How Politics on Television Has Changed

Author(s):  
Diana C. Mutz

This chapter looks at content analysis evaluating the ways in which the visual content of television has changed since the inception of television news. By analyzing news programs that have aired continuously since the 1960s, it demonstrates that even within mainstream legacy media such as network news broadcasts, in-your-face politics is increasingly prominent. As an audiovisual medium, a television has effects that the same content would not produce if conveyed purely through audio or print. So regardless of whether politicians are any more rude and unpleasant than they were before, viewers experience incivility in a way that is far more noticeable and influential than it once was. Americans now see and experience political conflict from a perspective that was impossible in the past.

1992 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
pp. 406-412 ◽  
Author(s):  
David K. Scott ◽  
Robert H. Gobetz

In recent years there has been a slight tendency for television network news programs to increase the amount of soft news presented mostly during the last one-third of the newscast. Content analysis of the Vanderbilt Television News Abstracts from 1972 through 1987 shows that, although all networks did increase the amount of soft news, this type news remained a small part of the newscast. Soft news is defined as stories that focus on a human interest topic, feature or nonpolicy issue.


Journalism ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (11) ◽  
pp. 1534-1551
Author(s):  
Amanda Alencar ◽  
Sanne Kruikemeier

This study investigates to what extent audiovisual infotainment features can be found in the narrative structure of television news in three European countries. Content analysis included a sample of 639 news reports aired in the first 3 weeks of September 2013, in six prime-time TV news broadcasts of Ireland, Spain, and the Netherlands. It was found that Spain and Ireland included more technical features of infotainment in television news compared to the Netherlands. Also, the use of infotainment techniques is more often present in commercial, than in public broadcasting. Finally, the findings indicate no clear pattern of the use of infotainment techniques across news topics as coded in this study.


2000 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael E. Kraft

Environmental policy and politics in the United States have changed dramatically over the past three decades. What began in the late 1960s as an heroic effort by an incipient environmental movement to conserve dwindling natural resources and prevent further deterioration of the air, water, and land has been transformed over more than three decades into an extraordinarily complex, diverse, and often controversial array of environmental policies. Those policies occupy a continuing position of high visibility on the political agenda at all levels of government, and environmental values are widely embraced by the American public. Yet throughout the 1990s environmental policies and programs were characterized as much by sharp political conflict as by the consensus over policy goals and means that reigned during the early to mid-1970s. As the twenty-first century approaches, there is considerable value in looking back at this exceptional period to under-stand the nature of the transformation and its implications for the future.


2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 141
Author(s):  
Fabiana Cardoso de Siqueira

Transformations to the production routines in telejournalism caused by how news is now being produced was the motivation for our doctoral research. This article is a part of this study analyzes the emergence of a new news-value behind the process of selecting what will or will not be broadcast on television news: the unique flagrant of co-production. This new news-value is connected to co-producers and their more active role in news programs. Co-producers are not cameramen at television stations, news agencies, or press services. They are citizens who capture images which are then used in television news broadcasts. The study was based on participant observation (WOLF, 1997), semi-structured interviews and a content analysis (HERSCOVITZ, 2007) of Rede Globo National News in Brazil. In our understanding, journalists select these images in order to create effects of participation of the represented real.As transformações nas rotinas produtivas do telejornalismo provocadas pela maneira como as notícias estão sendo produzidas motivaram nossa pesquisa de doutorado. Este artigo é parte desse estudo e tem como objetivo analisar o surgimento de um novo valor-notícia no processo de seleção do que será ou não veiculado nos noticiários televisivos: o flagrante único de coprodução. Esse novo valor-notícia está atrelado a atuação mais ativa por parte dos coprodutores nos telejornais. Os coprodutores não são cinegrafistas das emissoras de televisão, nem de agências de notícias, nem de assessorias de imprensa. São cidadãos que captam imagens, que acabam sendo usadas nos telejornais. O estudo foi feito a partir da observação participante (WOLF, 1997), entrevistas semiestruturadas e também da análise de conteúdo (HERSCOVITZ, 2007) do Jornal Nacional da Rede Globo. No nosso entendimento, os jornalistas selecionam essas imagens com a intenção de criar efeitos de participação do real representado.        La transformación en las rutinas productivas causada por la manera como las noticias estan siendo produccidas han motivado nuestra investigación doctoral. Este artículo es parte de este estudio y tiene como meta analizar la aparición de un nuevo valor-noticia en la selección de lo que será transmitido en el telediario: el flagrante único de coproducción. Este nuevo valor-noticia está relacionado con la atuación más activa por parte de los coprodutores en los telediarios. Los coproductores no son cámaras de estaciones de televisión, ni de agencias de noticias, ni de oficina de prensa. Son ciudadanos que capturan imágenes, utilizadas en los noticiarios televisivos. El estudio fue hecho a partir de la observación participante (WOLF, 1997), entrevistas semiestructuradas y también de la análisis de contenido (HERSCOVITZ, 2007) de lo telediario Jornal Nacional de la Rede Globo, en Brasil. En nuestro entendimiento, los periodistas eligen las imagines con la intención de crear efectos de participación en lo real representado.


GERAM ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-47
Author(s):  
Hermaliza ◽  
Ermawati. S

This study discussed the politicization of language through euphemisms that conducted at the time of news broadcasts on television stations by noticing the background of the use of the euphemisms. Euphemism in the mass media is not merely aimed at replacing taboo words, but rather is ideological politics. The problem raised in this study was "How was the politicization of language through euphemisms in news programs on television in terms of its use?". The purpose of this study was to describe the form and function of politicizing the meaning of words through euphemisms in news programs contained on television. This research was a descriptive research. Data analysis was performed using content analysis and then explained in accordance with the research findings. Based on the results of the study, the authors found that politicized euphemisms in the TVone news program amounted to 30 euphemisms with several reasons why the euphemisms were chosen and used include: (1) to smooth out words so that other people are not offended, (2) to keep things secret, (3) for diplomacy or berororis, (4) to disguise meaning, (5) to avoid panic and fear, (6) to respect others.


2015 ◽  
Vol 44 (6) ◽  
pp. 775-792 ◽  
Author(s):  
Travis L. Dixon

A content analysis of a random sample of Los Angeles television news programs was used to assess racial representations of perpetrators, victims, and officers. A series of comparisons were used to assess whether local news depictions differed from outside indicators of social reality. In a significant departure from prior research, they revealed that perpetration was accurately depicted on local TV news. Blacks, in particular, were accurately depicted as perpetrators, victims, and officers. However, although Latinos were accurately depicted as perpetrators, they continued to be underrepresented as victims and officers. Conversely, Whites remained significantly overrepresented as victims and officers. The implications of these findings are discussed in light of incognizant racism, ethnic blame discourse, structural limitations, and the guard dog perspective of news media.


2005 ◽  
Vol 117 (1) ◽  
pp. 100-109
Author(s):  
Susan Fountaine ◽  
Margie Comrie ◽  
Christine Cheyne

Each night, two-thirds of New Zealanders tune into prime-time national news on free-to-air channels TV One and TV3. This paper argues, however, that viewers get a very limited view of their nation on the box. While the archetypal Kiwi identity reflects ties to ‘the land’ and accompanying values of self-sufficiency and resourcefulness, television news is preoccupied with urban happenings, and tells heartland stories from a city perspective. Content analysis shows overseas stories are a third of network news, and well over half of the rest comes from Auckland and Wellington. Regional coverage is largely restricted to crime or human interest, and there is an absence of rural news. Since 1990, New Zealanders have had no regional news programs to fill these gaps. The government has, until recently, reneged on funding promises for local television, relying instead on TVNZ's charter objective to ‘reflect the regions to the nation’. The paper considers the success of this policy, and its implications for the heartland and national identity.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 138-153
Author(s):  
Jean Charron ◽  
Sébastien Charlton

    FR. Le journal télévisé (JT) est constitué d’un assemblage de voix : voix du réseau de télévision responsable du JT ; voix du présentateur et des reporters qui se succèdent à l’écran ; voix des protagonistes et des interprètes des événements. Cette polyphonie, élaborée et orchestrée par les artisans du JT, est un révélateur du type de rapport que ceux-ci cherchent à établir avec le monde dont ils sont censés rendre compte et avec le public qu’ils sont censés informer. Une analyse en diachronie des voix présentes dans les JT diffusés au Québec depuis les années 1960 permet d’observer certains changements significatifs. Le JT montre à l’écran deux catégories de locuteurs : des journalistes (présentateurs, reporters, chroniqueurs), qui sont de loin les plus loquaces (80% du temps de parole) et des acteurs de l’actualité (protagonistes, témoins et interprètes des événements). Au début de la période, le monde que donne à voir le JT est surtout celui des institutions soumises au principe de publicité (les parlements, les assemblées publiques, les tribunaux et les conférences de presse convoquées par les grandes institutions) dans lesquelles domine une parole dite « officielle ». Ces voix institutionnelles ont cédé de plus en plus de place à des locuteurs individuels, en l’occurrence des experts et des « gens ordinaires », qui, en parlant, n’engagent qu’eux-mêmes. Avant 2000, l’actualité que décrit le JT est d’abord et avant tout l’affaire des acteurs politiques et des dirigeants de l’administration publique ; après 2000, l’actualité du JT est surtout l’affaire d’individus qui, pour diverses raisons, sont mis en scène dans le bilan de l’actualité. Cette montée en puissance du discours individuel peut s’expliquer par des facteurs techniques (qui ont rendu la chose matériellement faisable), des facteurs professionnels et organisationnels (qui ont fait en sorte que la valorisation de la parole individuelle est apparue aux yeux des artisans du JT comme une stratégie avantageuse, commercialement et professionnellement) et des facteurs socio-culturels (qui ont rendu cette publicisation de la parole individuelle acceptable, même souhaitable aux yeux des téléspectateurs).   ***   EN. Televised news bulletins are composed of a chorus of voices: the television network responsible for the news broadcast; the news anchor and reporters who follow one after the other on the screen; and the protagonists and interpreters of the events. This polyphony, developed and orchestrated by TV news maestros, exemplifies the type of relationship they seek to establish with the world they are supposed to report on and with the public they are supposed to inform. A diachronic analysis of televised news broadcasts in Quebec since the 1960s reveals significant change. Two categories of speakers dominate the screen: journalists (presenters, reporters, columnists), by far the most prevalent (80% of speaking time), and news actors (protagonists, witnesses and event interpreters). At first, news mainly portrayed the world of institutions subject to needs of publicity (parliaments, public assemblies, courts and press conferences convened by major institutions), and was dominated by so-called “official” discourse. These once-dominant institutional voices have increasingly given way to individual speakers, in this case experts and “ordinary people,” whose discourses only commits the speaker and not the institution. Before 2000, the world described by the news was first and foremost that of political actors and public administration officials; since 2000, news has become mainly about individuals who are staged, for various reasons, into news programs. The growing importance of individualistic discourse can be explained by technical factors (which have made it materially feasible), professional and organizational factors (which have convinced TV news producers that individual speech is an advantageous strategy, commercially and professionally) and socio-cultural factors (which have made this visibility of individual speech acceptable and even desirable to viewers).   ***   PT. Os boletins de notícias na televisão são compostos por um conjunto de vozes: vozes da rede de televisão responsável pela transmissão de notícias; vozes dos âncoras e repórteres que se sucedem na tela; vozes dos protagonistas e intérpretes dos eventos. Essa polifonia, desenvolvida e orquestrada por artesãos de telejornais, revela o tipo de relacionamento que eles procuram estabelecer com o mundo que presumem reportar e com o público que presumem informar. Uma análise diacrônica das vozes encontradas nas transmissões de notícias televisivas em Quebec desde a década de 1960 mostra algumas mudanças significativas. Duas categorias de interlocutores são ouvidas principalmente: jornalistas (apresentadores, repórteres, colunistas), de longe os mais loquazes (80% do tempo de fala), e atores de notícias (protagonistas, testemunhas e intérpretes de eventos). No início do período, o mundo retratado pelas notícias é principalmente o mundo das instituições sujeitas ao princípio da publicidade (parlamentos, assembléias públicas, tribunais e conferências de imprensa convocadas pelas principais instituições), nas quais o chamado discurso "oficial" domina. Essas vozes institucionais outrora dominantes deram lugar a interlocutores individuais, neste caso especialistas e "pessoas comuns", cujos discursos apenas se empenham. Antes de 2000, o mundo descrito pelas notícias é da preocupação dos atores políticos e líderes da administração pública; depois de 2000, as notícias são principalmente sobre indivíduos encenados, por várias razões, no programa de notícias. A crescente importância do discurso individualista pode ser explicada por fatores técnicos (que o tornaram materialmente viável), fatores profissionais e organizacionais (que fizeram o aprimoramento do discurso individual parecer aos telespectadores uma estratégia vantajosa, comercial e profissionalmente) e fatores socioculturais (que tornaram essa visibilidade do discurso individual aceitável e até desejável para os telespectadores).   ***


1992 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
pp. 341-361 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert M. Entman

Local news may be one vehicle through which television helps, inadvertently, both to preserve and to transform cultural values. Content analysis on the evening news on four Chicago television stations over a lengthy period suggests local television responds to viewing tastes of black audiences. However, data on these Chicago television news programs suggest racism still may be indirectly encouraged by normal crime and political coverage that depict blacks, in crime, as more physically threatening and, in politics, as more demanding than comparable white activists or leaders. Ironically, widespread employment of black television journalists suggests to viewers that racial discrimination is no longer a significant social problem. The mix of these two views of blacks encourages modern white racism—hostility, rejection and denial toward black aspirations—the study argues.


1994 ◽  
Vol 71 (3) ◽  
pp. 509-520 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert M. Entman

This paper probes the images of African Americans in a thirty-day sample of videotaped news programs on ABC, CBS, and NBC, and in a computer analysis of verbatim transcripts of ABC's nightly news program for one year. Network news appears to convey more stereotyped impressions — a narrower range of positive roles — for blacks than for whites. Representations of whites in network news are more varied and more positive than of blacks, not because of conscious bias, but because of the way conventional journalistic norms and practices interact with political and social reality. The findings raise theoretical and normative questions about journalists' ability to “represent” the “reality” of black America while adhering to the professional practices that currently shape network news.


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