South Africa, the last urban, industrial, Western-culture society without television, called for television introduction on January 1, 1976. Thus, South Africa represented the last chance to explore certain research questions about the impact of television in modern societies. A study was made of: (1) factors in the South African context which…

Based on data collected by several individuals in recent years, this report is intended to provide an overview of American public broadcasting and its audiences. The size, characteristics, and viewing patterns of public, noncommercial television viewers are described. Among the findings cited in the report are the following: (1) 80 percent of…

Most devices designed to monitor the part of a visual display on which a subject's eyes are focused are cumbersome and expensive. It is proposed that areas of the display screen designated by the production unit as important to some decision be isolated on one television monitor and the remaining area of the screen be isolated on a second monitor.…

The studies reported in this book are content analyses of children's television and attendant advertising. Following an introductory statement, chapters present data about children's commercial television on the weekends, children's commercial television after school, and the seasonal variations in television advertising to children. A concluding…

The U.S. Surgeon General's report on the effects of televised violence on children is discussed--how the report began, how it was compiled, and the results. The book concludes that broadcast media influence kept the most respected social scientist investigators of the subject off the Committee, and that the final results were distorted in the…

Three methods of conducting television pilot testing research--the evaluation of television programs for their potential in attracting target and general audiences--are compared and contrasted in the three sections of this report. The introductory section provides an overview of the research, outlines the goals and objectives of the pilot…

In cooperation with the Indiana University Department of Telecommunications, the Video Access Center (VAC) in Columbus, Indiana has undertaken a two phase evaluation of its activities. The first phase, done in 1974, was designed to (1) compare VAC to other public access centers throughout the country, (2) determine the size and demographic…

The National Television Violence Study (NTVS) was a 3-year effort to assess the effects of violence on television, of particular interest to education professionals is the effects of television violence on children. Funded by the National Cable Television Association, the project began in June 1994 and involved the participation of media scholars…

The National Task Force on Women, established by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), had three objectives: (1) to examine the extent to which women were employed at all levels in public broadcasting and were integrated into its policy-making and operations; (2) to examine the visibility and image of women in all programing and the…

Intended for students in the social sciences, this book assembles and evaluates the main findings of recent work on television and sex role acquisition, points out gaps and limitations in present inquiry, and sketches a framework around which future research might usefully address some of the remaining questions. The seven chapter topics are as…

This report presents the highlights of research activities conducted in 1980 by the Office of Communication Research (OCR), whose job it is to serve the information needs of five distinct entities: the United States Congress, national public broadcasting agencies, local public radio and television stations across the country, decision-making…

The first non-commercial cable television (CATV) project in Sweden was conducted in Kiruna since it was the site of an established commercial CATV network. The Kiruna project goal was to emphasize locally produced programs. Objectives tested were production and planning forms, cooperation between groups, and utilization of a program bank.…

A summative evaluation of the final form of the first four episodes of Big Blue Marble, a television series for children, was conducted. Researchers examined children's perceptions of similarities and differences between themselves and children in other parts of the world; their opinions about the well-being of other children; their opinions about…

A study of changes in children's programing on network television in the United States from 1948 through 1978 is detailed in this report. The first chapter discusses the concepts of "diversity" and "shape" as they apply to television programing, and provides details about the research methodology used in the study. The second, third, and fourth…

The relationship between the amount of television watching and level of family tension was studied through interviews carried out in 64 Minneapolis households. Tension levels were found to be higher in families with high levels of television watching, particularly in households with a high population density. There appears to be a strong…