Appealing to the Audience: How Local Tv News Content Producers Learn About the Viewers
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APPEALING TO THE AUDIENCE: HOW LOCAL TV NEWS CONTENT PRODUCERS LEARN ABOUT THE VIEWERS A Dissertation Submitted to the Temple University Graduate Board In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY By Lydia Reeves Timmins August 2010 Examining Committee Members: Matthew Lombard, Advisory Chair, MM&C Andrew Mendelson, Journalism Edward Trayes, Journalism Thomas Eveslage, External Member, Journalism © by Lydia Reeves Timmins 2010 All Rights Reserved ii ABSTRACT Appealing to the Audience: How Local Television News Content Producers Learn About the Viewers Lydia Reeves Timmins Doctor of Philosophy Temple University, 2010 Doctoral Advisory Committee Chair: Dr. Matthew Lombard Local television news is caught between two major forces that determine its future: doing its journalistic duty to society and maximizing profits by providing content that audience members want to see. Various communication models examine the relationships between content providers, audience, and news makers by looking at organizations, media routines, external social and business pressures and ideologies that affect both media and the public they seek to serve. The dissertation argues that the key to satisfying the dictates of both forces lies with the audience and the ways in which local news content producers react to the audience’s influence. The research in this dissertation examines a microcosm of the numerous relationships that impact TV news—the one between the content producers and members of the audience. The research uses behavioral theories as tools to examine how content producers and audience members relate to each other individually and how the institution of journalism is broadly affected by that relationship. It examines the normative model of journalism and how the audience and content producers fit into it. The study investigates the current state of audience research, both from an academic and a professional standpoint. This study utilizes qualitative and quantitative methods including ethnographical observation of a newsroom as well as one on one interviews and Web- based surveys to closely examine the way in which behavioral theories apply to local iii television news content producers. Results indicate the influence audience members exert over content producers is deeper and broader than previous research suggests. The results also show the content producers are aware the influence exists but do not recognize the pervasiveness of the influence. The conclusions offer a better understanding of the symbiotic relationship between audience and the media. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my friend and adviser Dr. Matthew Lombard for his assistance in developing the ideas in this work. Without his scholarly knowledge, patience and understanding of the way life complements research, this work would not have been possible. I wish to thank my dissertation committee of Dr. Lombard, Dr. Andrew Mendelson, Dr. Tom Eveslage and Dr. Ed Trayes for their insights and help. I would like to acknowledge the management of the TV station where I did this research. They supported my decision to begin and to complete my graduate studies. DEDICATION This work is dedicated to my husband Steven, my son Jake and my daughter Phoebe, who encouraged me every step of the way and who make life worth living every day. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................... …………iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS/DEDICATION .......................................................................v LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................... xiii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................1 The Importance of Local Television News ..............................................................3 Defining the Ideals of Journalism ............................................................................4 The Importance of the News Audience ...................................................................4 Why Audiences Use Local Television News...........................................................6 Issues Facing Local Television News ......................................................................7 Emphasis on New vs. Important ..................................................................7 Sensationalism .............................................................................................8 Lack of Context............................................................................................8 Lack of “Good” News Coverage .................................................................9 News Bias/Objectivity ...............................................................................10 Research Questions ................................................................................................11 Organization of Dissertation ..................................................................................11 Conclusions ............................................................................................................13 CHAPTER 2: LOCAL TELEVISION NEWS IN THE 21 ST CENTURY ........................14 Examining the Purpose of News ............................................................................14 Definitions of the Press’ Role in Society ...................................................15 A Working Definition of Local TV News .................................................19 vi Issues Facing Local Television News ....................................................................20 Emphasis on New vs. Important ................................................................20 Sensationalism ...........................................................................................21 Lack of Context..........................................................................................23 Lack of “Good” News Coverage ...............................................................25 News Bias/Objectivity ...............................................................................25 Influences on the News Product ............................................................................27 Journalism Models .....................................................................................28 Societal Influence.......................................................................................31 Technological Influences ......................................................................32 Commercial Imperatives ............................................................................33 Advertiser Influence..............................................................................33 Public Relations Practitioners ...............................................................34 Business Constraints .............................................................................36 Organizational Imperatives ........................................................................38 Newsroom Conventions ........................................................................38 Codes of Ethics .....................................................................................39 Managerial Influences ...........................................................................40 Journalists’ Influence ............................................................................41 Outside Agents ...........................................................................................42 Government Influences .........................................................................42 News Source Influences ........................................................................43 Audience Influences..............................................................................44 vii Defining the Local Television News Audience .....................................................45 A Working Definition of the News Audience ...........................................47 Audience Centered Journalism ..............................................................................48 Civic Journalism ........................................................................................48 Benefits ......................................................................................................50 Criticisms ...................................................................................................51 Civic Journalism in Practice ......................................................................51 Audience as Journalist ...............................................................................53 Conclusions ............................................................................................................54 CHAPTER 3: MEASURING THE LOCAL NEWS AUDIENCE....................................56 Development of Audience Research ......................................................................56 Audience Measurement Techniques ......................................................................59 The Nielsen Ratings ...................................................................................59 Diary System .........................................................................................60 TV Meters/Peoplemeters ......................................................................60 Drawbacks to External Research Methods