Television Newscasters and News: the Perception and Selection of Local Newscasters and Stations
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University Microfilms International 300 N. Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, Ml 48106 8300271 Houlberg, Charles Frederick TELEVISION NEWSCASTERS AND NEWS: THE PERCEPTION AND SELECTION OF LOCAL NEWSCASTERS AND STATIONS The Ohio State University PH.D. 1982 University Microfilms International300 N. Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48106 TELEVISION NEWSCASTERS AND NEWS: THE PERCEPTION AND SELECTION OF LOCAL NEWSCASTERS AND STATIONS DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Charles Frederick Houlberg, B.S., M.S. ***** The Ohio State University 1982 Reading Committee: Approved By Donald J. Cegala John Dimmick Department or Commuwcation Advisor Joseph Pilotta department of Communication" Advisor To Mary Ann Houlberg, because of her love, dedication to life and family, and elegance of style. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I want to thank my family, CS, Sankar, Scott Ray, and Linda Nolan for their steadfast support and love during the preparation of this dissertation. Carol Houston must be thanked for her help with the focus group interviews and Scott Ray for his immediate and enthusiastic help with the statistical work. Linda Nolan has been extremely important to the production of this document as she was the able and efficient project manager for the telephone interviews. To my committee, Joe Pilotta, Don Cegala and John Dimmick, I extend my appreciation for their courses, guidance, support, concern and ability to spark intellectual activity. I am proud and fortunate I was able to study with each of these scholars. I must acknowledge the tremendous input to this dissertation by Don Cegala. While an excellent teacher and an advisor, Don has also been a friend. I must also acknowledge the demanding and thorough training over the past five years by John Dimmick. John has not only been the guiding force behind this dissertation, he has been my advisor and mentor. For all John and the others have done for me, I will say— inadequately— thanks, my friends. iii VITA 1960 ............... Graduated High School, Crystal Lake, Illinois 1960-1962 ......... Student, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois (Psychology) 1962-1967........... U.S. Army 1967-1969 ......... Student, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Illinois (B.S., 1969, Radio-Television) 1970-1972 ......... Student, Brooklyn College, Brooklyn, New York (M.S., Broadcasting) 1973-1977 ......... Assistant Professor, Radio-Television, University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho 1977-1980 ......... Student, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio (Ph.D., 1982, Communication) 1980-1982 ......... Assistant Professor, Xavier University of Louisiana, New Orleans, Louisiana 1982- ......... Assistant Professor, Broadcast Communication Arts, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, California iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page DEDICATION................................................. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................ iii VITA ....................................................... iv LIST OF T A B L E S ........... vii Chapter I. INTRODUCTION AND RATIONALE........................... 1 Review of Newscaster Studies ....................... 7 Physical Attributes ............................. 8 Professional Attributes ......................... 9 Combined Physical and Professional Attributes .... 12 Para-Social Interaction ......................... 14 Audience Viewpoint Research ..................... 16 Summary.......................................... 18 II. METHODS ................................................ 20 Focus Group Interviews ............................ 20 Focus Group Literature.............................. 21 Focus Group Administration.......................... 23 Focus Group Sample.................................. 25 Focus Group Sample Demographics ................... 26 Focus Group Tape A n a l y s i s .......................... 27 Focus Group R e s u l t s ................................ 28 P h y s i c a l ........................................ 28 Professional .................................. 31 Other Findings ...................................33 Research Questions ................................ 33 Telephone Interviewing ............................. 35 Viewing Attentiveness ........................... 36 Station Importance ............................. 37 Newscaster Importance ........................... 38 Funneling Procedures ........................... 40 "Telephone Questionnaire Administration ......... 41 Telephone Interview Sample ..................... 41 S u m m a r y ............................................ 44 v TABLE OF CONTENTS (continued) Page Chapter III. R ESULTS................................................ 45 Completion Rates .................................. 46 Sample Demographics .............................. 47 Sample Viewing Behavior ........................... 47 Station Selection Groups ........................... 49 Discrimination Analysis ......................... 51 Newscaster Identification ......................... 53 Factor Analysis ................................ 55 Discriminant Analysis .......................... 57 S u m m a r y ............................................ 59 IV. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS ............................. 61 S a m p l e .............................................. 61 Demographics .................................. 61 Viewing Behavior .............................. 62 Station Selection ................................ 63 Newscaster Relevance .............................. 64 Factor Analysis ................................ 66 Newscaster Selection ........................... 70 Discriminant Analysis ........... ........ 75 Station and Newscaster ............................. 76 Future Research .................................. 78 APPENDICES A. Focus Group Interview Demographic Form ................ 106 B. Telephone Interview Questionnaire ..................... 107 C. Newscaster Information Sheet ......................... 122 REFERENCES.....................................................123 vi LIST OF TABLES Elements and Corresponding Sources for the Newscaster Items ............................................... 81 Distribution of Respondents' Age ..................... 83 Distribution of Respondents' Occupations ............. 84 Distribution of Respondents' Education ............... 85 Distribution of Number in Respondents' Household . 86 Distribution of Respondents' Marital Status ........... 87 Distribution of Income per Respondents' Household . 88 Distribution of Respondents' Viewing Frequency ....... 89 Distribution of Viewing Length of Selected Local Stations ........................................... 90 Distribution of Frequencies to Station Attribute Questions ........................................... 91 Discriminant Analysis of Station Groups ............... 92 Discriminant Function Coefficients for Station Groups ............................................. 93 Pooled Within-Groups Correlations Between Discriminant Function and Discriminating Variables for Station Groups ............................................. 94 Distribution of Newscaster Identifications ........... 95 Rotated Varimax Factor Matrix (N = 258) ............... 96 Newscaster Attributes by Five Newscaster Groups ....... 98 Oneway Analysis of Variance of Three Factors ......... 99 Newscaster Group Means Across the Three Component Factor Scores ........................................ vii LIST OF TABLES (continued) Table Page 19 Discriminant Analysis of Newscaster G r o u