Filmed in Front of a Live Studio Audience: Laughter and Aggression in Political Entertainment Programming

Shows blending humor and information are on the rise, and many such shows incorporate live studio audiences. Using two separate experimental studies, we test whether audience laughter on humorous political talk shows affects audience perceptions. We find that the effects of audience laughter depend on context, boosting perceptions of host and program credibility when a host is unknown, while reminding viewers of the comedic intentions and appeal of a known comedic host. If humor allows the hosts of comedic political talk shows more freedom to pointedly question their guests without turning off viewers, it may better engage and inform audiences.     

Change Your Life! Confession and Conversion in Telemundo's Cambia Tu Vida

In recent years, no television genre has generated more discussion and public outcry in the United States than talk shows. The talk show genre also creates strong feelings in the academic world. The academic literature shows polarization between scholars who believe that the shows are damaging and those who argue that talk shows can be empowering for underrepresented societal sectors. These discussions, however, have not included talk shows broadcast on the Spanish-speaking networks Telemundo and Univision. Drawing on Foucault's conceptualizations of regimes of truth and confession, this paper analyzes Cambia Tu Vida (Change Your Life), a Telemundo show whose host is Catholic priest Father Alberto Cutie-Padre Alberto. Cambia Tu Vida evidences the workings of the confession as a truth-producing mode that supports and underpins particular power relationships and regimes of truth.     

Radio Sports Talk and the Fantasies of Sport

Rhetorical analysis of radio talk shows in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, home of the Louisiana State University “Fighting Tigers” college football team, revealed that the talk shows gave Tiger fans opportunities to share creative interpretations of events. This helped them cope with moments of perceived crisis when the team lost, and solidified their identity as tied to regional pride and the values of work, race, and masculinity. The talk shows also promoted fantasies about college athletics, essentially designating the university's athletic tradition as the most important activity on campus. In this sense, radio sports talk helps blur the line between amateur and professional sports and oversimplifies the complex mission of higher education.     

两岸娱乐谈话节目话轮控制的比较研究——以《超级访问》和《康熙来了》为例

本文以《超级访问》和《康熙来了》这两档大陆和台湾持续热播的娱乐谈话节目为例,从嘉宾占有话轮、主持人把持话轮以及话语打断现象这三方面入手进行了比较分析,指出现今两岸娱乐谈话节目在话轮控制上存在的共性和诸多差异。随着萨克斯(H.Sacks)等人提出的话轮转换理论在电视娱乐谈话节目中的广泛应用,作者对当下娱乐谈话节目主持人在访谈中如何进行话轮转换作了尝试性的探讨。     

Communication and emergent group leadership: Does content count?

Past research has been clear that talk time during discussion is directly associated with emergent group leadership, but has been inconsistent concerning whether communication content has an effect. The present study directly examines whether content has any impact on perceptions of leadership above the impact of quantity of talk. It utilizes a re‐analysis of data previously described in Pavitt, Whitchurch, McClurg, & Petersen (1995), consisting of a content analysis of discussion by zero‐history groups performing an ad‐hoc task and standing groups performing a task with real consequences to the members. Results suggest that content may count for the standing groups but not for the zero‐history. The implication, that content counts when groups perform “real”; tasks but not ad‐hoc exercises, may disambiguate the earlier ambiguous findings.     

Maintaining the moral order: a functional analysis of "The Jerry Springer Show"

The prevalence of verbal and physical aggression on daytime television talk shows has earned this genre the designation of “confrontainment.” In recent times academics, politicians, clergy, and media critics have frequently and publicly expressed their concern about the violation of moral values featured on the “The Jerry Springer Show.” On the other hand, sociologists in the functionalist tradition argue that commonly held moral values must be violated and the villains publicly punished for their transgressions to mark and reinforce moral boundaries. The goal of the study reported here was to assess the potential of “The Jerry Springer Show” for fulfilling these social maintenance functions. A content analysis of 100 episodes of the show over an eight-month period revealed that deviance from traditional family values is frequently featured on the show but that the studio audience and Jerry Springer played active roles in the public degradation of these transgressions, casting the show in a morally conservative light.     

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.     

Theory talk in the library science scholarly literature: An exploratory analysis

In the discipline of library and information science (LIS), a qualitative analysis of the meaningful use of theory in contemporary scholarly literature is critical to helping scholars expand their repertoire of knowledge about various theories and helping them make informed decisions about how to skillfully integrate theory in their research. This study explored how theory was presented and talked about in seven prominent library science-focused journals from 2009 to 2011. Through a process of analytic induction, categories representing a continuum of theory talk were identified and their relationships examined. Three main types of theory talk in library research are defined, ranging from minimal (theory dropping), moderate (theory conversation), to major (theory generation). The categories and their relationships generate a rich discussion about the intensity and degree to which theory is being discussed and used in a less-examined subset of library and information science research journals. This research contributes both an explanatory structure and substantive discussion regarding theory use in library science to the professional literature.     

Communication and Citizenship: Mapping the Political Effects of Infotainment

Political candidates and citizens alike have been turning to nontraditional, "softer" sources of political information such as late-night comedy and daytime talk shows. This is particularly true during presidential elections, when candidates make guest appearances to reach audience members who may or may not be politically engaged, and when discussion of political affairs becomes more prominent. What are the effects of consuming such media content? Using data from the 2000 National Annenberg Election Survey, we examine the effects of watching late-night comedy shows and candidates' appearances on Oprah on various forms of citizenship. Results indicate that watching political infotainment can enhance political engagement, but not for all sectors of the electorate and not all the time. Exposure to late-night comedy and political content on Oprah was associated with increased levels of participation. However, for late-night comedy viewing, the positive association between exposure and 2 criterion variables—intent to vote and interpersonal political discussion—was significantly more pronounced among political sophisticates.     

When Oprah Intervenes: Political Correlates of Daytime Talk Show Viewing

This study examined the influence of daytime talk shows on opinion formation. Using agenda-setting and cultivation perspectives, it was hypothesized that both exposure to daytime talk shows and the apparent reality of these shows would be positively related to support for government involvement in social issues. In addition to exposure and apparent reality being positively related to levels of support, it was also found that both talk show exposure and respondent's reported perception of the apparent reality of television played a moderating role in the relationship between political ideology and support for government involvement in family issues. This study demonstrated that daytime talk shows can play a significant role in public opinion formation.     

Communication Mediation Model of Late-Night Comedy: The Mediating Role of Structural Features of Interpersonal Talk Between Comedy Viewing and Political Participation

This study advances a communication mediation model of late-night comedy in an effort to understand the process wherein consuming satirical humor indirectly spurs political participation via the conduit of interpersonal talk about politics. The theoretical model was tested utilizing two different research designs. The findings from the experiment and the survey provide considerable support for the model, demonstrating that various structural features of interpersonal talk (e.g., discussion frequency, online interaction, and network size) positively mediate the association between late-night comedy viewing and political participation. Meanwhile, the assessments concerning the mediating role of heterogeneous discussion illustrate that late-night comedy can draw a higher level of political involvement from those who are highly educated. The present study urges the field to extend the scope of the communication mediation model by incorporating a greater number of media channels and more diverse aspects of interpersonal talk.     

浅析电视谈话节目的文化意义

本文对电视谈话节目体现出的文化意义进行理性探讨,尝试着借此以期对中国目前的谈话节目制作提供一点有益的借鉴。     

A Grounded Practical Theory Reconstruction of the Communication Practice of Instructor-facilitated Collegiate Classroom Discussion

Instructor-facilitated collegiate classroom discussion (IFCCD) is a highly valued yet undertheorized instructional practice. Research examining the structure of classroom interaction, scholarship advocating rationales for discussion-based pedagogy, and an investigation of a related interactive classroom communication practice provide an informative backdrop for this study. The data in the study were collected using action-implicative discourse analytic techniques throughout a semester in three classrooms at the same university. Reconstructing the three levels of the practice through grounded practical theory—the problem/dilemma level, the normative situated ideals level, and the talk/discourse techniques level—provides some insight into why in two of these cases of IFCCD, engaged and participatory discussion was accomplished. The shared dilemma of the practice is reconstructed as the problem of engagement in which both individual engagement with curricular content and shared engagement in co-creation of the discussion are valued. The dilemmatic nature of the practice is explored specifically in terms of traditional and nontraditional teacher talk and associated participation structures. Significant similarities and differences across the three cases are found and examined in the reconstructions of instructor situated ideals and third-turn facilitation techniques. Initial conclusions are incorporated in the discussion of discourse-based applications for practitioners interested in facilitating discussion in college classrooms.     

Tweeting but not Talking: The Missing Element in Talk Radio's Institutional Use of Twitter

The interplay between Twitter and media organizations has been an increasing area of research. This article examines how talk radio stations have adopted Twitter at an institutional level, based on a comparative study of the official accounts of three prominent talk radio stations in Canada in 2010 and 2011. While talk radio is considered an interpersonal medium, our analysis shows the stations mainly use Twitter as a one-way medium to broadcast news updates, rather than to engage with audiences. Our findings suggest a divergence between institutional and individual social media practices, with official accounts as formal channels of communication.     

Genetic influence on political discussion: Results from two twin studies

ABSTRACT

Two twin studies are used to explore genetic influence on political discussion. Results from both studies demonstrate latent genetic traits account for, on average, 40.63% of variance in traditional and online political talk, discussion with agreement and disagreement, and political conflict avoidance. Taken together, the findings suggest a heritable genetic mechanism may partly explain why individuals vary across multiple dimensions of political discussion and differentially experience discussion effects. Implications for the political discussion effects literature and for reconceptualizing the etiology of political discussion are discussed.     

Negotiation Games

This study analyzes the interpretive repertoires used by public relations (PR) advisors of Dutch politicians to describe their relations with talk show journalists. A qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews revealed that the dominant repertoires come from the realm of play. PR advisors downplay the power struggle to position politicians on talk shows as a competitive game while at the same time they legitimize their close relationships with journalists with another play metaphor, the rehearsed stage play. Moreover, comparing politicians’ appearances on talk shows with stage performances gives them the opportunity to brush aside the contradiction between their extensive pre-broadcast preparations and the authentic appearance they attempt to emulate. Studying the interpretive repertoires of advisors working in PR and how they fruitfully combine the elements of struggle and cooperation sheds light on the structures and strategies that define journalist–source relationships. It provides insights into how PR advisors perceive and enact their own role, which often goes unnoticed both in research and by the general public.     

The Role of Values in Predicting Talk Radio Listening: A Model of Value Equivalence

Nontraditional sources of news, such as talk radio and the Internet, complement and sometimes replace traditional mainstream news sources. Using discriminant function analysis, this study reveals the role of values in predicting listening to political talk and religious radio programs. A model using the construct of “value equivalence” explains value differences between user and media that may affect whether or not news from nontraditional sources will be sought and used. Research questions are answered using data from the 2004 Pew Research Center Biennial Consumption Survey. Using selected independent variables (including value-based variables) to predict listening to the Rush Limbaugh program, 59% of all cases in this study were correctly classified. Using the same set of value-based variables to predict listening to religious radio shows yielded nearly 74% correctly classified cases.     

Living in the Smartphone Age: Examining the Conditional Indirect Effects of Mobile Phone Use on Political Participation

Employing original survey data, this study examined how mobile phone communication is associated with political participation. Findings revealed that informational use of mobile phone and mobile-based political talk are positively associated with political participation. Specifically, using a mobile smartphone for news and information leads to increased levels of political participation through mobile-mediated political discussion. More importantly, we found gaps in political participation between individuals with higher and lower education levels: education significantly moderates the mediating relationship, with more educated individuals showing a stronger effect of mobile phone use for news/information on political participation through mobile-mediated political discussion.     

数字化文献和语义网络的本体论意义

文章讨论数字化文献的组织形式和语义网的本体论意义。在文献组织中讨论了元数据和对象的关系以及对象的本体认识，语义网讨论了实用分类系统以及语义网的智慧发展趋势，并以此为基础阐述了世界、数字对象以及语义网络三者之间的关系。     

The Economics of Scholarly Publishing

SUMMARY

The three presentations in this session provide an introduction to the economic challenges faced by small scholarly publishers. The first talk reviews trends in the library market and publishing trends of increased monopolization; the second describes the demands of technological innovation; and the final talk presents a budgetary case study from a medium-sized society publisher evaluating the impact of dropping the production of print journals. After the three talks, a list of eight recommendations for alleviating the pressure on small publishers was presented for audience discussion. The three speakers are all active in the Society for Scholarly Publishing (SSP) and invite a closer collaboration with NASIG. Kasdorf is a Past President and Ivins and Seitter are Board members. All three are committee chairs or co-chairs.