Perceptions of Partisanship in Local Television News

People turn to local media for information during crises such as the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19). What factors impact media consumers’ decisions about which local television news broadcast to watch? This study argues that media consumers infer the partisanship of local television affiliates — judging local Fox and NBC news broadcasts to be right and left slanted, respectively, based on their perceived associations with Fox News and MSNBC. Using the results from a representative survey of Americans (N = 5,461), the study demonstrates that local Fox and NBC viewers are significantly more likely to watch Fox News or MSNBC. As a result, watching local Fox is associated with less coronavirus risk because media consumers choose local Fox believing that it will align with their existing conservative views. This study demonstrates the importance of the perceptions of local news partisanship in influencing the consumption of critically important local crisis news.

Spaces of Communication

Semio-pragmatics, an approach to the study of film and audiovisual media first proposed by Roger Odin in the early 1980s, shifted the focus from textual analysis to the interaction of text and context and to the institutional modes of framing and reading which shape the viewer’s engagement with the film. A response to an impasse in post-1968 film semiotics and psychoanalytical approaches to film spectatorship, semio-pragmatics contributed significantly to the further development of film studies alongside Cultural Studies, neo-formalism, historical reception studies and the phenomenology of film. Spaces of Communication offers a concise introduction to semio-pragmatics and condenses the intellectual trajectory of one of the foundational figures of film studies into a relatively short and accessible volume. It is a book which testifies to the author’s deep and rich intellectual engagement with a vast array of objects ranging from the classics of the cinephile canon to television news programs, home movies and mobile phone films.

The Relationship among COVID-19 Information Seeking, News Media Use, and Emotional Distress at the Onset of the Pandemic

Although several theories posit that information seeking is related to better psychological health, this logic may not apply to a pandemic like COVID-19. Given uncertainty inherent to the novel virus, we expect that information seeking about COVID-19 will be positively associated with emotional distress. Additionally, we consider the type of news media from which individuals receive information—television, newspapers, and social media—when examining relationships with emotional distress. Using a U.S. national survey, we examine: (1) the link between information seeking about COVID-19 and emotional distress, (2) the relationship between reliance on television, newspapers, and social media as sources for news and emotional distress, and (3) the interaction between information seeking and use of these news media sources on emotional distress. Our findings show that seeking information about COVID-19 was significantly related to emotional distress. Moreover, even after accounting for COVID-19 information seeking, consuming news via television and social media was tied to increased distress, whereas consuming newspapers was not significantly related to greater distress. Emotional distress was most pronounced among individuals high in information seeking and television news use, whereas the association between information seeking and emotional distress was not moderated by newspapers or social media news use.

The Relationship Between Level of Knowledge and Behaviors of COVID-19 Prevention among Indonesian Population

Introduction: Currently, there are no specific drugs to cure COVID-19, so it is an important strategy to be implemented in the community to increase knowledge and preventive behavior in order to prevent transmission. The purpose of this study was to see the relationship between the level of knowledge and preventive behavior against COVID-19 among Indonesian population.Methods: This study used an analytical method with a cross-sectional design. Samples were taken from the people of Depok City as many as 406 people. The independent variable was knowledge and the dependent variable was preventive behavior. The instruments used were questionnaires on the characteristics of the respondents and knowledge and behavior with online questionnaire via Google Forms. The sampling technique was non-probability sampling with a consecutive sampling method. Data analysis used descriptive analysis test, Chi-square and correlative hypothesis test.Results: The results showed that respondents have good knowledge (56.9%) and good prevention behavior (75.9%). The largest source of information about COVID-19 respondents was from Television News (84.4%). There was a significant relationship between the level of knowledge and preventive behavior toward COVID-19 (p=0.000). Moreover, there is a significant relationship between age (p=0.000), gender (p=0.000), education level (p=0.000) and work status (p=0.016) with knowledge.Conclusion:The findings suggest that the local government should initiate an innovative program of health education focusing on knowledge and preventive behavior toward COVID-19 at a community level. The strategies to combat COVID-19 will require community involvement to control and prevent the disease outbreak.

Using humor to disguise racism in television news: the case of the Roma

It has been argued that more research is needed on the role of humor in the expression of racism. One reason is that, in the ‘post racial’ society, overt racism has become publicly unacceptable and, therefore, tends to appear in more concealed forms. In this paper, as part of a larger project on media representations of the Roma, we look at the role of humor in a Romanian television news clip reporting on the financial rewards of begging. We draw on the critical scholarship in humor research and carry out a multimodal critical discourse analysis of a news report selected from a larger corpus. We argue that through humor a recontextualisation of the Roma’s situation takes place, transforming their actual situation of poverty and social marginalisation into a humorous account of cultural failure, incompetence, stupidity and calculated money grabbing. We show that humor is one way by which culture becomes represented as embodied by ethnic minorities.

Digital Archiving Practices in Audiovisual Archives: An Exploration of the Use of Media Asset Management Systems in Television Broadcasting Organizations

<p>Research Problem: Over the last decade television audiovisual archives have undergone major changes in response to the introduction of digital media and digital production systems, particularly in relation to television news. While there is significant research into how the use of digital technology affects other user groups within the television broadcasting sector, such as journalists, there is very little that focuses on the work of audiovisual archivists. Methodology: Semi-structured interviews were used to explore the experiences of television audiovisual archivists who have been involved with the implementation and use of digital media management systems. Questions focused on three main areas: selection and appraisal, cataloguing, and search and retrieval. Results: Interview data provided detailed descriptions of the processes and actions that audiovisual archivists employ in the course of their daily work. Qualitative analysis of the data is used to identify the problems that audiovisual archivists experience and the methods they use to address these problems. It also provides insight into the ways archivists incorporate media management tasks into their routines. Implications: Television archives are very much still in a transition phase which is characterized by the use of multiple systems that enable access to both analogue and digital content. One area that remains problematic for some archivists is the lack of ability to incorporate quality and authority control into descriptive metadata that is created using digital media management systems. Archivists are taking on more media management responsibilities and working closer with production staff in a number of ways.</p>

Digital Archiving Practices in Audiovisual Archives: An Exploration of the Use of Media Asset Management Systems in Television Broadcasting Organizations

<p>Research Problem: Over the last decade television audiovisual archives have undergone major changes in response to the introduction of digital media and digital production systems, particularly in relation to television news. While there is significant research into how the use of digital technology affects other user groups within the television broadcasting sector, such as journalists, there is very little that focuses on the work of audiovisual archivists. Methodology: Semi-structured interviews were used to explore the experiences of television audiovisual archivists who have been involved with the implementation and use of digital media management systems. Questions focused on three main areas: selection and appraisal, cataloguing, and search and retrieval. Results: Interview data provided detailed descriptions of the processes and actions that audiovisual archivists employ in the course of their daily work. Qualitative analysis of the data is used to identify the problems that audiovisual archivists experience and the methods they use to address these problems. It also provides insight into the ways archivists incorporate media management tasks into their routines. Implications: Television archives are very much still in a transition phase which is characterized by the use of multiple systems that enable access to both analogue and digital content. One area that remains problematic for some archivists is the lack of ability to incorporate quality and authority control into descriptive metadata that is created using digital media management systems. Archivists are taking on more media management responsibilities and working closer with production staff in a number of ways.</p>