scholarly journals The Integrative Complexity of Media Reports of Natural Disasters: A Preliminary Analysis

2019 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 601-605
Author(s):  
Hayley McCullough ◽  
Michael J. Kalsher
Keyword(s):  
Natural Disasters ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Television News ◽  
News Coverage ◽  
Dependent Measure ◽  
Integrative Complexity ◽  
Intellectual Style ◽  
Information Problem Solving ◽  
Media Reports ◽  
News Networks

Integrative complexity is a measure of the intellectual style used by individuals or groups in processing information, problem-solving, and decision making. Research generally shows that integratively complex thinkers are better able to reach mutually advantageous solutions to complex problems, although they may also be less likely to act when necessary. A substantial portion of the published research on integrative complexity comes from political scientists who have focused on examining linguistic distinctions across the liberal-conservative political spectrum. In this research, we assessed integrative complexity in a sample of news stories concerning natural disasters (hurricanes, wildfires and floods) from three television news networks that span the liberal-conservative spectrum. The results showed that the news coverage of the network considered to be more liberal in its reporting scored significantly higher in integrative complexity than the news coverage of the more conservative network. These findings align with previous research that has used integrative complexity as a dependent measure. We discuss the practical implications of these findings as they relate to the quality of decisions made by relevant officials that typically precedes and follows large-scale natural disasters.

scholarly journals News coverage and attitudes on immigration: Public and commercial television news compared

2016 ◽  
Vol 31 (6) ◽  
pp. 642-660 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Jacobs ◽  
Cecil Meeusen ◽  
Leen d’Haenens
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Television News ◽  
News Coverage ◽  
Negativity Bias ◽  
Commercial Television ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Balanced Information ◽  
Over Time

Public and commercial news follow distinct logics. We evaluate this duality in television news coverage on immigration. First, by means of a large-scale content analysis of Flemish television news ( N = 1630), we investigate whether immigration coverage diverges between both broadcasters. Results show that, despite an overall negativity bias and relative homogeneity between the broadcasters, commercial news contains slightly more sensational and tabloid characteristics than public news. The latter promotes a more balanced view of immigration. These differences are stable over time. Second, using cross-sectional and panel data, we assess whether a preference for public versus commercial news is associated with an attitudinal gap in anti-immigrant attitudes. Findings demonstrate that individuals who prefer commercial news are more negative towards immigrants. We suggest that differences in news content may explain this attitudinal gap. In light of the debate around ‘public value’ offered by public service media across Europe, we tentatively conclude that public broadcasters have the potential to foster tolerance and provide balanced information by prioritizing a normative view over a market logic. The linkage between news coverage and the gap in attitudes between commercial and public news viewers warrants closer investigation in the future.

scholarly journals Education Coverage in Television News: A Typology and Analysis of 35 Years of Topics

AERA Open ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 233285841775169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Coe ◽  
Paul J. Kuttner
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
Television News ◽  
News Coverage ◽  
The United States ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Data Set ◽  
The Public ◽  
Online Appendix ◽  
News Networks ◽  
K 12

News media play a significant role in the education policy arena, informing the public about pressing issues and influencing how such issues are prioritized and understood. For this reason, researchers are increasingly raising concerns about how much attention news media give to education, which topics are covered, and how topics are addressed. In this article, the authors advance this growing body of research through a quantitative content analysis of the topics in national television news coverage of pre-K–12 (early childhood through high school) education in the United States over the past 35 years. The authors present their typology of education topics, providing a foundation for future research in this area, and analyze major trends. This article also serves as an introduction to a new data set: 2,322 abstracts, representing all substantial education news coverage from the three major evening news networks, included as an online appendix.

scholarly journals Television News Coverage of Public Health Issues and Implications for Public Health Policy and Practice

2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 167-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah E. Gollust ◽  
Erika Franklin Fowler ◽  
Jeff Niederdeppe
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Policy ◽  
Public Health Policy ◽  
Television News ◽  
News Coverage ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
Public Attention ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Tv News ◽  
Health Policy And Practice

Television (TV) news, and especially local TV news, remains an important vehicle through which Americans obtain information about health-related topics. In this review, we synthesize theory and evidence on four main functions of TV news in shaping public health policy and practice: reporting events and information to the public (surveillance); providing the context for and meaning surrounding health issues (interpretation); cultivating community values, beliefs, and norms (socialization); and attracting and maintaining public attention for advertisers (attention merchant). We also identify challenges for TV news as a vehicle for improving public health, including declining audiences, industry changes such as station consolidation, increasingly politicized content, potential spread of misinformation, and lack of attention to inequity. We offer recommendations for public health practitioners and researchers to leverage TV news to improve public health and advance health equity.

Media coverage of the unfolding crisis of domestic terrorism in the United States, 1990–2020

2021 ◽  
pp. 2046147X2199601
Author(s):  
Diana Zulli ◽  
Kevin Coe ◽  
Zachary Isaacs ◽  
Ian Summers
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Relations ◽  
Crisis Management ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Television News ◽  
News Coverage ◽  
The United States ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Domestic Terrorism ◽  
Definitional Uncertainty

Public relations research has paid considerable attention to foreign terrorist crises but relatively little attention to domestic ones—despite the growing salience of domestic terrorism in the United States. This study content analyzes 30 years of network television news coverage of domestic terrorism to gain insight into four theoretical issues of enduring interest within the literature on news framing and crisis management: sourcing, contextualization, ideological labeling, and definitional uncertainty. Results indicate that the sources called upon to contextualize domestic terrorism have shifted over time, that ideological labels are more often applied on the right than the left, and that definitional uncertainty has increased markedly in recent years. Implications for the theory and practice of public relations and crisis management are discussed.

Network Television News Coverage of Environmental Risks

1989 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 16-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael R. Greenberg ◽  
Peter M. Sandman ◽  
David B. Sachsman ◽  
Kandice L. Salomone
Keyword(s):  
Television News ◽  
News Coverage ◽  
Environmental Risks ◽  
Network Television

Denigration of Authority? Television News Coverage of the Student Movement

1974 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 637-660 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard A. Pride ◽  
Barbara Richards
Keyword(s):  
Television News ◽  
News Coverage ◽  
Student Movement

Looking over the channel: The balance of media coverage about the “refugee crisis” in Germany and the UK

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcus Maurer ◽  
Jörg Haßler ◽  
Simon Kruschinski ◽  
Pablo Jost
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Television News ◽  
News Coverage ◽  
Value Theory ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Refugee Crisis ◽  
British Government ◽  
News Value ◽  
The Uk

Abstract This study compares the balance of newspaper and television news coverage about migration in two countries that were differently affected by the so-called “refugee crisis” in 2015 in terms of the geopolitical involvement and numbers of migrants being admitted. Based on a broad consensus among political elites, Germany left its borders open and received about one million migrants mainly from Syria during 2015. In contrast, the conservative British government was heavily attacked by oppositional parties for closing Britain’s borders and, thus, restricting immigration. These different initial situations led to remarkable differences between the news coverage in both countries. In line with news value theory, German media outlets reported much more on migration than did their British counterparts. In line with indexing theory, German news coverage consonantly reflected the consensual view of German political elites, while British news media reported along their general editorial lines.

Disaster Preparedness

1985 ◽  
Vol 1 (S1) ◽  
pp. 118-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. L. Quarantelli
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Natural Disasters ◽  
Emergency Medical Service ◽  
Disaster Preparedness ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Medical Service ◽  
The United States ◽  
Mass Casualties ◽  
Disaster Plan ◽  
Emergency Medical

The 1973 Emergency Medical Services System Act in the United States mandates that one of the 15 functions to be performed by every EMS system is coordinated disaster planning. Implicit in the legislation is the assumption that everyday emergency medical service (EMS) systems will be the basis for the provisions of EMS in extraordinary mass emergencies, or in the language of the act, during “mass casualties, natural disasters or national emergencies.” Policy interpretations of the Act specified that the EMS system must have links to local, regional and state disaster plans and must participate in biannual disaster plan exercises. Thus, the newly established EMS systems have been faced with both planning for, as well as providing services in large-scale disasters.

Image and Reality in Travel Decision-Making: A Case From Lake Atitlán, Guatemala

2012 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 42-43
Author(s):  
Carla Pezzia
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Natural Disasters ◽  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Criminal Activity ◽  
Recent History ◽  
Lake Atitlan ◽  
Global Economic Crisis ◽  
History Of ◽  
Media Reports ◽  
Travel Decision

Recent media reports indicate a decrease in tourism nationwide in Guatemala. In Panajachel, the second most visited destination in Guatemala, there has been an observable decline in both international and national-based tourism. Three primary factors contribute to this decline in Panajachel: 1. Global Economic Crisis 2. Recent history of natural disasters 3. Increased criminal activity and drug-related violence

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