Local television news, the good news / bad news dyad, and audience perceptions : is there really a problem?

Abstract

The relationship between television news and its audience is one of the defining descriptions of our society. Essayists and researchers have often reported that the audience dislikes national news because of what has been described as a tendency to offer "too much negative news". Little parallel inquiry has been conducted specifically dealing with local television news. Combining mail survey and content analysis methodologies, the present study employed research-tested procedures and instruments in a case study of local commercial television station newscasts in the Orlando, Florida market during March and April, 1992. This investigation found little or no bias toward negative news among its studied stations and no significant correlations between negative content offered and audience size. Survey respondents reported local newscasts to be unbiased, important, and containing an appropriate balance between good and bad news.

Notes

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Graduation Date

1992

Semester

Fall

Advisor

Fedler, Fred

Degree

Master of Arts (M.A.)

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Communication

Format

PDF

Pages

68 p.

Language

English

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Access Status

Masters Thesis (Open Access)

Identifier

DP0029868

Subjects

Arts and Sciences -- Dissertations, Academic; Dissertations, Academic -- Arts and Sciences

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