Focusing on changes in the minds of the audience, this study of the impact of television programs provides a general analysis of the perceptual spectrum of the television audience and its values, preferences, and attachments to the content of television programs. Influences are identified and cued to the development of programming, and findings of…

This study investigated developmental changes in children's recall of televised central and incidental content. Central content was plot-relevant; incidental content was peripheral to the plot. Both content types were classified at two levels of production features, high salience and low salience. High salience features were high action, loud…

This paper discusses the utility of an ethnographic method that incorporates various participant observation techniques in providing information about family television viewing. It presents arguments for a naturalistic case study approach focusing on family-media interaction and suggests three methods of data collection: interviews and followups;…

This report describes a formative evaluation and presents an overview of the background and design of an instructional television series, "On the Level," designed to encourage teenagers' personal and social development. The series includes 12 15-minute video programs, 12 audio programs, and a student workbook. The design issues discussed…

A study to evaluate four different black and white slow-scan television (SSTV) systems as information delivery systems was conducted using four classes of university students, one at the graduate level and three at the undergraduate level. Each class viewed videotaped examples from the four SSTV systems during one class period, and were asked to…

Discusses how critics of 60 Minutes have tried to account for the meaning of the popular news show. Argues that embedded in its news is the power of metaphor and formula to both transform and deform experience, to secure a middle ground for audiences, and to build unified meanings in and for a pluralistic culture. (JK)

A study of the use of television scripts and viewing to involve students in reading found that both teachers and students thought the CBS Television Reading Program had a positive effect upon student reading comprehension, enjoyment of reading, listening, and class participation. (CMV)

Addresses issues of culture, cultural politics, social power, and television audience in cultural studies. Argues that cultural studies as a field tends to analyze all cultural interpretation in terms of struggles between dominant and subordinate groups and that the text-centered approach of cultural studies misses much of television viewing's…

An evaluative research study was undertaken to provide the South African broadcasting industry with information on the feasibility of using video mass media approaches for public education on the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Specifically, the research was designed to determine public knowledge of and attitudes toward AIDS and shifts…

Eight established methodologies were evaluated and compared in this preliminary study, which was conducted to resolve methodological questions and problems and develop an adequate approach for the collection of valid, generalizable data for an extensive study of family use of television. The study focused on four variables: which family members…

A formative evaluation was conducted of the instructional television program "Daddy's Girl" from "On the Level," a series of 12 lessons designed to aid secondary school students in dealing with personal and social growth. Designed to teach that adolescents usually have to work out new relationships with their parents and that…

A formative evaluation was conducted of the instructional television program "What Next?" from the Career Aspirations unit of "On the Level," a series of 12 lessons designed to aid secondary school students in dealing with personal and social growth. A total of 127 students in 8 Chicago public school classes viewed the program.…

Examines television news programs as media for discovering diversity. Discusses television as a means of information and communication, its role in the creation of public opinion, its inability to permit understanding, and the need for empirical research to assess its influence on cognitive processes. (AEF)

Discusses the publication process as well as research and development activities of The Magazine Group, the part of the Children's Television Workshop (CTW) that produces print materials for children, parents, and elementary school teachers. Highlights include reformatting a magazine, testing story appeal, testing children's humor, and the…

Television teaches children gender-specific behaviors, attitudes, characteristics, and personality traits. Research indicates that by observing male and female characters on television, children learn to label certain characteristics and behaviors as masculine or feminine and to assign traditional sex-role stereotypes to careers. Content studies…