Cable Television Channels Research Articles

A Critical Discourse Analysis of Fox News’ Reporting on COVID Measures

The Fox News Channel is the most-viewed cable television channel in the United States of America. It is known for practicing partisan reporting in favor of the Republican Party and has often been accused of lacking objectivity and not being fair and balanced, contrary to its original slogan. The article discusses the results from a critical discourse analysis of the spoken discourse aired on Fox News during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, specifically examining bias, especially right-wing bias. The corpus compiled for the study consisted of the spoken transcripts of all episodes of the morning show Fox and Friends aired between March 2020 and December 2021. The analysis focuses on identifying phenomena, such as language of power, bias towards favoring one side of a controversial issue, as well as what discursive strategies are used to achieve the desired effect, such as framing and phrasing of the hosts’ comments and arguments. Based on the analysis, I show the bias implicit in the text and the motivations behind Fox’s style of reporting. The article concludes with a discussion about its contributions and possibilities of further research, including a multimodal approach.

Getting into Good Debt: Race, Debt, and the Pursuit of Freedom

#BankBlack. #BuyBlack. In the wake of deadly police murders of unarmed Black women and men, calls for greater investment in Black business emerged as one panacea for the myriad divisions rending the very flesh of the American promise. In July 2016, hip-hop artist and business owner Michael “Killer Mike” Render issued a call to action days after the police murders of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile. “We owe them our outrage,” he stressed in a call-in to a town hall meeting sponsored by cable television channels MTV and BET and hosted by a popular local Atlanta radio station. “But,” he countered, “we don't have to burn our city down.” Instead of burning, he challenged 1 million people to open a 100-dollar account at a Black bank. Days following Killer Mike's call to “bank Black,” about 8,000 Atlanteans opened accounts in Citizens Trust Bank, a Black-owned bank started in 1921. Riding a catchy hashtag and waves of discontent, the #BankBlack movement quickly spread beyond Atlanta. In less than a year, people around the world moved an estimated $60 million into Black-owned banks.

Evaluating Tiny Houses as a Solution to the Housing Affordability and Environmental Crises

Tiny houses have captured the attention of North American media, with HGTV, the major cable television channel, alone showing three tiny-house related shows: Tiny House Hunters, Tiny House Builders, and Tiny House, Big Living (“HGTV Canada”). One of the first results to appear is the official “Tiny Homes in Canada” website, which claims that tiny homes sit at “the intersection of the housing crisis and the climate crisis” (Tiny Homes in Canada). Notably, this website also proclaims that the tiny home community is a “culturally idealistic response to financial desperation” (Tiny Homes in Canada) and sustainability. Much scholarly research supports the notion that the two primary drivers for tiny house living are affordability and sustainability (Evans; Shearer and Burton). In this paper, I evaluate the actual potential for tiny houses to serve as a solution to the housing affordability and environmental crises, especially in Ontario, Canada. I find that though tiny houses have the potential to be a solution for the housing affordability and environmental crises, they are not a current solution because Ontario legislation renders them somewhat inaccessible. I also explore the lifestyle choices and social conditions associated with tiny house living, as a housing option that is both idealistic (presented as a solution to the overwhelming housing affordability and environmental crises) and pragmatic (financially feasible).

Educational Crusades on Television and its Impact on Motivational Level of Parents to Continue Education of their Children: A Case of Sargodha

Television has been extensively used in educational crusades throughout the world. The purpose of this study is to assess the role of specific campaigns targeted at the Pakistani audience and their effect on parents' motivation and intention to enroll their children in school. Five prominent national cable television channels were chosen, and data on ongoing and previous educational campaigns on these channels were gathered, as well as a questionnaire for conducting a survey of parents. A total of 300 respondents have been chosen for the survey. According to the findings, the majority of parents agree that education is critical for their children's future. Additionally, television-based campaigns provide parents with motivation to invest in their children's education. The majority of parents believe they were influenced more by journalists, government officials, and showbiz celebrities than by the dissemination of material facts and figures, dramatic acts, educational lectures, and other global techniques used in these educational campaigns. Among Chosen channels viewers believe that Duniya News should broadcast more educational content. The majority of respondents preferred ascribed roles to the achieved roles depicted in television campaigns.

Beyond the Nation and the Diaspora

Abstract The MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region has long been a site of Hindi film consumption and circulation, with Dubai emerging in recent years as a potent hub for Bollywood’s overseas distribution and marketing. Though the role of the “Gulf” in articulating immigrant experiences and regional identity among Malayali Indians is well documented (Radhakrishnan 2009), Hindi cinema’s popularity in the region has rarely received any scholarly attention. In the past decade, UAE has witnessed the launch of three cable and satellite television channels—Zee Aflam (2009), Zee Alwan (2012) and MBC Bollywood (2013)—with dedicated Bollywood content, much of which is dubbed in Arabic and targeted primarily at the local Emirati audience. This paper examines the consumption and dissemination of this dubbed Indian content, which includes Bollywood films as well as Hindi television series, among the Arabic-speaking audience. As I argue, the current popularity of “Bollywood in Arabic” can be historicized and traced back to popular Hindi cinema’s consumption in the Gulf during the sixties and seventies, particularly among the local Emirati audience. In doing so, I not only extend the scope of Hindi film scholarship beyond the hegemonic parameters of the nation and its citizens, but also, interrogate the role of Dubai and the “Gulf” as a cultural capital of transnational media economics.

Roamers: Audiences on the move across entertainment platforms in Southeast Asia

Media industries recognise the extent to which the potential audiences for their products are now made up significantly of “roamers,” people finding diverse routes through the options available and combining them in different ways. The main research question in this article is: what sort of precise movements, combinations and connections become possible for roaming audiences in rapidly expanding commercial entertainment platforms? The article draws on emergent findings of a qualitative audience study in Malaysia and Indonesia, analysing patterns of movement across streaming services, e.g. Netflix, entertainment platforms, e.g. YouTube, and national cable and public television channels. Through empirical and theoretical research, we critically examine how the virtual and material are intertwined in audience mobility and motility. Through the use of visualisations of the media landscape by roamers, the trope of the “Netflix Park” signifies how motility is closely tied to media freedom and power. In our study, audiences adapt to life in a commodified culture; roamers combine global entertainment platforms and other piracy services, becoming enmeshed in the commercial foreclosure of new media spheres.

The Effect of Sense of Movement in Audiovisual Media: A Study on Kineticism as a Formant of Expression in Globo News’ Institutional Motion Sequence Intolerância

This article analyzes the Brazilian cable television channel Globo News’ institutional motion sequence Intolerância. Israeli designer, Noma Bar, illustrated and directed Intolerância, which reveals in its discursive structures how the gaze of a Latin American country hegemonic media on the identity conflicts between West and East is aligned with Western powers. In the wake of Floch’s theoretical developments in plastic semiotics and Bergson’s postulations on the mechanism of the philosophy-centered filmmaking movement, this study aims to consider kineticism as a constitutive formant of visuality in audiovisual texts. The analyzed motion sequence is a notably exemplary object of establishing such hypothesis.

Cues for shaping purchase of local retail apparel clothing brands in an emerging economy

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore and identify the cues that shape the purchase of local retail apparel clothing brands in an emerging economy. The study further develops a conceptual framework for the cues that shape the purchase of local retail apparel clothing brands.Design/methodology/approachA focus group methodology is used for data collection from the local retail clothing consumers in Bangladesh. Data collected for this study were coded and categorized using inductive reasoning methods and similar responses were identified from a prepared data matrix. The results were presented in narrative while preserving the authenticity of participant response.FindingsThree cues were identified that shape the purchase of local retail apparel clothing brands in Bangladesh. First, consumers buy local retail apparel clothing brands due to the product authenticity (product quality, product uniqueness, apparel fittings, apparel durability, color combination, attractive design, comfortability and reasonable price). Second, consumer cosmopolitanism (urbanization of people, migration and overseas travel, and access to cable television and international channels) positively related to the purchase of local retail apparel brands in Bangladesh. Third, consumer ethnocentrism (superiority of local made brands over imported foreign brands, moral obligation for purchasing local products and patriotism) is a contributory cue responsible for the success of local retail apparel clothing brands in Bangladesh.Originality/valueThis study is a first of its kind to significantly enrich the consumer behavior literature related to local retail apparel branded companies and their implications.

Do You Know What Your Kids Are Drinking? Evaluation of a Media Campaign to Reduce Consumption of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages.

This study evaluates a citywide media campaign that targeted reducing sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption as a strategy for addressing obesity. Rolling cross-sectional survey data, collected before and during the media campaign, with 1367 parents to assess exposure to and effect of a televised public service advertisement (TV PSA) developed using a reasoned action approach. Televised public service advertisement campaign created by the Philadelphia Department of Public Health and disseminated on cable television channels within the Philadelphia market. Philadelphia parents/primary caregivers with a child between the ages of 3 and 16. Linear regression analysis shows that exposure to the TV PSA was significantly associated with intention to substitute nonsugary drinks for SSBs for the parent ( P = .04) and the child ( P = .02). The effect of exposure on intention to reduce child's SSB consumption increased the longer the campaign was in the field. Exposure was also significantly associated with the belief that reducing SSB consumption decreases the risk of diabetes ( P = .04) and was significantly negatively related to the belief that reducing SSB consumption would make mealtimes less enjoyable ( P = .04). These findings suggest that a theory-based mass media campaign can achieve positive changes in intention related to SSB consumption by changing relevant and salient underlying beliefs.

Maratonas de vídeo e a nova forma dominante de se consumir e produzir séries de televisão

Esse artigo analisa o binge watching, ou maratona de mídia, e os estudos de compulsão no consumo de mídia televisiva, e discute como a popularização desse comportamento vem modificando o modelo de se produzir conteúdo para televisão. Esse fenômeno começou timidamente com o videocassete e algumas programações especiais de canais de televisão a cabo, e hoje acontece de forma explosiva na transmissão de vídeo pela internet, provocando uma nova forma de produzir e consumir a cultura visual, em telas de televisão ou monitores de computador, smartphones e tablets. O Netflix e o YouTube são os principais expoentes na produção e distribuição de conteúdo voltado para o engajamento da audiência com aspectos viciantes, em um novo paradigma de distribuição da programação, por demandas individuais do espectador. Isso tem impactado especialmente na produção de séries da teledramaturgia, onde a narrativa se reestrutura com as novas perspectivas abertas pela tecnologia, buscando diferentes estratégias, tanto para a televisão broadcast quanto para a distribuição ponto a ponto, em ressonância com esse comportamento contemporâneo, como é abordado nesse trabalho.

Norms, Vulnerabilities, Paradoxes: Greeks and MTV

The controversy surrounding Growing Up Greek (2014), a reality show produced by the American cable and satellite television channel MTV, raises issues of boundaries, power, normativity, and vulnerability in the making of ethnicity. The show's portrayal of Greek America raises the issues at stake when an ethnic group engages in a social struggle to safeguard its norms. The collective mobilization, ultimately effective, to cancel the show and remove it from the airwaves, as well as the advocacy that arose in defense of the show, is indicative of a larger power struggle to constitute the public representation of Greek America. Growing Up Greek , its critics, and its supporters respectively constructed conflicting boundaries of ethnicity, and the controversy manifested in a series of ideological paradoxes and clashes. While protesting the MTV show as symbolic violence, Greek America itself exercises its own violence on its internal and external Others via the narrative of model ethnicity, revealing through this irony a pressing need to reconfigure Greek America's dominant identity narrative.

Impact of Cable Television on Lives of Patients Visiting a Teaching Hospital in Karachi, Pakistan

A cross-sectional survey was conducted during August 2014 to October 2014, to identify the impact of cable television channels on lives of the people, in Karachi, Pakistan. Three hundred participants were selected through convenience sampling and a pre-tested structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Data was analyzed in SPSS version 19.0. About 15% of participants were more than 40 years. About 62% were females in the study sample. Regression analysis showed that viewing television at night impacts work performance (OR: 1.39; 95% CI: 0.81-2.37), sleep (OR: 1.07; 95% CI: 0.63-1.81), family life (OR: 1.52; 95% CI: 0.89-2.60) and social life (OR: 1.38; 95% CI: 0.78-2.42). To minimize the adverse impact of the cable television it is imperative to monitor and control individual screen time, to avoid its adverse impact work performance, sleep, social life and overall health.

Development narratives, media and women in Pakistan: shifts and continuities

The influences of globalization and global imagery are redefining Pakistani women’s social roles and identities. This article seeks to explore the ways in which media representations of Pakistani women are understood to represent broader international development discourses. By focusing on development narratives with regard to women’s empowerment and, their social and political positioning, and by looking at the visual and linguistic representations, images and portrayals of women, this article aims to capture the competing discourses of femininities offered on the cable television channels in Pakistan. For instance, while a drama like Uraan (Flight), shown on the most popular channel, Geo, may depict an independent career woman exercising her autonomy and freedom in decision-making, thus illustrating a clear departure from patriarchal structures, it simultaneously, offers ambivalent or competing discourses on femininities. How these images are received and interpreted is captured through focus group data of women discussing media representations. This data provides useful insights into the ongoing constructions of their selfhood and identity in relation to these media representations.

The hunting industry: Exploring the marriage of consumerism, sport hunting, and commercial entertainment

This article makes a case for the inclusion of sport hunting in studies of consumer culture. This argument is advanced through an analysis of “the hunting industry” in North America. The hunting industry comprises a vast commercial network, exemplified by specialty retailers and advertiser-supported media involved in the marketing of hunting-related merchandise. The analysis contrasts environmental and cultural conservation, on the one hand, with consumerism and commercial media, on the other. These themes are situated historically and theoretically and then examined empirically by focusing on cable television channels devoted to hunting and on Cabela’s, an international retail chain that sells branded hunting and fishing equipment and sponsors media productions. Based on consideration of these venues, including a description of Cabela’s stores, which are renowned for their size and spectacular attractions, it is argued that a commercial industry built around hunting manifests contradictions between conservationism and consumerism. Connections between hunting culture and other aspects of consumer culture – such as food systems, environmental concerns, self-reliance, and authenticity – are also elaborated.

A content analysis of television food advertising to children: comparing low and general‐nutrition food

AbstractTelevision food advertisements targeted at children were content analysed. Data were collected on four major children's cable television channels in the United States aired during the hours of 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. over the period of 23 August to 5 September 2012. Based on the Elaboration Likelihood Model of persuasion, the study identified a variety of persuasive appeals with central and peripheral cues in the child‐targeted food commercials. Further, it investigated how the central and peripheral cues in the appeals were differently associated with low‐nutrition and general‐nutrition food commercials. Overall, the findings showed that general‐nutrition food commercials used persuasive appeals with central cues more frequently than low‐nutrition food commercials. Theoretical, practical and regulatory implications are discussed.

Ideologies of language and race in US media discourse about the Trayvon Martin shooting

AbstractThis article examines the discourse about race and racism that ensued in the US media after the shooting death of an African American youth, Trayvon Martin, by a neighborhood watch volunteer, George Zimmerman, in February 2012. The analysis examines news programs from the three major cable television channels in the United States: CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC. The theoretical framework builds upon Hill's (2008) discussion of the ‘folk theory of race and racism’ in contrast to critical race theory, and asks, to what extent does the mainstream media's discourse about race remain embedded in folk ideas and to what extent (if at all) does the conversation move beyond those ideas? The paper aims to unpack the ideologies of race and language that underpin talk about race and racism in an effort to expose the hidden assumptions in the discourse that hinder more productive dialogue on the topic. (Critical race theory, folk theory of race and racism, George Zimmerman, ideology, language ideology, media discourse, race, race talk, racism, slurs, Trayvon Martin)*

Patterns of Energy Drink Advertising Over US Television Networks

ObjectiveTo describe programming themes and the inclusion of adolescents in the base audience for television channels with high levels of energy drink advertising airtime. DesignSecondary analysis of energy drink advertising airtime over US network and cable television channels (n = 139) from March, 2012 to February, 2013. Programming themes and the inclusion of adolescents in each channel's base audience were extracted from cable television trade reports. Main Outcome MeasureEnergy drink advertising airtime. AnalysisChannels were ranked by airtime; programming themes and the inclusion of adolescents in the base audience were summarized for the 10 channels with the most airtime. ResultsOver the study year, 36,501 minutes (608 hours) were devoted to energy drink advertisements; the top 10 channels accounted for 46.5% of such airtime. Programming themes for the top 10 channels were music (n = 3), sports (n = 3), action-adventure lifestyle (n = 2), African American lifestyle (n = 1), and comedy (n = 1). MTV2 ranked first in airtime devoted to energy drink advertisements. Six of the 10 channels with the most airtime included adolescents aged 12–17 years in their base audience. Conclusions and ImplicationsEnergy drink manufacturers primarily advertise on channels that likely appeal to adolescents. Nutritionists may wish to consider energy drink media literacy when advising adolescents about energy drink consumption.

Sensationalising the Female Pudenda: An Examination of Public Communication of Aesthetic Genital Surgery

We live in a society where beauty and sensations are important. Advances in medical technologies have brought on waves of new notions of beauty where commercial interests both in the media and the health industry spurred by fashion, advertising and celebrity promotion have tended to popularise body modifications and enhancements. In recent times, through offerings on cable television channels and glossy consumer magazines, medical procedures hitherto only in the precincts of medical schools, gyneacological clinics and medical journals have now pervaded the population. More seriously, on the Internet particularly, medical experts now offer services and graphic details of labiaplasty, clitoral hood reduction or enhancement, vaginal rejuvenation, etc. Here, we examine the public communication of the phenomenon of aesthetic genital surgery and interrogate thus; is it decent, honest, balanced and ethical? Relying on textual analysis, personal observation and literature review for data gathering, we observe that besides tending to commercialise and medicalise the female genitalia, a coalescence of medical, advertising and fashion interests as played out in the media sensationalises the benign science of plastic surgery and robs it of its truthfulness, genuineness, and purposefulness. The conclusion is that in Africa, where the effect of the development crises is telling, the hype surrounding cosmetic or aesthetic genital surgery is a damaging distraction particularly when the continent is waging a battle against female genital mutilation. The recommendations are that media and medical regulatory bodies should impress it upon media and medical industry operators that glaring commercial promotions of cosmetic genital surgery in the public media be checked, and that such communication should bear equal weight of facts related to risks, short comings, complications, and threats; in physical, social, and psychological terms.

Beyond all Utterance: Reflections on the making of the films Memoirs of a Plague and Locusts: Creatures of the flood

All visible objects, man, are but as pasteboard masks.- Herman Melville, Moby Dick1This paper reflects on the making of two very different films by the author. Both films were on the same subject: our relationship with locusts. One film, Memoirs of a Plague, was a personal inquiry, informed by an ethnographic filmmaking approach. The other film, Locusts: Creatures of the flood, was created from the same source material as Memoirs of a Plague, but was made for an international cable television channel, according to the demand for a magazinestyle documentary.2BackgroundIn 2008 I started making an independent film called Memoirs of a Plague. The numerous journeys I undertook to make the film over the next three years took the form of a personal and idiosyncratic inquiry into locust control around the world. My initial thesis was that our reactions to the natural phenomenon of locusts may arise from long-held prejudices and myths, rather than the reality of the threat that they pose. The film was based on found situations where individuals and governments were confronting what they perceived to be a locust menace. The bulk of the funding for Memoirs of a Plague came from Screen Australia's Innovation Program.In the course of my filming of Memoirs of a Plague, National Geographic became interested in the project and commissioned the making of a television version. This was to be a bespoke film, which came to be called Locusts: Creatures of the flood. It was to be made from the same source material as Memoirs of a Plague.1While the cinematography in both films was inspired by National Geographic's leadership in natural history filmmaking, the film that I was to make for them would have to conform to a style to which their audiences had become accustomed. A commissioning editor explicitly told me that the form of Memoirs of a Plague was completely unsuitable for the audience to which they marketed their films; however, there was no manual to explain this difference or the process by which Memoirs of a Plague needed to be reconfigured for television.The stark difference in logic instantiated in Memoirs of a Plague and Locusts: Creatures of the Flood, and the approaches to filmmaking they stand for, is revealed when we reflect upon the way the two films were constructed. In what follows, I will compare and discuss some aspects of the making of the two films. I hope this discussion may contribute to critical understandings of how different the process of filmmaking can be when confronting the same subject. My own filmmaking practice has been strongly influenced by ethnographic films, modelled on the approach of filmmakers such as Jean Rouch, David MacDougall and Lucien Castaing-Taylor. In this spirit, I approached the filming of Memoirs of a Plague as an open-ended inquiry. I attempted to incorporate a sense of the process of filming as well as acknowledging my own relationship to the subject.In the case of Creatures of the Flood, the approach was to be very different. I was aware that this film was to be created as content for a market dominated by television-style documentary films, and where it is expected such films will provide an audience with both questions and answers.Filmic BeginningsMoby Dick inhabited my mind in 2007. I was nearing the end of three years of work on my film End of the Rainbow.* Reading about whales and the ocean was one way of escaping the intensity of finishing the film. I was fascinated by Ahab's obsessive pursuit of Moby Dick. The white whale speaks for many hounded creatures. This association led me to develop an idea I already had for a film on locusts - a subject that had interested me since my employment as a field officer with the Australian Plague Locust Commission when I first left university. I chose to ignore Herman Melville's advice. He cautioned against casting a character such as a locust: 'To produce a mighty book, you must choose a mighty theme. …

“Affluencers” by Bravo: Defining an Audience Through Cross-Promotion

This article investigates the use of cross-promotional strategies by the cable television channel Bravo to define a specific target audience and encourage them to become fans of the channel, not just of a single program. Bravo's discursive construction of its audience as “affluencers” centers around its strategy of featuring prototypic affluencers in its programming, a tactic reinforced through cross-promotional efforts. Cross-promotion operates as a powerful tool in Bravo's work to discursively define and concentrate the audience commodity it in turn sells to advertisers. The project expands existing midlevel critical media industry research by examining the specific strategic uses of cross-promotion on cable.