Argues that the current popular negative critique of television, if examined carefully, reveals fundamental confusions concerning how print and television communicate information. Discusses the syntax of motion which distinguishes television from print, based on movement in space--a space that is both visual and acoustic. (SR)

Samples 100 prime-time shows, finding that only 2.8% of the adult speaking characters were over 65, and only 8.8% of them were cast in major roles. Notes that the role prominence of characters 65 and older has decreased since the 1970s. (SR)

Examines whether errors in memory (specifically source confusions) contribute to the link between television viewing and social reality judgments. Finds that a manipulation of the visual similarity of the news and fictional programming affected subjects' tendency to make source confusions. (RS)

Finds that "PM Magazine" emphasized and promoted a dominant personal success value system revolving around recognition, achievement, financial success, excitement, and physical attributes. Argues that this value system existed because it appealed to a particular demographic, making the program highly marketable to national advertisers,…

Examines articulations of "egalitarian" courtship in romantic comedy films of the 1930s and 1940s and recent television series resurrecting their conventions. Gauges the extent to which such texts are open to a negotiated reading that recontextualizes heterosexual monogamy in anarchic rather than patriarchal terms. Suggests that the…

Views competition in terms of a corporate drive for profit and as a way in which television news workers make sense of their jobs and socially construct their world. Argues that through these competitive norms and practices, news workers inadvertently help legitimate the societal status quo and perpetuate corporate control of the media, with…

Examines associations between local news viewing motives and attention to government reports or to sports reports. Identifies significant connections between need for cognition, utilitarian local news viewing motives, and attention to government news reports. Finds attention to sports news explained only by respondent sex. Discusses implications…

Examines relationship between television viewing, holding idealistic expectations about marriage, and intentions to marry among undergraduate students. Finds overall television viewing has a negative association with idealistic marriage expectations; romantic genre programming was positively associated with high expectations; and expectations were…

A study examined the impact of TV viewing motivations on 126 Asian students' psychological and sociocultural adjustment. Subjects were enrolled in a midsize university in the New England area. TV viewing motivation was measured by A. M. Rubin's TV Viewing Motivations Scale. Psychological adjustment was measured by W. Zung's Self Rating Depression…

Demonstrates that television news is a relatively weak overall predictor of long-term information gain. Shows that newspapers remain America's premier source of public affairs information and more specialized cable programs such as the MacNeil/Lehrer News Hour and C-SPAN have come to rival newspapers and news magazines as suppliers of long-term…

Offers a brief overview of V. Turner's syntactic and semantic framework for analyzing pilgrimage social drama. Uses this framework to examine the structure of the JFK assassination anniversary news stories and specials, as well as the fixed symbols which mark the pilgrimage routes from beginning to end. Discusses the individual, societal, and…

Examines theoretical and methodological controversies identified with the cultivation explanation of the way television shapes perceptions of social reality. Finds that content-specific viewing is a more reliable predictor than total viewing or select viewer sociodemographic variables of the public's tendency to perceive attorneys in the same way…

Suggests that local television news directors may be considering new reporting strategies during political campaigns, and that the impetus appears to be a concern that citizens are getting more of their political information from advertisements, along with a recognition that new technologies might be used in new and innovative ways during election…

Discusses interest in studies of media and the family; the creation of social meaning for media consumption; and in children's interpretation of television. Notes that the emergence of qualitative investigations represent a challenge to the assumption that the paradigm of media consumption is an individual viewer positioned before a screen in a…

Finds a small, but statistically significant, association between exposure to U.S. entertainment programs and attitudes, perceptions, and behaviors of foreign audiences. Finds also that, when taking study characteristics into consideration, only language of the questionnaire produced a significant difference in correlation size; and that the…