Credibility of Local Television News: The Impact of Television Form and Presence

An increasing number of local news stations are producing and broadcasting their newscasts in high-definition television (HDTV), but to date there has not been an investigation of audience perceptions of news in high definition. This study presents the results from an experiment investigating the influence of television form (image quality and field of view) on presence and audiences' perceptions of source credibility for news anchors and local news. The results demonstrate that improved image quality (HDTV) has a positive influence on audience perceptions of source credibility and the overall credibility of newscasts. Implications are discussed.     

The FCC and Indecency: Local Television General Managers' Perceptions

A number of factors have been suggested to help explain the success of broadband in Korea. However, whatever factors are mentioned, just as many questions are raised as to why comparable roll out of high-speed Internet access has not occurred in other countries with similar characteristics. This paper argues that supply-side push and demand-side pull, a synergistic process, are combined to make broadband Internet access in Korea particularly strong. With a new type of supply of broadband capacity in the market, and an intensely competitive environment, prices dropped drastically and new killer applications were continuously created. This resulted in a supporting responsive surge in demand and sky-rocketing numbers of new subscribers. This is a very clear case of a positive spiral generated by the synergistic process of the market: success breeds success.     

美国地方性电视台基本架构、运作机制及其启示

美国的电视台从性质、所有制、存在形态到运作模式和监管理念皆与中国不同,也与其他国家有很大区别.美国发展电视业中服务公众、鼓励竞争、培育节目辛迪加市场和对新业态、新趋势因势利导的政策导向,及其所成就的影视通信产业巨大的经济文化影响力,是对世界广播电视事业的贡献.本文对美国地方性电视台基本架构、运作机制的研究报告,力图撷取其中一些启示以供分享.     

KVOS in the Local,Public Interest: Early Broadcasting and the Constitution of the Local

This article contributes to scholarly literature on local stations in early radio broadcasting history. Taking KVOS in Bellingham, WA as a case study, it attends to how regional geography in conjunction with station operators, broadcasting policy, and audiences helped to define localism in relation to broader national, regional, and international identities forming at the beginnings of early radio and between 1930–1953. KVOS’ history demonstrates how radio was always bound up with the production of locality and how local identity was constituted in and through its relation to broader collective sensibilities taking shape at the time.     

Diversity in Broadcast Television: An Empirical Study of Local News

The relation between the structure of a market and the diversity of its product offering has been extensively explored by theorists. We develop 2 measures of diversity and explore the content of local news for 60 stations and 20 designated market areas (DMAs) in the United States. Using a relative station-level diversity metric, ordinary least squares (OLS) estimates imply that relative diversity of local news content decreases as market concentration increases. This result is not, however, robust to an instrumental variables specification. Using a total market diversity metric, the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (Hirshman, 1964) is significant in OLS and robust to instrumental variable estimation. Because the total market diversity metric is arguably superior to the incremental metric as a measure of overall diversity, this result is useful-it suggests that the total diversity of local news content within a DMA is sensitive to the level of concentration.     

Cultivation Effects on Quality of Life Indicators: Exploring the Effects of American Television Consumption on Feelings of Relative Deprivation in South Korea and India

A hypothetical path model investigated how viewing U.S. television would be associated with feelings of relative deprivation among Asians. The South Korean survey data (N = 352) revealed that viewing U.S. television was associated with estimates of Americans' affluence, and the estimates were in turn associated with dissatisfaction with Korean society. The Indian survey data (N = 333) showed that viewing U.S. television was directly associated with both dissatisfaction with personal life and dissatisfaction with Indian society. The findings suggest that people in both countries may universally experience perceptions of relative deprivation associated with U.S. television consumption.     

Messages About Sex on Israeli Television: Comparing Local and Foreign Programming

A content analysis of 584 prime-time programs examines messages about sex on Israeli television, comparing local and foreign shows. A 2-week composite sample from 7 commercial broadcast, cable, and satellite channels is analyzed. Results show that sexual content is highly prevalent, with a significantly higher frequency in foreign than local shows. Less than 20% of programs with sexual content address sexual health and risks; foreign shows again exceed local ones. Few differences emerge between local and foreign content in the contextual presentation of sex. Findings are discussed in light of theory, research, and implications for audience effects, policy, and education.     

Market Structure and Local Signal Carriage Decisions in the Cable Television Industry: Results From Count Analysis

Using historical data collected by the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) in 1990 (GAO, 1990), a time when the must-carry rules were not in effect, this study empirically tested the effects of horizontal concentration, vertical integration, and other system-specific variables on cable operators' carriage decisions regarding local television stations. Results from the negative binomial regression model (a count model) indicate that horizontal concentration or firm size had a negative effect on cable system carriage of local broadcast stations, holding other factors constant. However, the study did not find any significant vertical integration effects on such carriage.     

The American Community Survey: An introduction to the basics

The Bureau of the Census initiated the American Community Survey (ACS) in 2005. It will revolutionize the use of census data by providing annual updates to statistics that in the past were collected only every 10 years. Statistics will be published for areas of 65,000 people or more every year. The Bureau of the Census will distribute data for areas of between 20,000 and 64,999 in "3-year period averages." The first 3 year average will appear in 2008 covering 2005–2007. Subsequent data will be issued annually for the following three year periods. (e.g., 2006–2008, 2007–2009) Statistics for areas smaller than 19,999 will be published in 5-year period averages, the first to be published in 2010 covering 2005–2009. Subsequent data to be issued annually will cover 2006–2010, 2007–20011, … This paper provides background information about ACS, similarities and differences between it and the decennial census, the interpretation of statistics based upon period averages, relationships among ACS and other Bureau of the Census Surveys, and the expected future of the survey.     

Personal and Organizational Predictors of Compassion Fatigue Symptoms in Local Television Journalists

Compassion fatigue is a form of traumatic stress that results from repeated encounters with victims of trauma and traumatic situations. Most often studied in counselors, nurses, and first responders, this study applies the concept to journalists who often encounter the same victims and traumatic scenes. Seventy reporters from different television markets were measured for the personal and professional factors that contribute to compassion fatigue symptoms and its components of secondary traumatic stress and burnout. Results showed personal traumatic events and perceived peer support were the strongest predictors of compassion fatigue symptoms in television reporters. Implications for reporter self-care and newsroom protocols are discussed.     

Media Ownership Regulations and Local News Programming on Broadcast Television: An Empirical Analysis

This study analyzes the provision of local news programming on local television and its relation with station ownership characteristics and market conditions. The results show that station financial strength and market competition have a significant, positive relation with the quantity of local news programming. However, there is little evidence that ownership characteristics (e.g., duopoly ownership and ownership by one of the big 4 broadcast networks) contribute to local news production. The findings call into question one of the underlying rationales of the Federal Communication Commission's current policies toward more relaxed national and multiple ownership rules.     

Predicting the Adoption of Mobile DTV by Local Television Stations in the United States

Just a few years after local TV stations transitioned from analog to digital transmissions, dozens of stations across the United States have begun to provide live programming via mobile digital television (DTV). An exploratory study of television station managers (adopters and non-adopters of mobile DTV) focused on various perspectives of the technology, adoption motivations, and audience factors. Findings revealed that station owners and management were the ones who primarily determined whether to adopt mobile DTV. In addition, stations that had adopted the technology were more likely than non-adopters to be motivated by a desire to be the first to use mobile DTV.     

Visitors' Role in an Exhibition Debate: Science in American Life

In the year after the exhibition Science in American Life opened at the National Museum of American History objections were raised by the exhibition's chief sponsor, the American Chemical Society, and by the American Physical Society. These critics argued that the exhibition gave the public a negative view of science. The Institutional Studies Office was asked to conduct a study to determine whether or not the exhibition was affecting visitors' views of science, and, if so, in what direction. Using an entrance/exit survey design, the study determined conclusively that the visiting public entered the exhibition with a very positive view of science and technology and that their views were reinforced and confirmed by the experience of Science in American Life, rather than changed in either a positive or negative direction.     

Race and Gender: An Analysis of the Sources and Reporters in Local Television Coverage of the 2002 Michigan Gubernatorial Campaign

This study examined how race and gender of reporters and community diversity influenced use of women and minority sources in local television coverage of the 2002 governor's race in Michigan. Content analysis of campaign stories broadcasted by four local television stations revealed that women reporters were more likely than their male colleagues to use women and nonpartisan sources such as experts and ordinary citizens. But minority journalists were only slightly more likely to use minority sources and were less likely than nonminorities to use nonpartisan sources.     

Using Twitter for Promotion and Branding: A Content Analysis of Local Television Twitter Sites

A content analysis examined the Twitter sites of 488 local television stations in the United States, based on a strategic and tactical model of media promotion. One finding of the study was that news stories were the most frequently occurring items on the sites. However, stations that offered news items also seldom promoted their regular newscasts. Overall, stations did not appear to use Twitter to direct viewers to the station's on-air programming.