Backpack Journalism in Television Newsgathering: Audience Perceptions of Quality Charles Wesley Gee University of Tennessee - Knoxville
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View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by University of Tennessee, Knoxville: Trace University of Tennessee, Knoxville Trace: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 12-2008 Backpack Journalism in Television Newsgathering: Audience Perceptions of Quality Charles Wesley Gee University of Tennessee - Knoxville Recommended Citation Gee, Charles Wesley, "Backpack Journalism in Television Newsgathering: Audience Perceptions of Quality. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 2008. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/521 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at Trace: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Trace: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Charles Wesley Gee entitled "Backpack Journalism in Television Newsgathering: Audience Perceptions of Quality." I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Communication and Information. Norman R. Swan, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Catherine Luther, Robert Legg, Edward Counts Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official student records.) To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Charles Wesley Gee entitled “Backpack Journalism in Television Newsgathering: Audience Perceptions of Quality.” I have examined the final paper copy of this thesis for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Communications and Information. Norman R. Swan, Major Professor We have read this thesis and recommend its acceptance: Catherine Luther _________________________ Robert Legg __________________________ Edward Counts __________________________ Acceptance for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges ______________________________ Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official student records) Backpack Journalism in Television Newsgathering: Audience Perceptions of Quality A Dissertation Presented for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Charlie Gee December 2008 Copyright © 2008 by Charlie Gee All rights reserved. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my major professor, Dr. Sam Swan, for his counsel and support during this academic journey. I am greatly indebted to him for his interest and backing of the dissertation, as well as all of my graduate work. Without his perseverance and guidance, I would not have finished the program. I would like to thank the other members of my committee, Dr. Catherine Luther, Dr. Bob Legg, Dr. Ed Counts, and Dr. Barbara Kaye for their feedback, suggestions, and support to this undertaking. I will also like to thank my parents, grandmother, and siblings for their understanding and support during this academic pursuance. Without their patience and encouragement, this task would not have been completed. They have taught me to finish what was started and I feel that I did not let them down. Finally, I would like to thank my colleagues for their inspirational discussions during this process. When the chips were down, they were there to uplift my spirits. Thank you. iii ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to explore preferences by younger news audiences of backpack journalism in local television news. Local television news has to compete with Internet and other media to attract viewers. The theoretical foundation for this study, uses and gratifications, proposes audience members will actively seek news information using television as a primary source. The focus of the study centered around technology’s influence on television newsgathering techniques and if the techniques delineated the quality of journalistic presentation. Four hundred and ninety three college students were surveyed about their media use, news gratification, and preferences of production quality criteria associated with news stories produced by traditional two person crews and backpack journalists. Respondents were shown eight randomly selected videotaped news stories from a television market that employed both traditional two person news crews and backpack journalists. Four stories were chosen by each newsgathering method. Each news story was judged on perceptions of pacing, camera composition, lighting, voice narration, interviews selected, and script production. Findings suggested that younger audience members indicated a preference toward newsgathering methods by traditional news crews rather than backpack journalists. Anecdotal evidence suggests a shift in the newsgathering paradigm is currently taking place in the local television news. However, the results of this study propose the audience acceptance of this newsgathering technique is slow to be accepted by the younger news audience. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page Chapter 1............................................................................................................................. 1 Introduction......................................................................................................................... 1 History of Newsgathering................................................................................................... 3 Technology ..................................................................................................................... 3 News Correspondent....................................................................................................... 8 Backpack Journalism .................................................................................................... 11 BPJ Defined .............................................................................................................. 11 Proponents................................................................................................................. 12 Critics........................................................................................................................ 16 Statement of the Problem.................................................................................................. 18 Definition of Problem ................................................................................................... 19 Purpose of Study .......................................................................................................... 20 Significance of the Study.................................................................................................. 22 Organization of Chapters .................................................................................................. 25 Chapter 2........................................................................................................................... 26 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 26 Uses and Gratifications............................................................................................... 26 Uses and Gratifications with College Students............................................................. 33 Newsgathering .............................................................................................................. 39 Research on ENG Technology...................................................................................... 39 Economics of Newsgathering Technology ................................................................... 50 Measuring Quality ....................................................................................................... 60 Measuring Perception of Quality.................................................................................. 60 Research on Audiences............................................................................................... 68 Summary of Most Relevant Studies........................................................................ 74 Hypotheses and Research Questions....................................................................... 77 Chapter 3........................................................................................................................... 79 Research Design................................................................................................................ 79 Population and Sample ..................................................................................................... 81 The Stimuli........................................................................................................................ 83 Questionnaire Construction .............................................................................................. 85 Procedures......................................................................................................................... 87 Reliability.......................................................................................................................... 88 Statistical Analysis...........................................................................................................