Political bias in the news coverage of Taiwan's first presidential election: A comparative analysis of broadcast TV and cable TV news

This research examines how TV reported the campaign and the candidates during Taiwan's first‐ever presidential election in 1996.

A content analysis of evening news coverage of six TV stations indicated that the state‐owned broadcast TV stations were far more likely than the privately owned cable TV stations to give a greater amount of coverage and soundbites to the ruling party presidential and vice presidential candidates, using the ruling party officials as principal news sources. The TV Stations’ coverage also contained more news favourable to the ruling party candidates than to other candidates.

The future may well see a turning point in TV election coverage as well as in general news coverage in Taiwan. The three state‐owned broadcast TV stations face competition from privately owned cable TV stations and may soon be confronted with the loss of public trust and audience, unless they can provide fair and balanced news free from government control.     

Framing Falun Gong: Xinhua news agency's coverage of the new religious movement in China

Falun Gong caught the eyes of the Beijing leadership when more than 10,000 of its practitioners gathered at the Zhongnanhai government compound in Beijing on April 25, 1999. It attracted the attention of the world when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started cracking down on the group three months later, claiming this to be the most serious political incident since the student uprising at Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989. Scholars have attempted to contextualize the cultural, political, and economic climate in contemporary China that allowed this group to rise in a relatively short period and to assess the causes of the CCP's nationwide campaign oppressing the group. Relatively little attention, however, has been paid to exploring the media's role in supporting the government's cause in this campaign. This study examines journalistic narrative and framing of Falun Gong as a social threat in one news organization's attempt to legitimize the government's crackdown against the group. Although the economic reforms and political relaxation since the 1980s might have expanded the media's latitude, the press, especially state-owned media outlets, still functions as an agent for the Beijing regime in important political and social issues. This paper shows how journalists, through news frames, construct particular parameters within which to assess the ‘reality’ about Falun Gong.     

Saving some news for later: The making and gatekeeping process of the national TV news filler

This paper follows the news routine of the daily evening news broadcasts of the two Israeli commercial TV channels. It is about a very particular and significant moment in national TV news—the making and gatekeeping process of the national TV news filler, also known by the Israeli news people as the shelf item. Based on a thematic analysis of in-depth interviews with several Israeli TV news professionals and a textual analysis of a particular TV news item and its shelf potential, findings provide a glimpse at how and for what reasons news stories are prioritized, how gatekeeping is performed in national TV news, and the ways in which the stories that are kept aside and left for later illustrate the overall production of newsworthiness.     

Communicating deviance: The effects of television news coverage of social protest

Past research raises concern that media coverage may unfairly bias the audience against social protesters by portraying them as deviant. Furthermore, negative treatment of protest groups may discourage protest as a form of democratic participation. To examine whether such concerns are indeed warranted, an experiment was conducted exposing 266 subjects to one of two television news stories about the same protest. Results indicate that subtle differences in the news stories led to significant differences in subjects’ perceptions of the protesters and police, but no differences in perceptions of the utility of social protest in general.     

Environmental news: coverage of the Earth Summit by Brazilian newspapers

This article examines how two important Brazilian newspapers (Floha de S. Paulo and O Globo) covered the UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) or Earth Summit. The analysis will also determine the characteristics of the environmental media and its significance when it comes to coverage of environmental issues. This article provides historical background information on the environmental media in the US and in Brazil, contextual information on the Earth Summit, a content analysis of stories about UNCED published by the two Brazilian newspapers. Overall, 649 news items were used to determine the type of sources used, as well as the kind of issues covered. The analysis showed that government officials were the most frequently cited sources, while environmentalists and scientists were all but ignored as news sources. The analysis also indicated that economic issues were surprisingly prominent in the coverage. These results are compatible with the previous studies done in several countries and indicate that environmental media are still extremely reliant on "official" voices. The finding also highlight the fact that the range of issues covered by the environmental media largely reflects the perceived public agenda.     

Bias in television news coverage of political events: A methodological analysis

Scholars have long debated the adequacy of women's images on television. This study traced the development of trends and economic influences in serial programming devoted to single working women since 1966. Results suggest that the networks have made considerable progress in the quantity and status of roles presénted, but minority females continue to be underrepresented. Individual network contributions also vary, suggesting that role characterizations are more a function of program economics than social advocacy.     

论区域电视媒体高位竞争的路径选择

当代国际范围的媒体变革,促使中国电视传媒发生着前所未有的分化和改变。凭借特殊媒介资源的核心媒体,正在逐步丧失独霸市场的专属权和主导话语的掌控权,而许多地方媒体通过整合资源,开始“强势出击”,以求在一定时空内主导市场。区域电视媒体参与竞争,最终得走区域性竞争之路,但它又是在高位运行的,表现为:高起点的组合型博弈,寻求文化上的贴近性;由“分众”到“适位受众”,以“窄播”实现专业化的亲和力量;通过定制化产品的深度开发,张显服务的增值效能。也就是说,区域电视媒体应该努力让自己变成某种意义上的“大媒体”,借助优势嫁接,资金、人才、管道的共享,实现传媒的产业化转型,在信息深加工中博取自己广阔的生存发展空间。     

The Sinclair Effect: Comparing Ownership Influences on Bias in Local TV News Content

Sinclair Broadcast Group, the largest owner of U.S. local television stations, has received recent attention due to its apparent political lean and journalistic practices. This study compared the content and quality of national political news stories at Sinclair and non-Sinclair stations in three television markets. Results indicated evidence of a “Sinclair Effect,” whereby Sinclair-owned affiliate stories exhibited more cable news-style elements. Stations generally adhered to traditional journalistic principles, regardless of ownership, but Sinclair stations produced more stories with dramatic elements, commentary, and partisan sources.     

Examining the effects of news coverage linking undocumented immigrants with criminality: Policy and punitive implications

Although research suggests that there is no meaningful real-world connection between crime rates and undocumented immigrants, media coverage of this group almost exclusively portrays them as criminals. The present two-study investigation experimentally tests the effects of exposure to crime news depicting undocumented immigrant suspects on White viewers’ social judgments. To this end, assumptions from social identity theory were applied to research and theorizing on mediated intergroup threat and compound penalties for immigrant criminality. Results from Study 1 and Study 2 indicate that when White viewers are exposed to threatening crime news featuring undocumented immigrants, out-group bias emerges in the form of harsher sentencing. In Study 1, when exposed to highly threatening coverage, attitudes toward immigration and in-group identification partially mediated and moderated this relationship, respectively.     

Issue obtrusiveness and negative bias: exploring the moderating factors for asymmetric news coverage of the economy

This study investigates whether the negative asymmetry in economic news coverage is influenced according to the obtrusiveness of an issue. The numbers of positive and negative economic news articles in two South Korean newspapers were compared to the actual economic situations. Consumer prices/unemployment and the gross domestic product/trade balance were studied as obtrusive issues and as unobtrusive issues, respectively. As a result, the obtrusive issues showed typical asymmetry through which negative changes were followed by a significantly greater amount of news coverage, while positive changes were not paid attention to by the news media. In the case of the unobtrusive issues, the newspapers followed neither positive nor negative economic changes. Only one newspaper covered one of the unobtrusive issues, the trade balance, in an asymmetric way. The investigation of the spectrum of journalistic attention and examination of moderating factors for journalistic asymmetry is discussed.     

Rethinking localism in the broadband era: A participatory community development approach

This research presents findings from a case study of how three municipal access channels were transformed into channelAustin, a digital community access center in Austin, TX. More generally, it addresses the question of how states and municipal governments can employ video franchise resources to promote sustainable adoption and use of broadband services. Drawing on participatory approaches to community development, this paper offers a model of community participation in local information ecosystems to guide planning and evaluation of these interventions. Findings indicate that digital community media projects like channelAustin can help municipalities serve information needs of ethnically diverse local publics, while also promoting advanced digital skills, economic opportunities, civic engagement, and social cohesion. However, the article recommends that more attention be placed on community outreach, partnerships with nonprofits and other local public media, local curation of citizen-produced, digital content, and the consolidation of accessible online distribution channels through which residents can connect and deliberate about local issues. I discuss the implication of these findings for efforts to connect broadband and media localism policies in the U.S.     

地方台电视讲坛类节目的生存策略

地方电视台的电视讲坛节目要想立足竞争日益激烈的电视节目市场,必须摆脱<百家讲坛>的影响,根据当地的经济文化特点和爱众需求实现创新与突破,找准定位、办出特色,才能获得自己的生存空间.     

电视文献纪录片：文献公布新视野

自1980年中共中央作出“开放历史档案”的决定以来,我国的档案文献编纂工作一直在改革中前进,在创新中发展,取得了史无前例的伟大成就。这一成就不仅表现为各级各类档案部门和科研(文化)机构编纂的诸如《中共中央文件选集》、《雍正朝汉文朱批奏折》、《中华民国史档案史料汇编》、《敦煌文献分类录校丛……     

地方电台生存与发展初探

本文对地方电视台的生存和发展现状进行了分析。     

A comparison of the TV audio and radio coverage of a special event

The ever‐increasing length of broadcast coverage of the orbital flights of our Astronauts is only one example of the ever increasing use of the radio and television media to capture the “here” and “now.” Although audiences are large for this sort of programming, it is unlikely that it will be large enough to provide sufficient revenue to pay for the enormous cost of major special events coverages. Richard Lindheim, a graduate student in the Department of Telecommunications of the University of Southern California, has performed a pilot investigation which leads to the conclusion that some of broadcastings effort at the coverage of special events may be redundant.     

手机电视重构收视媒介新格局

手机电视以其便携性、移动性和互动性的特点。改变了传统电视的家庭收视方式，宣告了一个“新收视时代”的到来。手机电视开拓了一个新的注意力资源，形成了新的经济增长点。手机电视时代的到来，将对大众传媒现存格局造成极大的冲击，改变电视的传统运营模式，影响大众传播的内容，也改变大众的文化生活。     

论地方电视媒体社会责任的缺失与重构

社会责任是媒介的根本属性,重视和履行社会职责,引导社会舆论为社会发展目标服务,促进和推动各种社会实践的开展是时代赋予媒介的首要历史使命。地方电视媒体作为媒介系统的重要组成部分,要不断适应任务和使命的需要,围绕社会发展目标,     

2003:电视让新闻走进生活--关于新闻栏目与话语变革的描述

2003年,中国电视新闻的播报方式有了很大的突破.基于新闻播报方式的改变,主持人的话语方式也有了变革.本文以<马斌读报>、<有报天天读>和<社会记录>等电视新闻栏目为例,来探讨随着电视新闻的话语方式的改变,电视新闻如何更贴近观众,贴近生活.     

论县级电视台新闻节目的地方性

有线电视的普及和大台专业频道的不断涌现使观众的选择余地越来越大。作为县级电视台“招牌菜”的新闻节目也面临 着严峻的挑战。县级电视台新闻节目存在的问题有哪些?问题的症结何在?面对挑战,县级电视台应该如何扬长避短,办出具有地方特 色的新闻节目?本文作者结合自身实践作了一些思考。     

跨国电视传播新格局及其“新式新闻”特征

随着信息技术的发展和国际社会的多元化 ,跨国电视传播格局也出现了新变化 ,形成了纵横交错的传播竞争架构。其主要传播特征之一的“新式新闻”传播 ,更趋于树立大新闻观和大信息观 ,体现了世界方位的新闻 (包括文化娱乐 )节目的着眼点。“新式新闻”传播使国际传播主体赢得更多的节目覆盖、话语空间或市场占有。