Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (79Th, Anaheim, CA, August 10-13, 1996)
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
DOCUMENT RESUME ED 401 569 CS 215 577 TITLE Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (79th, Anaheim, CA, August 10-13, 1996). Radio and Television Division. INSTITUTION Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. PUB DATE Aug 96 NOTE 349p.; For other sections of these proceedings, see CS 215 568-580. PUB TYPE Collected Works Conference Proceedings (021) EDRS PRICE MFO1 /PC14 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Broadcast Journalism; Computer Mediated Communication; Federal Regulation; Females; Journalism Research; Mass Media Effects; Mass Media Role; *News Reporting; *Programming (Broadcast); Radio; Television Research; Womens Athletics; World Wide Web IDENTIFIERS Federal Communications Commission; Johnson (Nicholas); *Media Coverage; *Television News; Television News Magazines; Television Writing ABSTRACT The Radio and Television section of the proceedings contains the following 13 papers: "Two Pacific Powers View the World: News on CBS and TBS Television" (Anne Cooper-Chen); "Nicholas Johnson: The Public's Defender on the Federal Communication Commission, 1966-1973" (Max V. Grubb); "News Tips, TV Viewers, and Computer Links: A Follow-Up Story" (Jim Upshaw and Michael Elias); "Quantitative Television Coverage of Women's Athletics: ESPN Sportscenter and CNN Sports Tonight" (C. A. Tuggle); "A Deeper Look at the 'Superficiality' of Television News" (Daniel Riffe); "Television Station Sites on the World Wide Web" (Ray Niekamp); "Credibility and Perceptions of Network Television News Coverage of the O.J. Simpson Trial" (Patrick J. Sutherland and others); "Evaluating Satisfaction with Cable Television: An Attribute Based Approach" (Randy Jacobs); "Charles Kuralt, Steve Dunleavy, and the Language of Television News" (Matthew C. Ehrlich); "The Role of News Teasers in Processing of TV News" (Hao-chieh Chang); "Riding the Airwaves: Three Models of Women's Access to Broadcasting" (Sue Carter); "The News Box: Re-Evaluating Radio News in the 1920s" (Michael Antecol); and "Mandate to News Consult: The Untold Story of the FCC's 1960 Community Ascertainment Policy" (Craig Allen). Individual papers contain references. (CR) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (79th, Anaheim, CA, August 10-13, 1996). Radio & Television Journalism Division. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL CENTER (ERIC) This document has been reproduced as HAS BEEN GRANTED BY received from the person or organization originating it. Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. Points of view or ()Onions stated in this document do not necessarily represent TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES official OERI position or policy. INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) BEST COPY AVAll LABLE 2 TWO PACIFIC POWERS VIEW THE WORLD: NEWS ON CBS AND TBS TELEVISION Anne Cooper-Chen, Ph. D. Lara Simms, MSJ E. W. Scripps School of Journalism Ohio University Athens, OH 45701 (614) 593-2611 [email protected] Abstract This study looked at 309 stories from 30 randomly selected Tokyo Broadcasting System newscasts (Japan) during January-June 1993 and compared them to 283 stories on CBS newscasts (United States). Analysis showed that Japan makes less room for the outside world (13.9% of stories)than does the United States (20.8%). Geographic areas covered and the role of women as reporters showed significant differences, while news topics were highly correlated. Japan covered the United States much more thoroughly than vice- versa. Presented to the Radio-Television Journalism Division, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass CommunicationAnnual Convention, Anaheim August 10-13, 1996 The Japan portion of this research was conducted while the first author was a Fulbright Senior Research Scholar in Japan 1992-93. The author would like to thank Ms. Nilanjana Bardhan, Ms. Haijing Lu and Dr. Charles Chen for their help. TWO PACIFIC POWERS VIEW THE WORLD: NEWS ON CBS AND TBS TELEVISION I. INTRODUCTION Japan and the United States, although culturally poles apart, have in common their economic might. The U.S. $5 trillion economy (the world's largest) and the Japanese $3 trillion economy (second largest) together make up 42 percent of the world's GNP. Both of these economies support commercially financed, highly developed TV systems. Japanese and Americans share a healthy TV appetite, but the Japanese stay glued to the tube longer. Each Japanese spends an average of three hours and 32 minutes per weekday and 4 hours, 23 minutes on Sunday watching television (NHK survey in October 1995), compared to two hours, 26 minutes a day for each U.S. resident (Nielsen survey in May 1993). The average Japanese household has its TV set turned on for eight hours and eight minutes a day. In both countries, viewers over 55 have the heaviest TV habits. Among young people, the "subject of conversation in Japan among high school students is . often about television and radio programs," whereas U.S. teenagers would probably talk instead about the opposite sex (Sata 1991, 214). In Japan, "intellectual snobbery is almost nil. conspicuous non-ownership of television. is totally alien in Japanese society" (Kato 1988, 315). The visual orientation of the Japanese and the strict dichotomy between uchi ("home") and soto ("outside") helped make television Japan's medium ofchoice; television permits the Japanese to stay comfortably inside while looking out at an uneasy world (Kitamura 1987, 144-45). In 1975, television surpassed newspapers in Japan as the mass medium with the largest amount of advertising revenues. Along the way, it killed Japan's film industry, which plummeted steadily from its peak of production in 1960 (Kato 1993). The TV systems of these two economic and technological Group of 7 superpowers share many traits, but Japan nonetheless "is not historically and culturally part of the Western bloc" (Kitagawa, Salwen and Driscoll 1995, 24). The following discussion will concentrate on the Japan side of the U.S.-Japan equation, as its mass media are not so well known in the West. Similarities: U.S. and Japanese Television *Saturation. These two nations of TV watchers have both reached nearly total TV penetration, with ratios of one set per 1.4 people in the United States and one set per 1.8 people in Japan. *Three dominant commercial networks. Japan's counterparts to ABC, CBS and NBC are Fuji, Nihon TV (NTV) and the Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS). Until 1994, Fuji had captured the largest audience share, but in 1994, NTV (21.2% share) pulled out ahead of Fuji (19.5%) and TBS (17.7%). *Innovations in technology. Inventors Charles Francis Jenkins and Philo T. Farnsworth played key roles in the early history of U.S. television. At about the same time,in the 1920s and 1930s, inventors Kenjiro Takayanagi (1899-1990) and Hidetsugu Yagi (1886- 1976), made important TV engineering innovations in Japan. More recently, the"Hi-Vision"high definition (HDTV) system was developed; since 1991, test broadcasting (analog system) has been 2 5 conducted for eight hours daily. *Minimal imports/ extensive exports of programs. The United States exports so much TV programming that some accuse it of media imperialism (McPhail 1981; Schiller 1976; Tunstall 1977). In the 1960s in Japan, one of many destination for U.S. exports, viewers could see Hoss and Little Joe of"Bonanza"speaking perfect (dubbed) Japanese. But by 1971, the balance had tipped (Ito 1990); Japan, like the United States, began exporting more TV programs than it imported ("Sekai ni. ." 1994): 1971 imports- 2,000 hours exports- 2,200 hours 1992 imports- 2,843 hours exports- 19,546 hours *Overseas bureaus. TV news operations in both nations support a roster of correspondents around the world, but not in Africa and South America. CBS has bureaus or correspondents in 11 cities (Kliesch July 1996, personal communication). TBS operates (in 1996) the 18 bureaus: Washington, D.C., New York, Los Angeles, Vienna, Paris, Berlin, London, Moscow,Sakhalin,Vldivostok,Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Seoul, Manila, Bangkok and Cairo. Differences: U.S. and Japanese Television Although a postwar phenomenon in both countries, television in its early days reflected the roles of victor and vanquished. *Early diffusion. In 1947, the number of U.S. TV sets increased from 8,000 to 170,000. But defeated Japan could not even dream of a TV system until years later. On February 1,1953, less than a year after the Allied Occupation ended, Nihon Hoso Kyokai (NHK) went on the air as a public service broadcaster--even though only 3 $ 866 TV sets existed in the Tokyo area at the time. A few months later, on August 28, 1953, NTV began transmissions. *Rooting. The wedding of the present emperor to commoner Michiko Shoda, whom he had met at a tennis court, turned Japan into a nationof TV watchers. The lead timebetweenthe couple's engagement in 1958 and the royal wedding on April 10, 1959, gave manufacturers time to campaign for TV purchases,which then amounted to more than a month's salary. By contrast, an obsession with a sitcom launched the United States into the TVage. Castleman and Podrazik (1982,v) chose January 19, 1953, as "the point at which television became synonymous with American popular culture." On that day, both the real Desi Arnaz, Jr. and the fictitious little Rickey Ricardo of "I Love Lucy" were born into postwar America. *Role of non-commercial television. Japan boasts a strong dual TV system. Nippon Hoso Kyokai (NHK) does not command as large an audience (16.5%) as the top three commercial networks, but its programs pull in respectable ratings--much higher, relative to commercial stations, than PBS's in theUnitedStates. This gargantuan public broadcaster, which employs 16,000 people, has always had a cosier relation to the government than PBS does.