Television News Programs Research Articles

Discourse analysis of the representations of women in Moroccan broadcast news

An interesting area of research that as yet has received little or no attention is the study of the representations of women in Moroccan media [Ennaji, M., 1995. A syntactico-semantic study of the language of news in Morocco. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 112 (1), 97–112. Sadiqi, F., 2003. Women, gender, and language in Morocco. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill Academic. Skalli, L.H., 2006. Through a local prism: gender, globalization, and identity in Moroccan women's magazines. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books. Van-Mol, M., 2010. Arabic media and corpus linguistics: a first methodological outline. In: R. Rassiouney, ed. Arabic and the media: linguistic analysis and applications. Boston, MA: Drill, 63–79]. This article is an effort to fill the gap in this research area and contribute to the ongoing debate about the status of women in Morocco by analysing discourse representations of women in Arabic television news on the two main Moroccan television channels: 2M and Al Aoula. Women's representations are considered at a large scale (macrostructure) and at a smaller scale (microstructures) [Van Dijk, T.A., 1988. News as discourse. Hillsdale, NJ: L. Erlbaum Associates. Richardson, J.E., 2007. Analysing newspapers: an approach from critical discourse analysis. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan]. The results of our study showed the Moroccan television news programmes in Arabic on both channels favour two specific discourse perspectives: the conservative perspective which associates women with domesticity and traditional roles, and an alternative progressive perspective which associates women with modernity and economic development. Both empowering and disempowering elements are present in the two discourses.

El dominio de la palabra sobre la imagen en la narrativa audiovisual. Análisis narratológico de un informativo de televisión

The article shows the decisive paper of the word in an audio-visual formatespecially: the television news program. It reveals up to what point the centralplace that occupies is directly related to the aspiration of verisimilitude that itcharacterizes to any journalistic text. Finally, with the present text a hypothesis parts:it is this predominance of the word the one that distinguishes it from the rest ofaudio-visual possible speeches.

Multimodal expression of authorial affect in a British television news programme

Quality journalism is expected to adhere to norms of objectivity and neutrality whereby the authorial reporting voice avoids expressing any emotive reaction to the events reported. Research (Martin and White, 2005; Bednarek, 2008 and Pounds, 2010) has shown that authorial affect is virtually absent in quality British print-media news reporting. In the case of television news reporting, however, the nature and distribution of authorial affect have not yet been investigated in any detail. This paper shows how the appraisal framework (Martin and White, 2005) and Montgomery's classification of authorial voices in television news reporting (2007) may be used as a basis for such an investigation. The analysis is applied to an episode of the British news programme BBC News at Ten. The findings show that, as might be expected, some authorial affect is, to some extent, always conveyed through the audio-visual and dialogic dimensions. It is further shown, however, how affective expression still appears to be subject to some constraints in relation to the nature of the authorial voices represented in the programme, even though the distinction is often blurred.

The Roots of Democratic Self-government

The Roots of Democratic Self-government James Muldoon (bio) The Arab Spring is warming the seeds of democracy that exist in all societies but have remained latent until now. The natural growth process by which societies evolve into democracies has hitherto been stalled by the presence of tyrannical rulers and regressive social practices and customs, just as in the plant world natural growth is blocked by weeds and brambles. As the gardener cuts back the oppressive undergrowth to allow the development of the seeds, so the crowds calling for democracy generate a force that breaks through the political obstacles to democracy so the society can evolve as it should. Scenes of crowds demanding democracy such as we now see daily in television news programs have been around since after World War II, when the collapse of the European overseas empires was expected to pave the way for new democratic societies in Africa and Asia. The subsequent collapse of the USSR was to lead to democracy in the defunct Russian empire. In reality, the consequences have been mixed. According to political scientists, many of the new sovereign states are failed states or kleptocracies and not the successful democratic states envisioned. There have been civil wars and the establishment of authoritarian governments. The seeds of democracy that had begun to sprout have often withered in the face of the new weeds and brambles, and the crowds calling for democracy have gradually faded away in the face of heavily armed police and soldiers. Western observers initially cheered these crowds on, seeing in them the spirit of the movements that gave rise to democracy in Europe and the United States. Democracy develops when people demand it, so rulers must either give way to the crowd's demands or crack down firmly on the protesters. But is this true? If democracy is such a natural phenomenon, what happened to frustrate the democratic expectations of these new societies? The answer may lie in a small, largely forgotten book by Albert Beebe White (1871-1952), who taught English history at the University of Minnesota for many years. Near the end of his career he published Self-Government at the King's Command: A Study in the Beginnings of English Democracy (University of Minnesota Press, 1933), a reflection on lessons he learned from his study of English constitutional development. The most important lesson he learned was that, as the title of his book states, self-government and democracy did not emerge from popular demand. "If the title of this study appears to be a paradox, it is because our thinking is still generally ruled by the notion that wherever self-government has arisen it has been because people have wished to rule themselves and have striven successfully to this end" (1). Click for larger view View full resolution William the Conqueror, detail of the Bayeux Tapestry, ca. 1070, from John Collingwood Bruce, The Bayeux Tapestry Elucidated (London 1858). White's conclusion was that English kings and not their subjects demanded that the people govern themselves. The thesis is that English kings, working in what they believed to be their own personal interest, so used the English people in government, laid upon them for centuries such [End Page 2] burdens and responsibilities, that they went far toward creating the Englishman's governmental sense and competence . . . Norman and Angevin royal training had been more potent than an urge to self-government in Anglo-Saxon blood (2) In stressing the role of the Norman and Angevin monarchs of the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries in the creation of English self-government, White was attacking the once popular belief that the English were inherently inclined to democracy, the so-called germ theory of constitutional development associated with Herbert Baxter Adams. Why did English kings require the services of their subjects instead of employing full-time paid officials? White suggests that the kings distrusted full-time officials such as sheriffs, so they required their subjects to do many tasks performed elsewhere by officials in order to limit the power of the sheriff. It was also cheaper than hiring officials because the services were unpaid and seen as the obligation of the subject. The...

El “ciudadano”, telespectador en el discurso mediático chileno

La democracia condujo a un alargamiento del espacio público donde los medios asumen un rol creciente y donde la televisión -y específicamente el noticiero televisivo- cumplen una función importante al establecer un puente entre el público y las autoridades. Es decir, el noticiero televisivo cumple una función de “bisagra relacional” articulando estas dos grandes instancias, pero en una plataforma que no es neutra, al presentar las distintas voces de los actores implicados en los acontecimientos organizándolas de acuerdo a un tipo de lógica argumentativa que responde a la esencia distintiva de cada canal. El espacio del noticiero se constituiría por tanto, en un lugar de debate de intereses públicos y privados y en el lugar de constitución de una opinión que presupone un tipo de ciudadano particular, por tanto ¿A qué tipo de ciudadano apela la entidad televisiva?

FROM SPICES TO OIL: SEA POWER AND THE SEA ROUTES AROUND THE CAPE

He who is master of the sea is master of world trade. And he who is master of world trade is master of the riches of the earth and of the earth itself Sir Walter Raleigh, quoted by the former Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet Navy, Admiral S.G. Gorshkov. Introduction Sir Walter Raleigh, the famous English adventurer, died three hundred and seventy years ago, but his words are just as valid today, as any television news programme on convoy operations in the Persian Gulf will show. Warships from the USA, UK, France, Belgium, Italy and the Netherlands have all been involved in patrols or minesweeping operations in the area to minimize threats to their oil supplies coming from the Gulf, the main export route of nine Middle Eastern countries possessing more than half of the world's proven oil reserves.

Have You Met Your Production Quota Today?

Have You Met Your Production Quota Today?

Use of the Terms "Schizophrenia" and "Schizophrenic" in the South Korean News Media: A Content Analysis of Newspapers and News Programs in the Last 10 Years

ObjectiveIn this study, we explored the meaning attributed to the words "jungshinbunyeolbyung" (schizophrenia) and "jungshinbunyeol" (schizophrenic) in South Korean newspapers and news programs in the last 10 years.MethodsWe screened the websites of three national newspapers and the broadcasts of three nationwide television news programs from January 1, 2001, to December 31, 2010. We classified a total of 490 articles and 257 news segments by category and quantitatively and qualitatively analyzed them. The articles and news segments were assigned to one of the following categories based on their use of the term "schizophrenia": 1) negative, 2) neutral or positive, 3) incidental, and 4) metaphorical.ResultsThe negative viewpoint accounted for 349 incidences (46.7%), while the neutral and positive viewpoints included 225 incidences (30.1%). Incidental uses accounted for 95 incidences (12.7%), and metaphorical uses accounted for 78 incidences (10.4%). The majority of the negative uses focused on violence or dangers posed by patients (137 mentions, 37.8%), while the metaphorical uses mainly focused on the idea of splitting (51 mentions, or 65%).ConclusionThis study showed that the South Korean news media do not provide balanced information about schizophrenia to the public. This study also showed that no significant move has been made toward a more positive use of the term since a previous study was conducted on the subject. Although the term schizophrenia has given way to "attunement disorder," it will be difficult to establish the new term as the standard if the South Korean media continue to use the term "schizophrenic symptom." Even though the term has been changed, guidelines are necessary to encourage the mass media to provide balanced articles and reduce prejudice.

“What we have here is a failure to communicate”: Same-Sex Marriage, Evangelicals, and the Canadian News Media

Abstract: From the time it was introduced, evangelicals in Canada were fervently opposed to the federal government's same-sex marriage legislation and from 2003 to 2006 several evangelical organizations waged an extensive lobbying campaign against it. To persuade the public and federal politicians to support their position, these organizations employed a sophisticated communication strategy that focused on three core arguments. The arguments, which were worked into speeches, petitions, presentations, letters, and media-savvy talking points, were not based on theological ideals but secular, empirical data. This study content analyzed news coverage from Canada's national newspapers and national television news programs that focused on evangelicals and the same-sex marriage debate. Based on the extant literature it was hypothesized that in their news coverage, in order to mitigate the influence of the evangelicals' position (with which they disagreed), journalists would ignore/omit the evangelicals' three core, non-religious arguments for opposing same-sex marriage. The hypothesis was supported.

Can a charter of diversity make the difference in ethnic minority reporting? A comparative content and production analysis of two Flemish television newscasts

This study combines quantitative content and qualitative production analysis of two (public and commercial) television news programs in Flanders to investigate the impact of a Charter of Diversity on the portrayal of ethnic minorities. Findings of interviews with news production and ethnic minority experts show the ineffectiveness of a Diversity Charter not implemented at the heart of the newsroom. It seems unable to have an impact on journalists' media literacy and social capital, on the discursive structure of the news or characteristics of the production process itself – all more decisive factors in minority reporting. These findings are confirmed by the results of content analysis showing no gradual improvement of ethnic minority portrayal in a newscast produced under a Diversity Charter compared to news produced under no such Charter – both showing little changes in ethnic minority reporting.

Psychological and Physiological Reactions to the Playback Speed of a Television News Program

Psychological and Physiological Reactions to the Playback Speed of a Television News Program

A New Identity for Old Europe: How and Why the French Imagined Françallemagne in Recent Years

This article examines recent efforts to foster a sense of “Franco-Germanness” in France through an analysis of popular media generated by the fortieth anniversary of the Elysée Treaty in 2003, including: (1) a Franco-German television news program, (2) a light-hearted television program called Karambolage that presents daily life in France and Germany, and (3) a new history textbook for use in both German and French schools. These recent efforts differed from previous attempts to bring France and Germany closer both in terms of how they operated (earlier efforts focused on informing one country about the other's foreign culture; recent efforts were more about identifying what the two have in common) and why they occurred (earlier efforts focused on transforming a former enemy into a friend; recent efforts were about coming together in the face of a common adversary, namely, the Bush administration and its position on Iraq).

Arousing News Characteristics in Dutch Television News 1990–2004: An Exploration of Competitive Strategies

This study investigates the processes by which competition in the television news market might promote the presence of arousing characteristics in television news. A total of 3,024 news stories from six Dutch television news programs over the period 1990 to 2004 were investigated through content analysis. The findings of the study show overall increases in all 6 arousing characteristics. The findings also show that commercial newcomers included more arousing characteristics in their news stories than the public service broadcasters, that commercial newcomers developed a news format that featured more arousing characteristics, and that existing programs reacted to newcomers by increasing the amount of arousing characteristics in their news stories.

UK news reporting of alcohol: An analysis of television and newspaper coverage

Aims: To identify patterns in the representation of alcohol-related stories in the UK news media. To consider what kind of stories are reported and how reports are framed through thematic focus, imagery and the selection of sources by journalists.Methods: Quantitative content analysis of seven daily newspapers and four television news programmes over two sample periods: 20 December 2008–2 January 2009 and 15–22 March 2009.Findings: News reporting strongly emphasizes negative outcomes, especially violence, drink-driving and long-term health impacts – specifically liver disease. Reports of celebrity drinking are commonplace. Public health perspectives play a central role in the framing of alcohol-related stories. There is a clear gender divide: male drinking is associated with violence, while female drinking is associated with simply appearing drunk. Supermarkets are identified as a central cause of problem drinking, and cheap alcohol is seen as a greater threat than relaxed licensing laws.Conclusions: Compared to previous studies, the ‘normalization’ of drinking in news reporting has declined. Public health advocates have successfully established themselves as key sources for alcohol stories. However, there remains no consensus on public health policy initiatives.

For all the world to see: visual culture and the struggle for civil rights

In 1955, shortly after Emmett Till was murdered by white supremacists in Mississippi, his grieving mother distributed to the press a gruesome photograph of his mutilated corpse. Asked why she would do this, she explained that by witnessing with their own eyes the brutality of segregation and racism, Americans would be more likely to support the cause of racial justice. Let the world see what I've seen, was her reply. The publication of the photograph inspired a generation of activists to join the civil rights movement. Despite this extraordinary episode, the story of visual culture's role in the modern civil rights movement is rarely included in its history. This is the first comprehensive examination of the ways images mattered in the struggle, and it investigates a broad range of media including photography, television, film, magazines, newspapers, and advertising. These images were ever present and diverse: the startling footage of southern white aggression and black suffering that appeared night after night on television news programs; the photographs of black achievers and martyrs in Negro periodicals; the humble snapshot, no less powerful in its ability to edify and motivate. In each case, the war against racism was waged through pictures-millions of points of light, millions of potent weapons that forever changed a nation. Through vivid storytelling and incisive analysis, this powerful book allows us to see and understand the crucial role that visual culture played in forever changing a nation.

Sound-Bite Science: On the Brevity of Science and Scientific Experts in Western European Television News

Science forms an integral part of our daily lives and plays an important role in democratic deliberation and decision making. One would expect this omnipresence of science to be reflected in television news programs in public broadcasting because of its responsibility to preserve the diversity and openness of the media. For this study, a representative sample of six Western European news programs was analyzed. The results show that science has a marginal presence and that “science news” is about technology or the natural sciences. In national, foreign, or economic news items, “embedded” scientists rarely comment on the issue at hand.

Authoritarianism, Opacity and Proxies: The 2008 Olympic Torch Relay in the Italian Media

The study explores the representations enacted by Italian media around the 2008 Beijing Olympics torch relay, based on a sample of newspaper articles, television news programmes and online materials. While an explicit contrast between Olympic values and the concurrent violence due to the 2008 Tibetan crisis offered the main frame in Italian media, the study advances the hypothesis that these discourses simply gave new form to longer-standing representations about China, revolving around key notions of ‘opaqueness’ and ‘authoritarianism’. This ‘radically other’ China and the Olympics (embodied in the torch) are continuously described as ‘incompatible’, while in the process offering a number of actors (public opinion, media and industries) a rare chance for self-definition in opposition to the ‘other’. In this sense, the Tibetan issue appears to be used as a proxy to speak about broader issues, often related to the ongoing economic competition between Italy and China.

Self-Segregation or Deliberation? Blog Readership, Participation, and Polarization in American Politics

Political scientists and political theorists debate the relationship between participation and deliberation among citizens with different political viewpoints. Blogs provide an important testing ground for their claims. We examine deliberation, polarization, and political participation among blog readers. We find that blog readers gravitate toward blogs that accord with their political beliefs. Few read blogs on both the left and right of the ideological spectrum. Furthermore, those who read left-wing blogs and those who read right-wing blogs are ideologically far apart. Blog readers are more polarized than either non-blog-readers or consumers of various television news programs, and roughly as polarized as US senators. Blog readers also participate more in politics than non-blog readers. Readers of blogs of different ideological dispositions do not participate less than those who read only blogs of one ideological disposition. Instead, readers of both left- and right-wing blogs and readers of exclusively leftwing blogs participate at similar levels, and both participate more than readers of exclusively right-wing blogs. This may reflect social movement-building efforts by left-wing bloggers.

Casting Credibility: Patterns of Audience Assessment of TV News Programs

This study describes the patterns of television (TV) viewers’ assessment of news program credibility by utilizing secondary data from a survey of 1,100 Metro Manila respondents. Through principal component analyses and multiple regressions, the survey reveals that certain attributes of newscasters/reporters, interviewed sources, and news content/programming are significantly associated with three dimensions of news program credibility— competence, trustworthiness, and goodwill. It also finds that viewers within specific demographic attributes tend to give high credibility ratings for TV news programs. Implications on TV news broadcasting in the Philippines are discussed.

Aesthetics of Memorialization: The Sabra and Shatila Genocide in the Work of Sami Mohammad, Jean Genet, and June Jordan

Of all the primary images of political evil, the one that has been consis tently foregrounded by artists and writers is that of the massacred political outcast because such an image is the most visible and heinous spectacle of oppressive power. This study examines visual and verbal texts that offer extended reflections on the 1982 genocide of the civilians, mostly Palestin ian, in the Sabra and Shatila camps in Beirut, Lebanon: Sami Moham mad's Sabra and Shatila (1982), a commemorative bronze statue in the round;1 Jean Genet's Four Hours in Shatila (1983), his testimonial narrative about his visit to the two devastated camps immediately after the massa cres; and June Jordan's Living Room (1985), which contains poems that register her reaction to the genocide and the Lebanese civil war. By examining the representation by the Kuwaiti sculptor, the French writer, and the American poet of the genocide in Sabra and Shatila, I at tempt to bring attention to the ways in which commemorative art and literature conceive of their role in an age of media hegemony. Moreover, through the comparative perspective of the study, I attempt to reveal a spectrum of aesthetic strategies appropriated by politically motivated texts that are wrought by their memorializing impulses and are aware of their inevitable position at the margin of the corporate media empires. It is needless to point out that, in delineating this spectrum, I am pursuing a general overview rather than reaching a conclusive list of strategies. This study uses the word media in the narrow sense of daily journalistic news reports and television news programs, typically filled with advertisements, consumed by a vast number of heterogeneous readers/viewers, and man aged by conservative mainstream press companies and television broad casting corporations in the West at a time when cyberspace networks and