Fear Factor

The works discussed transpose the conceit of The Most Dangerous Game to the world of commercial broadcast entertainment, pitting characters against each other in competition for the ultimate prize: their own lives. Round Four discusses how the game show has come to represent the political and personal dangers of citizenship in an America governed by a late-capitalist consumerism that has morphed into a new brand of totalitarianism that turns people into trivial objects and trivial objects into subjects of the highest importance. The “reality” of these games and their rules represent a simulated and heavily mediated environment posing as real to conceal a sinister truth. In order to challenge the dominance of this inverted world order, the protagonists must first defeat totalitarianism’s synecdoche: the game show.

Van volgzaam en respectvol naar dominant en sturend: de rol van de moderator in het Nederlandse verkiezingsdebat (1963-2010)

From compliant and respectful to dominant and directive: the role of the moderator in Dutch election debates (1963-2010) From compliant and respectful to dominant and directive: the role of the moderator in Dutch election debates (1963-2010) Since 1960 televised election debates have become a vital part of election campaigns. In these debates the moderator plays a crucial role, since he or she influences the questions asked to the candidates and interruptions made. However, research on the role of the moderator in televised election debates is generally limited and studies examining the moderator in the Dutch debate context are non-existent. In this article we examine what the role of the moderator is in Dutch televised election debates and whether we witness changes in the moderator’s performance during the last decades. We have systematically analyzed the content of 17 televised ‘list-puller’ debates aired by the public and commercial broadcast channels during the parliamentary election campaigns between 1963-2010. The findings show that since the period of public logic, but especially media logic, the moderator becomes an increasingly dominant participant in the debate. Furthermore, with the entrance of media logic, the moderator seems to make a bigger effort to entertain the present debate audience as well as viewers at home.

Alternative Things Considered: A Comparison of National Public Radio and Pacifica Radio News Coverage

This study indicates that National Public Radio and Pacifica, despite their “alternative” origins, produce news programming that is largely grounded in the same journalistic values and routines as “mainstream” commercial broadcast journalism. A content analysis of NPR's All Things Considered and Pacifica Radio News, however, found several significant differences between these two producers of public radio news in the United States. Pacifica broadcast a higher percentage of stories dealing with governance and stories with an international focus, and presented a higher percentage of officials and activists as sources than did NPR.