A Content Analysis of American Primetime Television: A 20-Year Update of the National Television Violence Studies

This article provides a 20-year, apples-to-apples update of the National Television Violence Studies. Using the same sampling procedures and codebook, we coded 765 primetime television programs and movies airing on 21 broadcast and cable networks. Results suggest the prevalence of violence has increased slightly, but the number of programs saturated with violence has experienced a more significant increase. This appears to be driven by an influx of highly violent movies airing in primetime on cable channels. Although some contextual variables suggest slight improvements in terms of negative consequences for violence, the overwhelming majority of violent television programs and movies do not feature anti-violence themes. Implications for social cognitive, cultivation, schema, transportation, and media vividness theories are discussed.

Summon the American Television Heroes: Nationalism in NBC’s Primetime Television Broadcast of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games

The National Broadcasting Company’s (NBC) primetime broadcast of the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics over 18 nights was analyzed to determine differences between the network’s treatment of U.S. and non-U.S. Olympians. Consistent with previous findings, an American athlete was the most mentioned athlete, and Americans composed the majority of the Top 20 most mentioned athletes. In contrast to previous findings, American athletes accounted for only 38.68% of the mentions, the lowest amount recorded since studies began with the 1996 Games. In addition, a sport-by-sport analysis revealed that an American was the most mentioned athlete in 8 of the 15 winter sports, and Americans received more mentions in 4 winter sports. Regarding descriptions ascribed to the Olympians, American athletes were more likely to be portrayed as succeeding due to superior concentration, composure, and commitment, while non-Americans were more likely to be portrayed as failing due to a lack of concentration, strength, and ability. Non-Americans were also more likely to be described as modest/introverted. Contextualization of these findings is provided.

Telling Stories About Farming: Mediated Authenticity and New Zealand’s Country Calendar

Mediated authenticity in New Zealand’s Country Calendar ( CC) television program is explored from the perspective of its producers, and rural and urban audiences. Paradoxically, CC is understood as both “real” and “honest” television and a constructed, idyllic version of the rural good life in New Zealand. Techniques and devices such as a predictable narrative arc, consistent narration, invisible reporting and directing, and naturalized sound and vision contribute to the show’s predictability, ordinariness, spontaneity and im/perfection, mediating an authentic yet aspirational view of farming life. We elucidate how factual, primetime television contributes to a shared national sense of “who we are” while navigating different audience experiences and expectations. At stake is New Zealanders’ attachment to rural identity, which underpins public policy commitments to the farming sector, at a time when new agricultural politics are increasingly contested.

Diversity and age stereotypes in portrayals of older adults in popular American primetime television series

To examine the prevalence and diversity of older adults on primetime television, and age stereotyping in these portrayals, we analysed the contents of 112 episodes of popular American television series aired between 2004 and 2018. We identified 6.6 per cent of characters as aged 65 and older – a slight improvement to the values reported in previous studies. However, older adult characters are still grossly under-represented, considering the actual proportion of older adults in the general population of the United States of America. Further, the typical older character was young-old, male, Caucasian, middle-class, able-bodied and straight – if his sexuality was referenced. Older women still face double discrimination in media representations. In addition, older adult characters with ethnicities other than Caucasian and African American are virtually invisible in primetime fiction series. Similarly, old-old characters, sexual minorities and persons with disabilities are particularly rare among older adult characters in this type of programming. Finally, portrayals of 51.9 per cent of characters included at least some elements of age stereotypes, most of which were positive. The most commonly applied positive and negative stereotypes were found to be the golden ager and the shrew, respectively. The findings are discussed in the context of the dominant discourse of ageing and the potential implications of how various social groups perceive ageing and older adults.

Cannibalism as Method

Tian yu di 天與地 (When Heaven Burns, 2011), a primetime television series that was screened in Hong Kong from November 2011 to January 2012, tells the story of a young rock band struggling with the memory of having eaten a fellow bandmate in order to survive a mountaineering accident. Cannibalism not only bewildered the mainstream TV audience, but it was also viewed as an allusion to the June Fourth crackdown on the Tiananmen student movement. This essay explores cannibalism as a method that questions the assimilation of Hong Kong into the national body politic of China. Its argument is twofold. First, cannibalism in this drama disrupts the bourgeois consciousness of a healthy subject, exploring a shattered but renewed life that questions the dissolution of food in the making of a healthy subject. Second, by challenging the bourgeois model of a reconciled body, this drama series throws critical light on Hong Kong's coerced “swallowing” of a China excessive in its material aggrandizement, restoring the power of imagination of possible futures not dictated by Hong Kong's increasing integration with China. Finally, this essay suggests that cannibalism, viewed through the Tiananmen legacy, may function as a method to explore modes of relationality between Hong Kong and Mainland China.