http://worldcat.org/entity/work/id/4838842

The effects of newspaper-television

After discussing the need for message pluralism in a democracy, this report focuses on a three-stage research strategy conducted to study the effects of newspaper/television cross-ownership on news homogeneity. The three stages consist of: an analysis of questionnaire data obtained from 214 newspaper managing editors and television news directors; field work in a stratified sample of ten cities, including interviews with reporters and news executives at 44 newspapers and television stations; and a content analysis of 9335 newspaper and television stories. The data reveal that the sharing of carbon copies, hiring patterns, and news-organization location are "intervening variables" of cross-media ownership that serve to increase intermedia cooperation and that may have a homogenizing effect on the news the public receives. Many methods of data comparison are used in discussing the effects of cross-media ownership on story overlap and on issue treatment and story treatment. The report concludes with a critical evaluation of the Federal Communication Commission's 1975 cross-ownership decision and provides its own public-policy proposals. Four appendixes contain material related to the study. (Rl).

Open All Close All