Examines college students' responses to the program "Cops" to better understand how viewers construct meaning and pleasure from the televisual texts of reality-based programming. Finds that humor guides the viewers' interpretations of the text and is a major source of pleasure, but the audience's search for the comic both deviates from…

Compares different theoretical approaches to the study of international news. Finds many comparative studies of the foreign news output of national broadcasters and few studies analyzing the actual flow of television news between actors at the wholesale level and the flow between wholesale and retail level. Suggests a better framework for the…

Examines four individual differences--sensation seeking, religiosity, hostility, and family cohesion--as correlates of drug use and television viewing, to test four corresponding models of addiction: medical/disease, moral, compensatory, and enlightenment. Concludes that models emphasizing personal control and responsibility are more appropriate…

Analyzes television viewing behavior in a naturalistic setting, investigating channel changing and other commercial avoidance behaviors. Finds that channel changing is stimulated more by commercials than by programs and that 90% of channel changers click the switch during commercial breaks, raising serious questions about program and station…

Analyzes the double or mirrored scene of the Centers for Disease Control's AIDS education campaign and the responses to that campaign, basically, the dominant, heterosexual, televised discourses' defensive erasure of those semiotic objects that represent illicit and nonreproductive sex. (RS)

Addresses some of the fundamental assumptions of an information processing approach to mass media effects and the contributions it brings to mass communication. Traces the conceptual and methodological innovations of an information processing perspective as they have been applied to the study of television since the 1980s. (SR)

Applies an interpersonal approach to understand gender differences in television use--males are socialized to be instrumental in communication while females are socialized to be focused on relationships. Finds limited support that males had an instrumental TV viewing style. Finds females had a relationship-oriented approach to television similar…

Reports an exploration of the effectiveness of different types and sizes of samples for content analyses of television network news. Compares simple random, monthly stratified, and quarterly/weekly stratified sampling, using annual "populations" of network newscasts. Finds that the most efficient technique was two random days per month. (SR)

Argues that the influence of televised, general election, presidential debates on prospective voters' perceptions of participating candidates may be larger than previous research suggests. Finds that two sources of debate effects have gone largely undetected to date: those based on candidates' relational communication, and those which are…

Investigates the possibility that television can evoke presence by showing 65 undergraduate students examples of rapid point-of-view movement from commercially available videotapes on a television with either a small or large screen. Finds that participants watching the large screen television thought the movement in the scenes was faster, enjoyed…

Examines actual use in television news broadcasts of video news releases (VNRs). Finds that all sizes of markets were likely to use VNRs. Finds that the most common use was as a voice-over story in an early evening newscast, and that VNRs associated with children and their safety or health got the greatest number of uses. (SR)

As universities gain access to satellite delivery systems, faculty are asking questions about how information processing varies between print versus television delivery systems. A study compared 68 undergradaute adults' information processing activity when the same message is presented in print vs. on television. Results reveal little differences…

This annotated bibliography is a guide to selected resources available for television research at the University of Georgia Libraries. It centers on publications found in the Reference Department of the Main Library but also cites a number of important sources located elsewhere in the building or on the university campus. A description is provided…

Concludes that responders to television editorials see themselves as more politically active and socially responsible than those who do not respond. (RB)

Pressures of politics and commercialism in Chile have altered the evolution of television from its original role as an instrument of education and cultural development. (RB)