Discusses media coverage of public relations topics. Describes a census of television news stories about public relations. Finds increased coverage from 1980 through 1995, and that politicians and foreign governments are the most commonly reported on users. States that stories generally have a neutral tone and assume the "press agentry"…

Seeking to uncover some of the factors involved in the comprehension of televised news, a study examined the responses of 425 television news viewers to questions about a news story appearing on a national network's evening newscast. The subjects were asked to name the stories they recalled from the newscast. Then the respondents' recall of the…

Examines the extent to which violence contributes to the size of the audience for a television program. (FL)

Examines the use of entertainment features in children's educational television through a systematic content analysis of sample programs. Assesses the quantity of use of humorous and attention-getting material, examines distinguishing characteristics of the entertainment-oriented messages, and highlights several patterns of use for these…

Describes a technique for analyzing local television newscasts that uses weighted categories of news content and an audience survey. Reports the results of a study that used the technique. (FL)

Analyzes "ABC Evening News" coverage of the 1972 presidential campaign with a rhetorical analytic technique and a computerized text analysis technique. Compares results and considers three possibilities: (1) the role of technique in research results; (2) different aspects of a phenomenon; and (3) the degree of confidence of results. (JMF)

This investigation of some of the meanings of "woman" that are produced and negotiated in the interaction of television representations, viewer receptions, and the historical/industry context focuses on the "Cagney and Lacey" series--produced in the United States--as a particular instance of the cultural production and…

Suggests that audience-determined measures used to assess television newscast quality are linked to popularity and not to the substance or the technical quality of the programs. (FL)

Examines the portrayal of intimate sexual behavior on soap operas and concludes that soap operas have more sexual content than do prime-time programs, but the types of intimacies differ. Notes that soap operas are potentially a major force in the transmission of values and sexual information to youthful viewers. (PD)

Assesses the extent and nature of sexual behavior in daytime soap operas. Concludes that soap operas can be assumed to be presenting a distorted picture of sexual behavior in America, particularly in the ratio of married to unmarried sexual behavior. Suggests that steady viewing may influence young viewers' attitudes and values. (PD)

The purpose of this paper is to examine how recent demand for greater realism in portrayals of Irish life in the television and film industries serves to authenticate existing stereotypes and romantic images which characterize "Irishness" in the popular imagination rather than refute or undermine them. Discussions of a political thriller…

This paper discusses the wide appeal, and the effect on the viewing audience, of traditional television soap operas. It reports on a comparison of role interactions, topics discussed by the characters, and types of topics and problems presented on the television program "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman" with those presented on two traditional…

Examines the distribution of age roles in prime-time and weekend daytime (children's) network television drama. Analyzes the content of program samples and survey data on attitudes and opinions to determine how conceptions of social reality are affected by television viewing habits. (JMF)

This paper analyzes the ways in which members of different ethnic groups decode the worldwide hit television program Dallas, and suggests answers to the question of how such a quintessentially American cultural product crosses cultural and linguistics frontiers so easily. The program was studied with the intent of observing the mechanisms through…

This paper addresses questions about the processes involved when viewers "make sense" out of the diverse visual and aural signs of a television program and then render that sense in a spoken account. A pilot study was conducted to explore the manner in which modes of viewing, and talk about viewing, include or exclude recognition of…