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ED 447 544 CS 510 461

TITLE Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Association forEducation in Journalism and Mass Communication (83rd,Phoenix, Arizona, August 9-12, 2000). Graduate EducationInterest Group.

INSTITUTION Association for Education in Journalism and MassCommunication.

PUB DATE 2000-08-00NOTE 133p.; For other sections of this proceedings, see CS 510

451-470.PUB TYPE Collected Works Proceedings (021)EDRS PRICE MF01/PC06 Plus Postage.DESCRIPTORS Broadcast Industry; Cable Television; Comparative Analysis;

Economic Factors; Foreign Countries; Global Approach; HigherEducation; Internet; *Journalism Education; JournalismResearch; Newspapers; Presidents of the United States;*Programming (Broadcast)

IDENTIFIERS Malaysia; Reagan (Ronald); Television News; War on Drugs

ABSTRACTThe Graduate Education Interest Group section of the

proceedings contains the following five papers: "The Press, President, andPresidential Popularity During Ronald Reagan's War on Drugs",(Hyo-Seong Lee);"Malaysia's Broadcasting Industry in Transition: Effect of New Competitionson Traditional Television Channels" (Tee-Tuan Foo); "The Transparency ofCulture and Politics in Economic Discourse" (Jennie Rupertus); "Convergenceof the Internet Websites by Newspaper, Broadcast, and Internet NewsOrganizations" (Sang Hee Kweon); and "The Impact and Relationship of Policyand Competition on the Program Diversity in Cable TV" (Seung Kwan Ryu). (RS)

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The Press, President, and Presidential Popularity

During Ronald Reagan's War On Drugs

byHyo-Seong Lee

(Ph.D. Candidate)

Address: 2022 Evergreen Terrace Dr. E. Apt. 3Carbondale IL, 62901

E-Mail: [email protected]: (618) 457-8939

School of JournalismSouthern Illinois University at Carbondale

The Press, President and Presidential Popularity

Abstract

This study tested a path model of agenda-building examining the relationships

among the press, president, and presidential popularity rating during the Reagan

administration in the 1980s. This study found that as presidential emphasis on the drug

issue increased, so did the press coverage of the drug issue. Also, as the press coverage of

the drug issue increased, so did presidential emphasis about the drug issue.

L..

24


The Press, President, and Presidential Popularity

during Ronald Reagan's War On Drugs

I. Introduction

According to the 1985 survey of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA),

70.4 million Americans have used marijuana, cocaine, or other illicit drugs at least once

during their lifetimes.' With one in eight Americans estimated to be users of illicit drugs

in 1985, it was apparent that drug use was a significant phenomenon in society at that

time. In particular, cocaine related deaths became frequent in the early 1980s, and the

number of addicts accelerated when crack became available in 1985.2

The drug problem caught the attention of public officials during the Reagan

administration in the 1980s. In 1982, National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) began to

design the 'Just Say No' campaign, the objective of which was to present a drug-free life

as a healthy norm for teenagers.3 To counter increasing cocaine use among older

teenagers and young adults, NIDA developed a multi-media program, 'Cocaine, The Big

Lie,' which was implemented in two phases, the first in April 1986 and the second in

spring 1988. Needham Harper Worldwide (NHW) produced 13 public service

announcements for the first phase, which aired 1,500 to 2,500 times per month within 75

local television markets, according to the Broadcast Advertisers Report, Inc.4

National Institute on Drug Abuse, "Population Projections, based on the National Survey on Drug Abuse,"(Washington DC: GPO, 1987).2 P. J. Shoemaker, W. Wanta, and D. Leggett, "Drug Coverage and Public Opinion, 1972-1986," In PamelaJ. Shoemaker (ed.), Communication Campaigns about Drugs: Government, Media and the Public(Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1989), 67-80.3 Susan B. Lachter and Avraham Forman, "Drug Abuse in the United States," In Pamela J. Shoemaker(ed.), Communication Campaigns about Drugs: Government, Media and the Public (Hillsdale, NJ:Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1989), 7-12.4 Susan B. Lachter and Avraham Forman, "Drug Abuse in the United States," In Pamela J. Shoemaker(ed.), Communication Campaigns about Drugs: Government, Media and the Public (Hillsdale, NJ:Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1989), 7-12.

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In particular, President Reagan announced that drug abuse was "one of the gravest

problems facing us internally in the United States."5 Secretary of State, George Shultz

lamented that "indeed, in almost every American city, people face the drug problem in

the streets and learn about it daily in the media."6 With the recognition of the drug

epidemic, the public, the members of the Congress, and the Administration all took up

arms to renew America's war on drugs, culminating in the Anti-Drug Abuse Act being

passed by the Congress and signed by the President Reagan in late October 1986.7

Along with the reality of drug problems and concerns from public officials of

Reagan administration, the mass media dealt heavily with drug issues such as drug-

caused tragedies, new illegal drugs, the social ramifications of a drug-dependent

population,8 the pleas for reform from celebrities, and the information campaigns of

public health agencies. In the early 1980s, the drug issue accounted for about 1% of the

total national coverage in the National Media Index of the Conference on Issues and

Media, roughly equivalent to 10,000 inches of print coverage in major newspapers

around the country or about 15 minutes of evening network news in a two-week period.9

The increase in the drug coverage among the national media during Reagan

5 President, News Conference, "The President's News conference," Public Papers of the Presidents of theUnited States 1981: Ronald Reagan (Washington DC: GPO, 1982), 210.6 Secratery Shultz, Address, "The Campaign Against Drugs: The International Dimension," Current PolicyNo. 611 (Washington DC: DSBPA, 1984), 1.

President, Remarks, "Remarks on the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986," Public Papers of the Presidents ofthe United States 1986: Ronald Reagan (Washington DC: GPO, 1987), 1447, 1452.8 Pamela J. Shoemaker, Wayne Wanta, and Dawn Wanta, In P. J. Shoemaker (ed.) "Drug Coverage andPublic Opinion," Communication Campaigns About Drugs: Government, Media, and the Public (Hillsdale,NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers, 1989), 67-80.9 Cited in John E. Merrian, "National Media Coverage of Drug Issues, 1983-1987," In Pamela J.Shoemaker (ed.), Communication Campaigns about Drugs: Government, Media and the Public (Hillside,NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1989), 21-29.

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administration was accentuated in 1986 by the tragic death of Maryland basketball star

Len Bias due to cocaine intoxication which occurred in the early summer of 1986.10

Drugs might represent a social problem that was dealt seriously by mass media, in

terms of the amount of attention paid to the issue and the media awareness of what was

happening in the 1980s. Some speculate the drug issue was driven by the media which

lacked any objective evidence of an epidemic. Others speculate the drug issue relates to

the concern and emphasis the president has given to the issue, as exemplified by

Presidents Reagan's and Bush's wars on drugs."

In this vein, this study investigates whether the press or president had an influence

on each other directly or through the factor of presidential popularity in the 1980s. That

is, this study examines the relationships among the press, president, and presidential

popularity during President Ronald Reagan's War on Drugs through an agenda-building

framework.

II. Literature Review

Early Studies of Agenda Setting

McCombs and Shaw hypothesized that the issues emphasized in the news media

influence the issues the voters regard as important. 12 In other words, the media agenda

determines, to some degree, the public agenda. Determining what to select for attention

and what to ignore among a number of existing issues means determining the perspective

you apply to view the political world as a whole. Media coverage gives salience cues to

the members of the public showing them which issues are important. The public receives

10 Review & Outlook: An Athlete Dying Young (New York: Wall Street Journal, 1986), June 26. DrugsCloud Len Bias Story (Omaha: Omaha World-Herald, 1986), June 21.'I Paul M. Barrett, "Though the Drug War isn't over, spotlight turns to other issues," (New York: WallStreet Journal, 1990) November 19.


these salience cues and ultimately believes that the issues receiving extensive coverage

are more important than those issues receiving little coverage.13

The majority of early agenda setting researches focused on the influence of mass

media on the public agenda, adopting a simple "mirror-image" hypothesis about media

effects.14 That is, research on the subject has generally tried to establish some overall

match between the relative frequency of the news media's coverage of a set of issues, on

the one hand, and the relative salience of the same set of issues among the public, on the

other.15 The agenda setting hypothesis in many studies has been generally supported

through a wide range of studies.

The work of McCombs and Shaw16 focused on the hypothesis that although the

media may not tell the public what to think, they may influence what the public thinks

about that is, set the public agenda. The approach had its roots in the oldest concerns of

scholars and politicians about the potential power of the press in controlling public

opinion.17 They investigated this notion of press power with a sample of Chapel Hill,

12 M. McCombs and D. Shaw, D. "The Agenda-Setting Function of the Mass Media," Public OpinionQuarterly 36 (1972), 176-187.13 M. McCombs and D. Shaw, D. "The Agenda-Setting Function of the Mass Media," Public OpinionQuarterly 36 (1972), 176-187.14 Most early agenda setting studies focused narrowly on election campaigns. McCombs and Shaw (1972)found that issues emphasized by the media in Chapel Hill, North Carolina during the 1968 presidentialcampaign were the same as those considered important by a sample of voters interviewed during the sameperiod. McLeod, Becker, and Byrnes (1974) found that partial similarities in issue emphasis betweenregistered voters in Madison, Wisconsin, and the local newspapers these voters read during the 1972election campaign.15 Jack M. McLeod, Lee B. Becker, and James E. Byrnes, "Another Look at the Agenda-Setting Functionof the Press," Communication Research 1 (April, 1974), 131-166. Maxwell E. McCombs and G. Stone, eds,Studies in Agenda-Setting (Syracuse: Newhouse Communication Research Center, Syracuse University,1976). Donald L. Shaw and Maxwell E. McCombs, The Emergence of American Political Issues: TheAgenda-Setting Function of the press (St. Paul, Minnesota: West Publishing Co, 1977).16 M. McCombs and D. Shaw, D. "The Agenda-Setting Function of the Mass Media," Public OpinionQuarterly 36 (1972), 176-187. The authors hypothesized that "the mass media set the agenda for eachpolitical campaign, influencing the salience of attitudes toward the political issues (p. 177)."

H. D. Lasswell, "Propaganda technique in the world war (New York: Knopf, 1927). G. LeBon, "TheCrowd (Dunwoody, GA: Norman S. Berg, 1968). W. Lippmann, Public Opinion (New York: HarcourtBrace, 1922).

6


North Carolina, voters during the 1968 presidential campaign. It was found that voters

share the media's composite definition of what is important.

Jack McLeod18 provided direct empirical evidence for the hypothesis in a study of

the 1964 presidential campaign. His content analysis of two newspapers revealed sharp

differences in media reports of two issues federal spending policies and control of

nuclear weapons. Readers exposed to the newspaper espousing nuclear control ranked

that issue higher than the spending issue, while the reverse was found for the other paper.

On the other hand, researchers have found the media's agenda setting effect with

the drug issue. Shoemaker, Wanta, and Leggett found that the more the media

emphasized drugs, the more the public considered drugs as a problem. In particular,

newspapers had a strong agenda setting influence as the New York Times and the Los

Angeles Times exerted a greater influence on the public agenda than all three major

television networks and all three major newsmagazines combined.19 Gonzenbach found

an interactive relationship between the press and the public on the drug issue between

1985 and 1990 with each influencing, and in turn being influenced by each other. He

found that the press mirrored and had an immediate impact on the public agenda, but that

the public agenda also filtered into the press agenda which, in turn, reinforced public

opinion at a later time.20

18J. McLeod, "Political Conflict and Information-Seeking," Paper presented to the American PsychologicalAssociation, Chicago, 1965.19 P. J. Shoemaker, W. Wanta, and D. Leggett, "Drug Coverage and Public Opinion, 1972-1986," In P. J.Shoemaker (ed.), Communication Campaigns about Drugs: Government, Media, and the Public (Hillsdale,NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1989).20 W. J. Gonzenbach, "Time-Series Analysis of the Drug Issue, 1985-1990: The Press, the President andPublic Opinion," International Journal of Public Opinion Research 4 (Summer 1992), 126-147.


From Agenda Setting to Agenda Building

Despite promising beginnings, the nearly quarter century of agenda setting

research that has followed the McCombs and Shaw study has produced mixed results.

The agenda-setting process does not always work. This "failure" has been variously

attributed to such factors as media usage, contingent conditions affecting the audience

and the actors, and the level of obtrusiveness of the issues involved.21 Whatever the case,

this ambiguity has led to the search for constructs that either complement or supplant the

theory. It is highly doubtful given the growing complexities of contemporary political

communication environments that any single medium or entity can solely serve as the

agenda setter. Instead, the individual influence of any particular entity must participate as

an agenda builder.22

In many instances the media manipulate the political scene by creating a climate

for political action. This makes them major contributors to agenda building, the process

whereby news stories influence how people perceive and evaluate issues and policies.

Agenda building goes beyond agenda setting.23 The media set the public agenda when

news stories rivet attention on a problem and make it seem important to the public. Mass

media build the public agenda when they create a political climate that determines the

likely thrust of public opinions.

In what McCombs has called the "fourth phase" of agenda setting studies,

researchers have been attempting to answer the question "Who sets the media's

21 D. A. Graber, Processing the News: How People Tame the Information Tide (New York: Longman,1984). G. E. Lang and K. Lang, "Watergate: An Exploration of the Agenda Building Process," In G. C.Wilhoit and H. deBok (eds.), Mass Communications Review Yearbook (2-16) (Newbury Park, CA: Sage,1981).22 M. Robers, "Political Advertising's Influence on News, the Public, and Their Behavior," inCommunication and Democracy, M. McCombs, D. L. Shaw, and D. Weaver, ed.(Mahwah, NJ: LawrenceErlbaum Associates, 1997).


agenda."24 These studies moved agenda setting into an earlier point in time in the public

opinion process by examining potential sources of the news media agenda.

Some researchers have examined the influence of public officials and other actors

on the media's agenda. Gandy examined the way in which the media interact with other

actors to create the items that eventually appear on the media agenda.25 According to

Gandy, those actors include public officials and other professional public relations

practitioners. They make up an integral component of the newsgathering process, since

they are the initial source of much of what appears in the press. As a matter of fact, the

new phase of agenda setting research is imbued with opportunities to apply the agenda

setting process' central concept, the transfer of salience, to all forms of corporate,

governmental, and non-governmental organization's public relations efforts that attempt

to shape public opinion, media coverage, and public policies in the society.

That is, government officials can set the media's agenda.26 Iyengar and Kinder

found that on certain issues, the president influences the public's level of concern.27

They, for example, found that when the president delivered national speeches dealing

with energy, public concern with the issue of energy rose by more than 4%. On other

issues, however, the president was less successful in influencing public concern and had

to rely on the news media to put forth his issue priorities before the public. Yet, relatively

23 D. G. Graber, Mass Media and American Politics (Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 1993).24 M. E. McCombs, "Explorers and Surveyors: Expanding Strategies for Agenda-Setting Research,"Journalism Quarterly 69 (1992), 813-824.24 Wayne Wanta, Mary Ann Stephenson, Judy VanSlyke Turk and Maxwell E. McCombs, "HowPresident's State of Union Talk Influenced News Media Agendas" Journalism Quarterly (Summer, 1989),537-541.25 0. H. Gandy, Beyond Agenda Setting: Information Subsidies and Public Policy (Norwood, NJ: AblexPublishing, 1982).26 T. Atwater and F. Fico, "Source Reliance and Use in Reporting State Government: A Study of Print andBroadcast Practices," Newspaper Research Journal, 8 (1986), 53-61.27 S. Iyengar and D. R. Kinder, News That Matters (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987).


few studies have considered whether government officials can directly affect the public's

agenda via mediated communication.

Recently, several studies have examined media, public and policy agenda

setting.28 For example, there have been studies on how U.S. presidents influence agendas

of the media and citizens.29 However, the researchers who have examined the president-

media relationships have found some contradictory results. President Nixon apparently

influenced subsequent press coverage through his State of the Union address while

President Carter appears to have been influenced by previous press coverage.

The contradictory findings of these studies generally acknowledge the existence

of a variety of factors that influence the relationship between the press and the public. In

this vein, when Lang and Lang proposed that traditional agenda setting research be

expanded to include the influence of political actors, they assumed that a reciprocal

agenda building relationship in which a third variable is added to form a three-way

relationship. That is, the press, public, and public officials would influence one another

and, in turn, be influenced by one another.3°

One possible variable which could play an important role in the agenda building

process is the presidential popularity rating.31 Wanta found that presidential popularity

appears to play a key role between the president and public even though the popularity

ratings had little influence on the relationship between the press and president. As a

28 E. M. Rogers, J. W. Dearing, and D. Bregman, "The Anatomy of Agenda Setting Research," Journal ofCommunication 43 (1993), 68-83. D. L. Protess and M. McCombs, eds. Agenda Setting: Reading onMedia, Public Opinion, and Policy Making (Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1991).29 W. Wanta, M. A. Stephenson, J. V. Turk, and M. E. McCombs, "How President's State of Uniion TalkInfluenced News Media Agenda," Journalism Quarterly 66 (1989), 537-541.3° Gladys Engel Lang and Kurt Lang, The Battle for Public Opinion: The President, the Press and the PollsDuring Watergate (New York: Columbia University Press, 1983), 58-59.31 Wayne Wanta, "Presidential Approval Ratings as a Variable in the Agenda-Building," JournalismQuarterly 68 (Winter, 1991), 672-679.

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matter of fact, presidential approval ratings have become an increasingly examined facet

of public opinion. The frequency of approval ratings polls has made them "a fact of

American political life."32

On the other hand, some researchers have examined the relationship among the,

press, president, and public on the issue of drug abuse using the agenda building

framework during Nixon administration's War on Drugs. Johnson and Wanta33 employed

a path analysis model to find linear relationships with drug issues. They suggested that:

first, drug arrests rose in the United States, next, the media increased coverage of the drug

issue, then, the public learned of the importance of drug as an issue, and finally, the

president reacted to public concern. In addition, Sharp34 found that the Nixon's drug war

exhibited a pattern that suggests the mobilization model of agenda setting, which is

initiated by actors within government who then evoke popular interest and concern in

order to build support for their initiative.

The agenda building framework, which usually forms a three-way relationship,

could provide a useful tool in this study of examining the relationship among the press,

president and presidential popularity.

Research Questions

This study raises following research questions.

RQ1: As press coverage of drug issue increases, does presidential popularity

rating rise, which in turn increases subsequent presidential emphasis of drug issue?

32 Ithiel de Sola Pool, "Comments and Observations," In A Cantril (ed.), Polling the Issues (Washington:Seven Locks Press, 1980), 46-52.33 T. J. Johnson and W. Wanta, "Influence Dealers: A Path Analysis Model of Agenda Building duringRichard Nixson's War on Drugs," J&MC Quarterly 73 (1996), 181-194.34 E. B. Sharp, "Agenda-Setting and Policy Results: Lessons from Three Drug Policy Episodes," PolicyStudies Journal 20 (1992), 538-551.

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RQ2: As press coverage of drug issue increases, does presidential emphasis of

drug issue rise?

RQ3: As presidential emphasis of drug issue increases, does presidential

popularity rating rise, which in turn increases subsequent press coverage of drug issue?

RQ4: As presidential emphasis of drug issue increases, does press coverage of

drug issue rise?

III. Method

The research design employed to measure the reciprocal influences among the

press, president, and presidential popularity rating was based on Wanta and associates.35

This study includes measures of press coverage of drug issues before and after the

measures of presidential popularity rating. This study also includes measures of

presidential emphasis on drug issues before and after measures of presidential popularity

rating of Ronald Reagan. These measures possibly allow the author look at the

relationships among the press coverage of drug issues, presidential emphasis on drug

issues, and presidential popularity rating.

Important Variables

Drugs Drugs refer to drug use, drug abuse and addiction to illegal drugs as well as

drug abuse of legal drugs including alcohol, cigarettes and over-the-counter medications.

A story about a murder which mentions that a person used drugs would be a drug story.

Furthermore, one in which the focus is a person was murdered during a drug deal would

be a drug story. Thus, a story about the Food and Drug Administration approving a new

35 Wayne Wanta, Mary Ann Stephenson, Judy VanSlyke Turk and Maxwell E. McCombs, "HowPresident's State of Union Talk Influenced News Media Agendas," Journalism Quarterly 66 (1989), 537.W. Wanta, "Presidential Approval Ratings as a Variable in the Agenda Building," Journalism Quarterly 68(1991), 672-679.


cancer drug would not be a drug story, but one about people using a cancer drug to "get

high" would be.

Presidential Popularity Rating To evaluate the Presidential popularity rating, the

Gallup Polls of presidential job performance conducted during two Reagan

administrations were employed. Results of four polls a year were used in this study. The

time periods examined in this study were determined by following the dates during which

the Gallup polls were conducted asking people their attitude toward President Reagan.

The polls asked respondents "Do you approve or disapprove of the way Ronald Reagan is

handling his job as President? The percentage of respondents who said they approved of

the President's job formed the popularity measure.

Press Coverage of Drug Issue The amount of the press coverage of drug issue was

measured by counting all news stories on the drug issues appeared on the front pages of

four of the leading newspapers in the United States-the New York Times, the Washington

Post, the Los Angeles Times, and the Chicago Tribune-for 28 days before and after the

periods of the Gallup Poll of the presidential popularity rating. Intercoder agreement rate

was 98.3% for counting the number of drug stories from the four newspapers.

Presidential Emphasis on Drug Issue To determine the amount of emphasis that

President Reagan devoted to drug issues, copies of the Weekly Compilation of

Presidential Documents were consulted. Content analysis of the Presidential Documents

identified the number of drug speeches and the number of statement lines prior to and

subsequent periods of each presidential popularity rating poll during 1981 to 1988

periods. Since the Presidential Documents are uniform in size and column width, the

number of lines devoted to the drug issue should be an accurate measure of presidential

13 15


emphasis on the drug issue. It was considered a line if it extends more than half way

across the column. Intercoder agreement rate was 96.1% for counting the amount of

presidential speeches during the periods.

Path Analysis

The relationships among the variables were then investigated using a path

analysis. The path analysis appears to be a useful tool for mass communication

researches.36 In particular, path analysis is a statistical tool to use in examining patterns of

causation among a set of variables.37 Because the agenda building model proposed here

implies causality, using a causal modeling test such as path analysis is appropriate.

Path analysis examines the predictability of dependent variables based on

knowledge of independent variables. The analysis allows for two tests. First, the path

coefficients determine if the paths from one variables to another are statistically

significant. In other words, path coefficients test the direction of influence from one

variable to another. Statistically significant coefficients suggest that the independent

variable has a causal relationship with the dependent variable. Also, path coefficients

determine the degree of influence that each of the independent variables has on the

dependent variable. In other words, the path coefficients allow for the comparison of

influence between the different independent variables. Large coefficients show that one

independent variable has a stronger effect on the dependent variable than a second

variable that produced a smaller coefficient.

36 Wayne Wanta and Tien-Tsung Lee, "Agenda-Setting and Priming: A Comparision of Two TheoreticalModels," Paper presented to the Mass Communication Division at the annual conference of theInternational Communication Association, Montreal, 1997.37 Elazar J. Pedhazur, Multiple Regression in Behavioral Research: Explanation and Prediction, 2'd ed.(New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1982).


If agenda building is a cycle, as Lang and Lang38 argue, then the three variables

(press, president, and popularity rating) should interact with one another. Path

coefficients determine if one variable in the model can predict subsequent variables.

Figure 1 shows the path analysis model examined in this study. Thus, the agenda building

path model predicts six possibilities in this study as implied in the research question

section. First, press coverage of drug issue will lead to presidential popularity rating.

Second, presidential popularity rating will lead to presidential emphasis on drug issue.

Third, press coverage of drug issue will directly lead to presidential emphasis on drug

issue. Fourth, presidential emphasis on drug issue will lead to presidential popularity

rating. Fifth, presidential popularity rating will lead to press coverage of drug issue.

Sixth, presidential emphasis on drug issue will directly lead to press coverage of drug

issue.

Figure 1. Path Model of Press, President and Popularity Rating

Press

President

Press

President

38 G. Elan and K. Lang, The Battle for Public Opinion: The President, the Press and the Polls DuringWatergate (New York: Columbia University Press, 1983) 58-59.

15 17


IV. Results

The path analysis coefficients which are equivalent to betas in regression analysis

are shown in Figure 2. Two of six paths show significant coefficients. First of all, the

path from pre-poll presidential emphasis on drug issue (president) to post-poll press

coverage of drug issue (press) was strongly significant (beta=.63, p=.0001). In other

words, as presidential emphasis on the drug issue increased, so did press coverage of the

drug issue. However, path coefficients were not significant in the paths from presidential

emphasis on drug issue to presidential popularity rating and from presidential popularity

rating to press coverage of drug issue. That is, the increased presidential emphasis about

drug issue did not have any significant influence on the presidential popularity rating

among the public. Also, the popularity rating did not affect the subsequent press coverage

of the drug issue.

The path from pre-poll press coverage of drug issue to post-poll presidential

emphasis on drug issue was also statistically significant (beta=.37, p=.04). In other

words, as press coverage of drug issue increased, so did presidential emphasis about the

issue. However, path coefficients were not significant in the paths from press coverage of

drug issue to presidential popularity rating and from presidential popularity rating to

presidential emphasis on drug issue. That is, increased press coverage about the drug

issues did not affect on the presidential popularity rating among the public. Also, the

popularity rating did not affect the presidential attention to the drug issue.

16 18


Figure 2. Path Analysis Results

Press Press

President001)

President

V. Discussion

This study tested a causal model of agenda-building, examining the relationships

among the press, president, and presidential popularity rating through drug issue during

the Reagan administration in the 1980s. The results suggest that as President Reagan

increased emphasis about drug issue, the press increased its coverage dealing with drug

issue. Also, as the press coverage about drug issue increased, President Reagan increased

his emphasis on drug issue.

However, the press and president did not affect and were not affected by the

presidential popularity rating. The results suggest that, in considering the president's job

performance, the pubic did not pick up any salience cues from the press coverage of drug

issues and presidential emphasis on drug issue. Probably, this is due to the relative

absence of popular attention to the issue in the early years of the Reagan administration

(1981-1984).39

The results of this study suggests that, on the issue of drug, President Reagan had

a significant agenda building influence on the press. That is, President Reagan might

direct the press attention toward the drug issues through increasing the amount of

39 E. B. Sharp, "Agenda-Setting and Policy Results: Lessons from Three Drug Policy Episodes," PolicyStudies Journal 20 (1992), 538-551.


emphasis he gave drug issues in his public statements. In other words, the press's agenda

related to drug issue was influenced by presidential agenda dealing with drug issue.

However, the press was not forced unilaterally to pay attention to the president, because

the press also was a source of President's attention dealing with drug issue during Reagan

administration. The press and president interacted each other dealing with the drug

agenda.

The findings of this study are partly consistent but partly inconsistent with other

earlier studies dealing with drug issue. Undoubtedly, other variables may have affected

the press-president, popularity rating-press, and popularity rating-president relationships.

Future studies should include other variables which may have affected the relationships.

Also, future studies should consider employing different settings. As in other issues, the

development of drug issue is shaped by the ideological predilections of different

administrations, electoral considerations, and historical situations ranging from the

occurrence of unexpected events that help to focus public concern (such as the cocaine-

related death of basketball star Len Bias in 1986) to budget constraints to the competition

from other agenda items.

18 2 0

Malaysia's broadcasting industry in transition:Effect of new competitions on traditional television channels

By

Tee-Tuan FooSchool of Telecommunications,

Ohio UniversityAthens, OH 45701

[email protected].

Submitted to Graduate Education Interest Group(Guido H. Stempel III paper competition) of the

Association for Education in Journalism and Mass CoM,munication,Phoenix, Arizona, August 9-12, 2000.

21 BEST COPY AVAILABLE

Abstract

Between July 1995 and December 1996, three new competitorsMetrovision, a

private television station; Mega TV, a cable television; and ASTRO, a satellite

television entered the Malaysian television scene. This study seeks to answer the

question how would the emergence of these new competition change (1) the total airtime,

(2) the language of broadcast, (3) and types of program during the peak hour slots of the

three traditional television channels: RTM 1, 2 and TV 3. The findings show that the

new competition caused these traditional channels to (1) increase their total airtime (2)

increase Malay and Chinese programs and decrease English programs during peak hour

slots.

BEST COPY AVAILABLE

Malaysian Television I

Introduction

In the mid-1990s, after years of having only three television channels, RTM 1,

RTM2 and TV3, the Malaysian television industry facd a dramatic change. From 1995 to

1997, three new players entered the Malaysian television scene. The introduction of

Metrovision in July 1995, the second private television channel in Malaysia since the

launch of TV3 in 1984, opened a new chapter in the country's broadcasting history.

Shortly after the launch of Metrovision, two other players were ushered in. The first cable

television operator in the country, Mega TV was introduced in August 1995. Mega TV

initially offered five 24-hour international channelsCNN International News, the

Cartoon Network, ESPN, Discovery Channel, and Home Box Office (HBO). These were

aimed at providing programs that would serve the 3.2 million population viewers in the

Kiang Valley. In late 1996, All Asian Television and Radio Company network (or

ASTRO), the first digital satellite broadcast service was introduced to the Malaysian

population. The network provided 22 television channels and eight radio stations for its

subscribers nationwide.

With this drastic change in the television broadcasting scent of Malaysia within

an eighteen-month time span, one should ask: how would the three national television

channels, RTM1, RTM2 and TV3, respond to such development and reflect these

accordingly in their programming strategy? This study seeks to answer this question by

analyzing the three national television channels' programming schedules. By comparing

these channels' program schedules, a year before July 1995 and a year after the end of

1996, the period where Metrovision, Mega TV and ASTRO were introduced, this study

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Malaysian Television 2

seeks to understand the impact that new competitors, such as cable and satellite

television, have on traditional television broadcasters.

Background on the Malaysian broadcasting industry

Television was introduced to Malaysia in the 1960s. The first television network,

Talivishen Malaysia, was inaugurated by then Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman on

December 23, 1963. In 1969, a second channel was added to serve the nation's viewers.

According to Nawiyah, today, these two state-run television channels, commonly known

as RTM 1 and RTM 2', serve slightly different functions. While RTM 1 "is committed to

promoting national unity, security and development,"2 RTM 2 "has been given a more

entertainment-oriented role."3 From 1963 to 1984, RTM 1 and 2 dominated the

Malaysian broadcasting scene. In 1983, however, a privately owned television channel,

TV 3, was granted a license to operate alongside the two channels. This provided an

alternative for the Malaysian viewers.

To understand the relationship between the Malaysian government and the mass

media, one must begin by looking at the history of this multiracial society. As Malaysian

population is mainly comprised of three ethnic groupsMalay (58%), Chinese (27%)

and Indian (8%)4the tensions among these communities, in particular between the

Chinese and Malay, have been high since Malaysia's independence in August 31, 1957.

On 13 May 1969, due to the outcome of a national general election, a communal riot

eventually erupted, which left two hundred dead. As the media were not decisively used

'Radio Television Malaysia.2 Zainur Sulaiman and Nawiyah Che'Lab, "Media Monitors in Malaysia." In Myia Monitors in Asia. ed.

Asian Media Information and Communication Center (Singapore: AMIC, 1996), 45.3 Ibid.'This statistic is based on information provided in Country profiles: Malaysia. Edited by AnuraGoonasekera and Duncan Holaday. Asian communication handbook 1998. Singapore: Asian MediaInformation and Communication center 1998.

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during the crisis and "in the absence of credible and complete accqvnts of events, wild

rumors circulated, greatly worsening the situation," hence "corrective measures were

imposed and government policy on developing a 'Malaysian identity and culture' led to

reorganizations in broadcast services following the 1969 clashes."5 In 1970, then Minister

of Information Hamzah bin Abu Samah formulated a code, which later evolved into the

five objectives of Radio Television Malaysia (RTM). In these objectives RTM is:

1. To explain in depth and with the widest possible coverage, policies and

programs of the government in order to ensure maximum understanding by

the people;

2. To stimulate public interest and opinion in order to achieve changes in line

with the requirements of government;

3. To foster national unity in our multi-racial society throtagh the extensive use

of Bahasa Malaysia [the national language of Malaysia];

4. To assist in promoting civic consciousness and in fostering the development

of Malaysian arts and culture; and

5. To provide suitable elements of education, general information and

entertainment. (Ministry of Information, 1980)

McDaniel has pointed out that "of the five goals, the most important has been promotion

of national unification and use of the national language."6 Furthermore he points out that

the Malaysian government's broadcasting efforts to foster unification can be seen in

virtually every program. Of all the concerns about the unification of Malaysians

whether they are Malay, Chinese or Indianthe most significant policy is the

emphasis on Bahasa Malaysia as the national language.

5Drew 0. McDaniel, Broadcasting in the Malay World. (Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing Corporation,1994), 84.6 Ibid., 85.

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23


Related Studies:

Language and Television program in a plural society

To promote Bahasa Malaysia as a national language, the Malaysian government

expected its electronic media to emphasize the use of Bahasa Malaysia through its

programs from 1969 to 1989. During this period, pressure groups constantly required

English programs for RTM to be dubbed into Bahasa Malaysia in order to honor the

national language.7 In 1989, when Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad began

to stress the importance of English as a second language, English pi-ograms, which are

imported mainly from the West were allowed to be presented the original language8 in

RTM. Other then Malay and English, RTM and TV3's languages of broadcast also

include Chinese and Tami1,9 which targeted the minority population.

The language of broadcast is an important element in understanding the

Malaysian broadcasting scene. In his analysis of the controversies over media

imperialism in the modern age, Straubhaar (1991) found that languages and the source of

the products play an important part in television programming.1° He argues that in

general, the audience prefer electronic products produced by their home country and

when that cannot be filled, they look for material that are relativelx,close to their own

culture. For this reason, in the early 1990s, soon after his takeover of Star TV, "Murdoch

decided that the company should 'go local': offer programs that are tailored to local tastes

Ibid., 87.8 Ibid.9 Zainur Sulaiman and Nawiyah Che'Lab, "Media Monitors in Malaysia." In Media Monitors in Asia. ed.Asian Media Information and Communication Center (Singapore: AMIC, 1996), 45.1° Straubhaar, Joseph D. (1991) Beyond Media Imperialism: Assymetrical Interdependence and CulturalProximity. Critical Studies in Mass Communication, 8. 39-59.



and values."' 'Very often localization is related to the language that the people in the

region commonly use. In the case of Malaysia, it would be Bahasa Malaysia (or Malay),

Tamil, and Chinese. On the other hand English although it is seen as a second language

for most Malaysians is regarded more as a language for conducting business rather than

being culturally related. As the new competitorsMetrovision, Mega TV and

ASTROcame into the Malaysian television scene, more program in different

languages were offered and competed for the audience traditionally held by RTM 1, 2

and TV 3. How the traditional channels restructured their language of broadcasting

during peak hour slots (7 to 11 pm) to counter this challenge is a question this study seek

to answer.

Studies on media in a competitive environment

Another subject that this study is interested in looking into is how the television

industry respond to an increasingly competitive environment while at the same time

catering to the demands of the government. Shoemaker and Reese (1996) presented a

comprehensive model indicating the hierarchical relationship among different levels of

forces in a media environment. At the extramedia level, two important players are the

government and advertisers. While the former influences the media through laws,

regulations, licenses, and taxes, the latter flexes its muscle by_providing financial revenue

to the stations.

In an earlier model, Mc Quail (1994) pointed out four types of social forces that

could pressure a media organization: (1) Social and political pressure, which includes

legal/political control and other social institutions, (2) Economic pressures such as

G. Wang, "Protecting the local cultural industry: A Regulatory Myth in the Global Age." In TV withoutborders: Asia speaks out. ed. Anura Goonasekera & Paul S. N. Lee. AMIC (Singapore: AMIC, 1998), 264.

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competitors, news/information agencies, advertisers, owners and union, (3) Events plus

constant information and culture supply, and (4) Distribution channels, audience

interest/demand.

In the case of broadcasting, both these models posit that on the one hand, the

broadcasters follow government regulations closely while on the other hand, they have to

compete against each other for the advertisers' dollars. For public service broadcasters in

a Third World country such as Malaysia that have in the recent years embraced the

concept of privatization (or corporatization in Malaysia context), the struggle between the

two forces could be extremely difficult. Hence, the programming strategies that the

broadcasters employ to gain market share become interesting to study.

In a content analysis of three decades (1962-1991) of Korean television networks'

program during prime time, Joo-Ho Lee and Sug-Min Youn (1995) found that in Less

tDeveloped Countries (LDC), strong competition has the effect of decreasing

programming diversity. Huller' and Brants (1992), who studied the issue of

commercialization and competition in the Western Europe media scene, have identified

two important competitive tactics that public service broadcasters use to gain market

share: (1) composition of program schedules, especially during the peak hours, and (2)

increase of airtime. In studying Malaysia's television industry in the early 1990s,

McDaniel (1994) confirms Hulten and Brants' understanding of the matter. He pointed

out:

[A] significant factor which has shaped the TV program schedule has been the

anticipated restructuring of RTM [Radio Television Malaysia]as a public

corporation. To prepare for a life separate from governmen't, the organization is

trying to balance its expenditures with its income. In a climate of cost cutting and

28

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commercialization, programs are required to develop their advertising potential.

This has also led to schedules which place the most populaiti programs in periods

when viewership peaks... (p. 114).

While these studies have identified the effects a competitive environment has on

the media, none of these authors have looked into the matter of program types during

peak hours. It is therefore the objective of this study to look into the types of programs

used by Malaysian broadcasters at a time of stiff competition.

Research Questions

The main purpose of this study is to understand the impact that an increasingly

competitive environment has on the three traditional Malaysian television channels,

namely RTM 1, RTM 2 and TV 3. The main purpose of this study is to determine how

the three traditional channels respond to the new competition in tars of their television

programming. The following are the specific research questions this study seeks to

answer:

RQ1: Did the total airtime of RTM 1, 2 and TV 3 increase after the newcompetitors entered the Malaysian broadcasting scene?

RQ2: Did RTM 1, 2 and TV 3 increase programs that targeted at particularlanguage groups of viewers for the peak hour slots (7 to I 1pm slots)?

RQ3: Did RTM 1, 2 and TV 3 decrease types of programs for the peak hour slotsdue to the new competition?

Methodology

Programming schedules for RTM 1, 2, and TV 3, were analyzed to understand the

impact that the increasingly competitive environment had on these channels. RTM 1 and

2 were selected because these two state owned television channels, which main purpose

is to serve for the public interest, could inform the study on how Malaysian public

broadcasters respond to the competition. TV 3 was selected because this privately owned

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channel, which was also RTM's main competitor before the arrival of new competition,

could provide an additional dimension in understanding the interaction between private

and public broadcasters in Malaysia.

The unit of analysis is the television program schedule. Based on Riffe, Lacy and

Fico's method12 for television sampling, a random selection of two weekdays a month is

the most efficient way to pull a sample. This study randomly selected two days per

month for a period of one year for the before period (from July 1994 to June 1995) and

the after period (from January to December 1997). The programrtiing schedules were

then printed from a Malaysian major English newspaperThe New Straits Times.

For each program schedule, the channel's total airtime for the day, the languages

of broadcast and the types of programs for peak hour slots were coded (see appendix A).

The evening hours from 7 to 11 pm were selected for this study because these are the

hours that generally attract the most audience in Malaysia.

A member of RTM who is familiar with Malaysia television programming was

consulted to identify the programs' types and language of broadcasting (see appendix B)

for all three channels.

Results and Discussion1i

The data of this study show that the emergence of new competitors did have an

impact on RTM 1, 2 and TV 3 programming strategy. Four tables were used to present

the findings. Table 1 compares the total airtime of the three traditional channels before

and after the new competitors emerged. Table 2 compares the languages of broadcasts for

RTM 1, 2 and TV 3 during peak hour slots before and after the new competitors entered

12 Lacy Rife, and Fico, Analyzing Media Message: Using Quantitative Content Analysis in Research.Mahwah, (New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1998), 97.



the Malaysian market. Table 3 compares the types of programs in the peak hour slots

before and after Malaysia's broadcasting scene became more competitive. Finally, Table

4 compares the types of programs that dominate RTM 1, 2 and TV 3's peak hour slots

before and after the new competitors emerged.

RQ1: Total Airtime and Competition.

The total airtime of the three traditional television channelsRTM 1, 2 and TV

3before and after the new competitors entered the Malaysian market were coded to see

if there is an impact in this regard. The Data in Table 1 shows that there was an increase

of total airtime for all three traditional channels after the end of 1996 and the chi-square

goodness-of-fit test demonstrated significant differences in these findings. RTM 1 has a

5% increase from 26,649 hours to 27910 hours (X2 = 29.14, df=1, 0.001). RTM 2 on

the other hand has 58% increase from 16,070 to 25,425 hours (X2 = 2109, df=1,

0.001). TV 3 has a 13% increase from 27190 to 30,695 hours (X2 = 212.2, df=1, P5.. 0.01).

Table 1

Total Airtime for RTM 1, RTM 2 and TV 3before and after

the New Channels entered the Malaysia Market, 1 My, 95.

RTM 1Before After

(July I, 94 to (January toJune 30, 95) December, 97)

N=24 N=24

RTM 2Before After

(July 1, 94 to (January toJune 30, 95) December, 97)

N=24 N=24

Airtime 26,649 27,910 16,070 25,425% increase 5% 58%

X2=29.14 df=1 1).001 X2=2109 Df= 125-0011

The percentage of increase apparently is closely related to the total airtime that a

television channel has before the new competitors entered the market. Comparing the

three channels, the study found that RTM 2 has the least airtime before the competitors

TV 3Before After


N=24 N=24

27,190 30,69513%

X2=212.2 df=1 p.5-001



entered the market. Such situation allowed RTM 2 to have more room to increase its

airtime in order to stay competitive. Although RTM 2 has the largest percentage of

increase due to the competition, its total hours of airtime remain the least compared to the

other two channels. TV 3, on the other hand, had only a 13% increase in total airtime,

but it still remained as the channel with the most hours of airtime (before: 27,190 and

after: 30,695). This statistics show that TV 3, a privately owned station, is apparently

more aggressive in using airtime as a way to attract viewers than the state run channels

even before the environment became increasingly competitive. It is important to note

that RTM 1 and RTM 2 are two channels under the same broadcasting organization. Such

a setup gives the organization an advantage in competing against the new competitors as

well as TV 3.

RQ2: Languages of Broadcast and Competition.

The chi-square goodness-of-fit test was also used to see if there was a significant

difference for programs that targeted particular language groups of viewers for peak hour

slots before and after the change in the broadcasting environment. The data in three out

of five categoriesMalay, Chinese and Englishindicates a significant level of

difference. All three channels increased their Malay programs for the peak hour slots

between 7 and 11 pm. TV 3 has the most increase, from 31% (before: 1784 hours) to

40% (after: 2280 hours), in this category (X2 = 60.54, df---1, P< 0.001). While RTM 1 has

the second highest increase in this category (5.5%), an increase from 92% (5299 hours) to

97.5% (5,616hours) (X2 = 9.21, df=1, 0.01), RTM 2 has only a 3.5% increase. Its

Malay programs increased from 488 to 713 hours (X2 = 42.15, df=1, P5 0.001).

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Malaysian Television I I

Table 2Languages of broadcasts for RTM 1, RTM 2 and TV 3

during peak hour (from 7pm to 11 pm)before and after

the new channels entered the Malaysia Market, 1 July, 1995.

RTM 1 RTM 2 TV 3

Malay% in Peak Hrs

English% in Peak Hrs

Before(July I, 94 toJune 30, 95)

N=24

5,29992%

X2=9.21

3596%

After(January to

December, 97)

N=24

5,61697.5%

df=1 1)5_01

841.5%


N=24

4888.5%

X2=42.15

432275%

After(January to

December, 97)

N=24

71312%

df=1 13.001

384067%


N=24

1,78431%

X2=60.54

254644%

After(January to

December, 97)

N=24

2,28040%

df=1 11/...001

99017%

X2=170.7 df=1 13..001 X2=28.46 df=1 Plc.001 X2=-648.7 df=1

Chinese 0 0 950 1,149 1,430 2,280% in Peak Hrs 16.5% 20% 25% 40%

X2=18.87 df=1 X2=194.7 df=1 ;1)5-001

Tamil 0 0 0 0 0 0% in Peak Hrs

Mixed 102 60 0 58 0 210% in Peak Hrs 2% 1% 1% 3%

X2=10.89 df=1 N.001

English, the language which the Malaysian government has encouraged its people

to pick up as the second language since the 1960s, became less prevalent in the peak hour

slots after the new competition entered the scene. Of the three channels, TV 3 has the

most dramatic drop in this category. Its English programs dropped from 2546 hours

(44%) to 990 hours (17%) (X2 = 648.7, df=1, 0.001) in peak hour slots before and

after the new competitors entered the scene. As for the state owned channels, RTM 2

dropped 7% from 4,322 hours (75%) to 3,840 hours (67%)(X2 = 24.46, df=1, 13 0.001)

and RTM 1 English programs dropped from 359 hours (6%) to 84 hours (1.5%) (X2 =

170.7, df=1, 1)5_ 0.001).

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The Chinese programs during peak hours increased in two channelsRTM 2 and

TV 3with a significant level of difference. By the way, it is important to point out at

this point that, since its inauguration RTM 1 has been mainly serving the Malay and

English speaking community. Therefore it comes as no surprise that no Chinese or Tamil

programs appeared in the peak hour slots for this channel in any of the samples selected

for the study. TV 3 increased the most in the Chinese program category. Its Chinese

programming increased from 1430 hours (25%) to 2280 hours (40%) (X2 = 170.7, df=1,

13'_ 0.001). RTM 2, on the hand, increased its Chinese programs from 950 hours (16.5%)

to 1149 hours (20%) (X2 = 18.87, df=1, 0.001).

The most interesting data in Table 2 however is the Tamil program category. In

all three channels regardless of whether the time frame was before or after the new

competitors came into the Malaysia market, Tamil programs did not exist in the 7pm to

11 pm slots. Such statistic shows that all three channels were not interested in serving the

Indian population, which occupied only 8% of the total Malaysian population, a market

that is apparently too small for both state run and private own channels.

Mixed language programs appeared to go towards different directions for

different channels. While RTM 1 has decreased from 102 to 60 hours (X2 = 10.89, df=1,

0.001), RTM 2 and TV 3 increased this category of programs. kTM 2 increased from

none to 58 hours and TV 3 increased from none to 210 hours. However, the statistic tool

(the chi-square goodness-of-fit test) that this study used is unable to establish the level of

significance.

In this category, the study found that all three channels in general moved towards

a similar direction. While Malay and Chinese programs increased, English programs

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decreased for all three channels. As Malaysia's population consist of 60% Malay and

28% Chinese, this statistic apparently supports Straubhaar's (1991) notion that languages

and the source of the products play an important part in television programming. On the

other hand, the complementary function that each of these channels performs in terms of

serving the different language communities is also worth mentioning. With more than

90% of its programs in Malay in its peak hour slots, it is obvious that RTM 1 is mainly1.

targeting at the Malay population. RTM 2, on the other hand, is primarily aiming at the

English speaking community (75% before and 67% after) with the Chinese speaking

community second (16.5% before and 20% after). The privately owned television

channel, TV 3, apparently tried to encompass as many viewers as possible in their peak

hour slots programming-31 % before and 40% after were Malay programs, 25% before

and 40% after were Chinese programs, 44% before and 17% after were English

programs. Such findings indicate that while RTM seeks to compete for a larger market

share, its obligation as a public service broadcaster prompts it to allocate a substantial

amount of hours in the 7 to 11 pm slots to support the Malaysian government's effort to

promote English as the second language. TV 3 on the other hand did not have such a

constrain, therefore it was able to decrease English and increase Chinese programs in the

peak hour slots dramatically.

RQ3: Diversities and competition.

The third research question is concerned with understanding if competition caused

television channels to concentrate in broadcasting certain types of programs during peak

hour slots. Compared to the first two questions, the answer to the third question is a

much more sophisticated one. This is because unlike the previous findings, most of the



subcategories in Table 3 did not show the same trend. Only four out of twelve

subcategories Musical /variety, News, Movie and Magazineshow the same trend

after the competition became stiff (see Table 3).

The subcategory of MusicalNariety was the only type of ptiogram that increased

after the new competitors entered the market. RTM 1 increased from 3% (162 hours) to

15% (857 hours) (X2 = 474, df=1,13 0.001), RTM 2 increased from 1.5% (90 hours) to

3% (178 hours) (X2 = 28.9, df=1, PS 0.001) and TV 3 increased from 5% (276 hours) to

10% (570 hours)(X2 = 102.2, df=1, 13.. 0.001). The chi-square goodness-of-fit test shows

significant level of difference in these data. The number of programs in three other

subcategories have also dropped in all three channels. News programs dropped in all

three channels during peak hours. Before the new competitors entered the scene, 28%

(1,628 hours) of RTM 2 program was news, this dropped significantly to 17% (962

hours)(X2 = 171.3, df=1,13 0.001) after the competition became cf. RTM 1 and TV 3

also showed the same trend. RTM 1 news programs dropped from 29.3% (1,690 hours)

to 25% (1,450 hours) (X2= 18.34, df=1, P5 0.001). TV 3 news program dropped 3%,

from 27% (1,550 hours) to 24% (1,380 hours) (X2 = 9.42, df=1,N 0.01). Movies were

another type of program that suffered due to the competition. Movie programs in RTM 2

had a 25% drop. It dropped from 39% (2,217 hours) to only 14% (760 hours) (X2 = 713,

df=1, 0.01). Movie programs in RTM 1 dropped from 12% (695 hours) to zero

percent after the new competitors entered the market. However, due to the constraint of

the chi-square goodness-of-fit test, this study is unable to show the significant level of

difference in this data. Movie programs in TV 3 also dropped, however, there is no

significant difference.

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Table 3Types of Programs for RTM 1, RTM 2 and TV 3 during peak hour (from 7pm to 11pm)

before and after the New Channels entered the Malaysia Market, 1 July, 1995.RTM 1 RTM 2 TV 3

Musical/ Variety

% in Peak firs

News% in Peak Hrs


N=241623%

X2=474

1,69029.3%

X2=18.34

After(January to

December, 97)

N=2485715%

df=1 135.001

1,45025%

df=1 P5.001

Before(July 1, 94 toJune 30, 95)

N=2490

1.5%X2 =28.9

1,62828%

X2=171.3

After(January to

December, 97)

N=241783%

df=1 P5.001

96217%

df=1 135.001

Before(July 1, 94 toJune 30, 95)

N=242765%

X2=102.2

1,55027%

X2=9.42

After(January to

December, 97)

N=2457010%

df=1 P5.001

1,38024%

df=1 P5.01

Movie 695 0 2,217 760 1,432 1,350% in Peak Hrs 12% 39% 14% 25% 23.6%

X2=713 df=1 P5.001 X2=2.42 df=1 N. S.

Magazine 110 49 150 120 58 0% in Peak Firs 2% 1% 3% 2% 1%

X2=23.4 df=1 135.001 X2=3.33 df=1 N. S.

Forum/Discussion 210 270 0 208 0 0Vo in Peak Firs 4% 5% 3.7%

X2=7.5 df=1 P5.01

Public Service 201 336 30 90 0 0% in Peak firs 3.4% 6% 0.5% 1.5%

X2=33.94 df=1 P5.001 X2=30 df=1 P5.001

Children 414 542 0 0 0 0% in Peak Hrs 7.3% 9%

X2=17.14 df=1 P5.001

Game Show 0 304 540 150 0 0% in Peak Hrs 5% 9% 3%

X2=220.4 df=1 P5.001

TV Drama 1,753 1,720 890 2,724 1,904 1,560% in Peak Hrs 30% 30% 15.5% 47% 33% 27%

X2=.31 df=1 N. S. X2 =930.7 df=1 P5.001 X2=34.16 df=1 p5.001

Sports 310 60 90 216 0 120% in Peak Hrs 5.4% 1% 1.5% 3% 2%

X2=168.9 df=1 P5.001 X2 =51.88 df=1 P5.001

Sit-corn 180 172 125 302 540 420% in Peak Hrs 3% 3% 2% 5% 9% 7.2%

X2=.18 df=1 N. S. X2=73.37 df=1 P5.001 X2=15 df=1 P5.001

Information 35 0 0 50 0 360% in Peak firs 0.6% 0.8% 6.2%

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The third subcategory that shows the same trend of decline in all three channels is

the Magazine program. However, using the chi-square goodness-of-fit test only the data

for RTM 1 shows significant level of difference. The Magazine program in RTM 1

dropped from 2% (110 hours) to 1% (49 hours) (X2 = 23.4, df=1, 0.01).

Other subcategories in Table 3 do not show the same trend in all three channels,

however, the data shows that two types of programsPublic service and

Forum/Discussionappear to be associated closely with state-run channels than the

private-own television channel. Both types of programs increased in the state-run

channels: RTM 1 and 2. For RTM 1, Forum/Discussion programs Oncreased from 4%

(210 hours) to 5% (270 hours) (X2 =--- 7.5, df=1, 0.01). RTM 2 increased from zero

percent to 3.7% (208 hours), however, the chi-square goodness-of-fit test was not able to

determine the level of significant difference as one of the data is zero. TV 3 on the other

hand did not have any Forum/Discussion program during the peak hour slots before and

after the new competitors emerged. Public service programs such as prayer reminders

also seem to be closely associated with RTM 1 and 2. RTM l's Public Service increased

from 3.4% (201 hours) to 6% (270 hours) (X2 = 33.94, df =1, P 0.01) and RTM 2

increased from 0.5% (30 hours) to 1.5% (90 hours) (X2 = 30, df=1,13 0.001). TV 3

again did not have any Public Service program during the peak hotfr slots before and after

the change occurred.

Children's program is another subcategory that is worth mentioning. Only RIM

1 carried children's programs during the peak hour slots and the channel increased this

type of program from 7.3% (414 hours) before to 9% (542 hours)(X2 = 17.14, df=1,

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0.001) after the new competitors emerged. RTM 2 and TV 3 did not have any children's

programs before or after the change of the broadcasting scene in Malaysia.

Table 4Ranking of program types for RTM 1, RTM 2 and TV 3

during peak hours (from 7pm to 11 pm)before and after

the new channels entered the Malaysia market, 1 July, 1995.

% upon peak hrs

RTM 1Before After


TV Drama TV Drama30% 30%

RTM 2Before After

(July 1, 94 to (January toJune 30, 95) December, 97)

Movie TV Drama39% 47%

TV 31. Before After`(July I, 94 to (January toJune 30, 95) December, 97)

TV Drama TV Drama33% 27%

Accumulative % 30% 30% 39% 47% 33% 27%

News News News News News News% upon peak hrs 29.3% 25% 28% 17% 27% 24%

Accumulative % 59.3% 55% 67% 64% 60% 51%

Movie Musical TV Drama Movie Movie Movie% upon peak hrs 12% 15% 15.5% 14% 25% 23.6%

Accumulative % 71.3% 70% 82.5% 78% 85% 74.6%

% upon peak hrsAccumulative %

Children7.3%

78.6%

Sports

Children9%

Public79%

Game9%

9 / . 5%

Magazine

Sit-corn5%

83%

Forum

Sit-corn9%

94%

Musical

Musical10%

84.6%

Sit-corn% upon peak hrs

Accumulative 'Ye5.4%

84%6%

85%

3%94.5%

3.7%86.7%

5%99%

7.2%9 / .8%


Forum4%

88%

Game5%

90%

Sit-corn2%

96.5%

Sports3%

89.7%

Magazine1%

/00%

Info.6.2%

98%


Public3.4%

91.4%

Forum5%

95%

Musical1.5%

98%

Musical3%

92.7%

Children

Sports

Sports2%

100%


Sit-com3%

94.4%

Sit-corn3%

98%

Sports1.5%

99.5%

Game3%

95.7%

Children

Musical Sport Public Magazine Forum Forum% upon peak hrs 3% 1% 0.5% 2%

Accumulative % 97.4% 99% 100% 97.7%

Magazine Magazine Children Public Public Public% upon peak hrs 2% 1% 1.5%

Accumulative % 99.4% 100% 99.2%

Info Movie Forum Info Info Magazine% upon peak hrs 0.6% 0.8%

Accumulative % 100% 100%

Game Info Info Children Game Game% upon peak hrs



To better understand the consequences of competition on the three traditional

channels in Malaysia, Table 4 was formulated to see if the most popular types of

programs have changed due to the emergence of the new competitors. Table 4 shows that

before the new competitors entered the Malaysia market, the most Ropular type of

program during peak hours for RTM 1 (30%) and TV 3 (33%) was TV Drama. As for

RTM 2, the most popular type of program was Movie (39%). After the change of the

Malaysian broadcasting scene, the most popular type of program during peak hour slots

for all three channels was TV Drama (RTM1: 30%; RTM 2: 47%; TV 3: 27%). The

second most popular program during peak hour slots was News program for all three

channels before and after the stated period. The third most popular program during peak

hour slots, however, was not as uniform. For RTM 1, before and after the stated period

was Movie (12%) and Musical/variety (15%). For RTM 2, before and after the stated

period was TV Drama (15.5%) and Movie (14%). For TV 3, before and after the stated

period was Movie (before 25% and after 23.6%). It is important td note that the top three

most popular types of program combined make up for more then 70% of all programs

during the peaks hour slots before and after the stated periods for all three channels. This

shows that the most popular type of programsTV Drama, News, Movie, and

MusicalNarietydominated the three channels' peak hour slots regardless of the period

there were situated. This indicates that before the new competitors entered the Malaysia

market, the competitions among the three traditional channels already prompted the

broadcasters to use limited types of program for peak hour slots. Table 4's data

apparently supported Joo-Ho Lee and Sug-Min Youn's notion that strong competition has

the effect of decreasing programming diversity. However, the competition that affected

40BEST COPY AVAILABLE


the Malaysian broadcasting scene happened long before the new competitors entered the

market.

Another observation that can be made in Table 4 is that the privately owned

channel TV 3 has less diversity than the state-run channels during the peak hour slots.

Before the stated period, RTM 1 had eleven and RTM 2 has nine types of program in its

peak hour slots, TV 3 on the other hand had only six types of programs. After the stated

period, RTM 1 had ten and RTM 2 had eleven but TV 3 had only seven types of

programs during the peak hour slots. This observation shows that the privately owned

channel was more inclined to invest on limited types of programs, which tend to be more

entertainment oriented such as TV Drama, Movie, Sit-com and Musical/variety, than the

state owned channels. However, whether such a programming strategy would result in it

having more market share than the other channels or not is a topic that needs further

study.

Conclusions and further studies

This study shows that the emergence of new competitorsMetrovision, Mega TV

and ASTROdid have an impact on the total airtime and languages of broadcast in peak

hour slots for the three traditional channelsRTM 1, 2 and TV3. On the other hand, the

impact that the new competitors had on the traditional channels' choice of program types

was not as conclusive. Although certain types of program such as TV Drama, News,

Musical/variety, and Movie did increase or decrease to a certain degree due to the

introduction of the new competitors, this did not change the progr4rming structure

which is still dominated by three types of programs: TV Drama, News and Movie.

41 BEST COPY AVAIL LE


Another observation that could be made in this study is that in terms of language

of broadcast during the peak hour slots, we found that the Indian population in Malaysia

was not targeted by the three traditional channels at all during this time slot. This finding

supported the claim made by Kaarthigesu's study (1998) where he pointed out that only

55.5% of the Malaysian Indian respondents in his survey said that they watched

television more than two hours per day and "the low percentage can be assumed to be due

to the small number of Indian programs on Malaysian TV."I3

The difference between state owned (RTM 1 and 2) and privately owned channels

(TV 3) is another point worth mentioning. RTM's position as the state-owned television

station does have an effect on the way it schedules peak hour programs. As the nation's

public service broadcaster, it has the obligation to provide programssuch as

Forum/Discussion and Public Servicethat serve the public interest. As a result, this

might cripple its ability to compete against TV 3 or the new competitors. On the other

hand, TV 3 as a privately owned channel seems to has more room to maneuver in this

regard hence it has an advantage over the state owned channels in competing against the

new competitors.

As this study only concentrated on Total Airtime, language of broadcast and types

of programs during peak hours, further studies need to be conducted to better understand

the impact that the emergence of new competitors have on the threi channels. Firstly, an

analysis of the commercials that appeared in these channels before and after the stated

period could lead researchers into further understanding the impact of competition.

Secondly, a study on the correlation between types of program and viewership is also

13 R. Karthigesu, "Transborder Television in Malaysia." In TV without borders: Asia speaks out. ed. AnuraGoonasekera & Paul S. N. Lee. AMIC (Singapore: AMIC, 1998), 52.

4 2 BEST COPY AVAILABLE


needed to better understand the rationale behind these programming decisions and the

differences between state owned and private channel's programming strategies.


References

Adhikarya, R. (1977). Broadcasting in Peninsular Malaysia. London: Rout ledge &Kegan Paul in association with the International Institute of Communications.

Hu lten, 0., & Brants, K. (1992). Public service broadcasting: Reactions to competition.In Siune, K. & Truetzschler, W. (Eds.), Dynamics of media politics: Broadcastand electronic media in Western Europe. (pp. 116-128). CA: Sage.

Karthigesu, R. (1986). Television as a tool for Nation-Building in the Third World: Apost-colonial pattern, using Malaysia as a case study. Paper presented at theannual meeting of the International Television Studies Conference, London,England. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 293526)

Karthigesu, R. (1994). Broadcasting deregulation in developing Asian nations: Anexamination of nascent tendencies using Malaysia as a case study. Media, Culture& Society, 16, 73-90.

Lee, J., & Youn, S. (1995). Industrial structure, government control and networktelevision programming: The case of South Korea. Asian Journal ofCommunication, 5(1), 52-70.

Lee, Paul S. N. (1998). Towards a theory of transborder television. In G. Anura & Lee, P.S. N. (Eds.), TV without borders: Asia speaks out. Singapore: Asian MassCommunication Research and Information Center.

Lowe, V. & Kamin, J. (1982). TV programme management in a plural society: Decision-making processes in radio and television Malaysia. SingapOre: Asian MassCommunication Research and Information Center.

McDaniel, D. 0. (1994). Broadcasting in the Malay World: Radio, television, and videoin Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. NJ: Ablex PublishingCorporation.

McQuail, D. (1994). Mass communication theory: An introduction, 3rd ed. CA: Sage.

Nain, Z. (1996). The impact of the International marketplace on the organization ofMalaysian television. In French, D., & Richards, M. (Eds.), Contemporarytelevision: Eastern perspectives. (pp. 157-180). New Delhi: Sage.

Shoemaker, P. J. and Reese, S. D. (1996) Mediating the Message: Theories of

44

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iInfluences on Mass Media Content, 2nd ed. NY: Longman publisher USA.

Straubhaar, Joseph D. (1991) Beyond Media Imperialism: Assymetrical Interdependenceand Cultural Proximity. Critical Studies in Mass Communication, 8. 39-59.

Wang, L. K. (1999). Malaysia: Ownership as control. In Balgos, C. C. A. (Eds.), News indistress: The Southeast Asian media in a time of crisis. (pp. 69-90). Philippine:Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism.


RECEIVEDJUL @ 7 2r

THE TRANSPARENCY OF CULTURE AND POLITICS IN ECONOMIC DISCOURSE

By Jennie Rupertus

Masters Student, The University of Texas at AustinDepartment of Radio-TV-Film

Contact Information:

10142 Cassandra DriveAustin, TX 78717(512) [email protected]

Paper submitted to the Guido H. Stempel III paper competition, Graduate Education InterestGroup of The Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication

for the August 2000 conference, Phoenix, Arizona

4E

The Transparency of Culture and Politics in Economic Discourse

Jennie RupertusUniversity of Texas at Austin

In today's world, with its unprecedented expansion and interconnection of commercialmarkets, it is increasingly difficult to contest that economic structures influence our socialrealities. Likewise, it is equally problematic to discuss economics without also referencing

issues of culture and politics. This referencing can be explicitly stated, or else implicitly

invoked. However, despite these assertions, the latter manner more accurately describesrepresentations of economic discourse in an overwhelming proportion of today's popular mediapublications. In these cases, it is often difficult to recognize the presence of cultural and political

values, for they become subtly masked as common sense. This seems to suggest the necessity ofdeconstructing economic discourse if we hope to better understand our social realities.

Although a highly nuanced topic, the media regularly frame 'globalization' with regard toeconomic issues. Representations in The Wall Street Journal, for example, exemplify this pointmost explicitly through statements such as: "By 'globalization,' people mean not only trade but

also foreign direct investment," (October 27, 1995). Therefore, I have chosen to utilizeglobalization as a site for the interrogation of economic discourse. I am not suggesting thatpopular representations of globalization fail to reference culture and politics. Rather, my intentis to demonstrate how culture and politics can become so enmeshed within our understanding ofeconomics that their presence is rendered transparent.

Marjorie Ferguson's "The Mythology About Globalization" has greatly inspired thisproject. She states:

the topic of globalization provides a conceptual entry point to an evolving worldorder and a concept of evaluating 'a particular series of developments concerningthe concrete structuration of the world as a whole (Robertson, 1990: 20) ... ourincorporation into a one-world, global society is contingent on changing valueorientations (1992, p. 70).

Subsequently, this essay will draw a connection between globalization, ideology, and thestructuring of our realities. It will champion the utility of semiology, as an approach to unmask

the values and beliefs layered in notions of 'globalization.' It will demonstrate how mediarepresentations and globalization mythology have contributed to the naturalization of 'sensibleeconomics' as value-free by incorporating an analysis of globalization discourse from The Wall

Street Journal. This essay will emphasize the significance of linguistic codes. It will alsodesignate critical consciousness as key to recognizing our potential to shape the future. To beginthough, let me further contextualize the genesis of this project and then sketch a brief overviewof how globalization, as an economic construct, has been examined in the past.

This project has been fundamentally driven by a desire to expose the false representationsof 'globalization' as an inevitable stage in the 'natural' evolution of economic life. Therefore, it

47

is highly informed by Roland Barthes' concept of "myth [as] a type of speech chosen by history...[not able to evolve from the 'nature' of things," (1980, p. 110). My primary concern inconceptualizing this project was to illustrate how current discourse and popular representationsfail to reveal the political nature of globalization as a business strategy. My plan was to analyzeglobalization discourse as a sign system, making a requisite call for the inclusion of semioticanalysis as a way to approach the topic and thereby demonstrate its hidden agenda.

At the outset of my analysis, I found the opposite of what I intended. Although my planto examine constructions of discourse has endured, the following report emerged from this initialfinding: globalization was explicitly represented as a business strategy in a variety of popularmedia publications. My investigation of theoretical approaches that frame the study ofglobalization also revealed that far from distinguishing between the spheres of culture andeconomics, researchers have increasingly focused on their convergence. And additionally, farfrom discrediting the influence of culture, even the staunchest proponents of economicstructuration incorporated elements of cultural representation into their arguments. At this point,I turn my attention to some of those approaches.

Globalization: From Cultural Imperialism to Cultural Studies

The investigation of economic structuration and the study of globalization can be usefullycharted along a continuum of theoretical and methodological approaches. Cultural Imperialismis customarily categorized as a radical, leftist perspective that presumes the non-existence ofhuman agency as a force to resist dominant (generally, on a global scale) values, attitudes,customs and politics. According to John Tomlinson, "much of the writing on cultural

imperialism assigns a more central role to economic practices. Often the implication is that these

are what are really at stake, and that cultural factors are instrumental in maintaining political-

economic dominance," (1991, p. 3).

Tomlinson draws a solid connection between economic practices and society's culturalsphere. He also acknowledges the difficulty of defining 'cultural imperialism,' referring to the`broad range of issues' its discourse invokes. Therefore, Tomlinson problematizesdistinguishing culture from politics and economics. Through discursive deconstruction, hefurther relates the notion of imperialism to globalization by proposing that notions of culturalimperialism emerged not so much as an explanation of, but rather, as a reaction to the powerfulefforts of dominant nations to impose an increasingly globalized culture on the weaker nations of

the world.

Herbert Schiller has often been associated with theories of cultural imperialism.However, in the early 1990's, he attempted to revise his 1960's cultural domination thesis tobetter account for changing historical contexts. Although he concedes that the reality of culturaldomination has passed, he is quick to qualify that domination continues today in the form of a`total culture package' directed by the authority and influence of transnational corporations.

Schiller's essay, "Not Yet the Post-Imperialist Era," is, in part, a response to critics whoclaim that America's dominant position in the new global context is diminished. "A new hopefor overcoming the deepening economic and social disparities around the world is seen in what is

called the trend to globalization," (Schiller, 1991, p. 19). Globalization is changing the face of

48

domination. Power is now, according to Schiller, concentrated at an institutional (rather than anational) level. "The actual sources of what is being called globalization are not to be found inthe newly achieved harmony of interests in the international arena ... the infrastructure of what ishopefully seen as the first scaffolding of universalism is supplied by the transnational corporatebusiness order," (Schiller, 1991, p. 22).

Schiller develops his argument by referring to Joseph Nye's concept of soft power:"[quoting Nye] 'Soft powerthe ability to co-opt rather than commandrests on intangibleresources: culture, ideology, the ability to use international institutions to determine theframework of debate.' ... This is cultural imperialism with a semantic twist," (Schiller, 1991, p.

18). Soft power suggests a more hegemonic type of control. This new domination relies oncultural discourse to set a global agenda.

Herman and McChesney also emphasize the power of transnational corporations and theascension of a more pervasive global capitalism, preferencing a political economy perspective intheir book, The Global Media. They demonstrate the historical trend of American dominance, atthe global level, "to organize a new world order serviceable to its political and economicinterests," (Herman and McChesney, 1997, p. 17) which includes support of open markets,currency conversion, the reduction of trade barriers, and 'open-door' policies. They state:

In the 1980s a wave of global 'liberalization' gathered momentum ... Tariffs andnational barriers to foreign investment and trade also came under sharp attack asimpediments to economic growth and efficiency. The new economic, political,and ideological environment of the 1980s and 1990s has greatly stimulated TNCcross-border expansion and has more closely integrated the world economy(Herman and McChesney, 1997, p. 26).

It is significant that their approach also recognizes how politics and ideology are inherently partof economics. In this sense, their focus on structure does not necessarily deny the influence ofculture.

Herman and McChesney clearly indicate that today's global context was shaped by thepolicy decisions of the past. In addition, they also emphasize that today's trade agreements willgreatly affect the social, political and economic realities of the future. They note, "The politicaldesign of all these regional and global trade agreements has been to remove decision-makingpowers from local and national legislatures in favor of impersonal market forces and / orsupranational bureaucracies remote from popular control," (Herman and McChesney, 1997, p.

30).

When viewed in these ways, it is difficult to accept that globalization is value-free and

`naturally' evolved. This speaks then to the power of ideology. They reference a "strongideology [that] extends to non-beneficiaries [of a global consumer ideology] and genuinevictims, many of whom accept it in the face of contradictory experience. Those who question itspostulate of benevolence may still not escape its assumptions of naturalness and inevitability,"(Herman and McChesney, 1997, p. 35). For these authors, global media are mechanisms forsocial control. They function to perpetuate and re-articulate this ideology, and, in addition, theybenefit as well. Herman and McChesney indicate:

49

the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and U.S.A. Todayand severalothers ... set the agenda for the rest of the press and for broadcasters as well ...these are elite institutions closely linked to the corporate community andgovernment, and they tend to limit debate and investigative zeal within acceptableelite parameters (1997, p. 138).

Arjun Appadurai echoes Herman and McChesney's position that media are crucial to themaintenance and re-creation of an ideologically favorable environment for globalization.However, in his essay, "Disjuncture and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy," hecomplicates the conceptualization of a global cultural economy by also positing the relevance ofethnoscapes, technoscapes and finanscapes. He states, "The complexity of the current globaleconomy has to do with certain fundamental disjunctures between economy, culture and politicswhich we have barely begun to theorize," (Appadurai, 1990, p. 296). This complexitydemonstrates:

the global relationship between ethnoscapes, technoscapes and finanscapes isdeeply disjunctive and profoundly unpredictable ... each acts as a constraint and aparameter for movements in the other. Thus ... [a] model of global politicaleconomy must take into account the shifting relationship between perspectives onhuman movement, technological flow, and financial transfers, which canaccommodate their deeply disjunctive relationships with one another (Appadurai,1990, p. 298).

Therefore, for Appadurai, specificity is an essential component in any attempt to studyeconomics, politics and culture in a global context.

Appadurai makes the subtle observation that the globalization and the homogenization ofculture are distinct; homogenization is a vehicle for globalization. He goes on to note' thatconsumers have been transformed, through globalizing tendencies, into a 'sign' that functions to`mask' "the real seat of agency, which is not the consumer but the producer and the many forcesthat constitute production," (Appadurai, 1990, p. 307). Here, he alludes to the significationsembedded within 'globalization.' Of all the approaches mentioned thus far, Appadurai'sapproach represents the most concerted effort to bridge (without overtly preferencing one or theother) political economy and cultural studies perspectives.

Douglas Kellner also calls for a similar joining of theoretical approaches. I offer theposition detailed in his essay, "Overcoming the Divide: Cultural Studies and Political Economy"as a final example for this proposed continuum. Kellner wants to incorporate elements ofpolitical economy into studies of expressive culture. His account is clearly rooted in a culturaltradition, but he sees political economy enhancing and extending humanistic readings of culturaltexts. In his words, "culture must be investigated within the social relations and system throughwhich it is produced and consumed, and that analysis of culture is thus intimately bound up withthe study of society, politics, and economics," (Kellner, 1997, p. 103). He asserts, "Politicaleconomy thus encompasses economics and politics and ... the other central dimensions ofsociety and culture ... However, 'political economy' does not merely refer solely to economics... the term thus links culture to its political and economic context and opens up cultural studiesto history and politics," (Kellner, 1997, p. 105).

50

In front of the backdrop of a global media culture, Kellner goes on to equate emergingversions of common sense with respective, historically located political hegemonies. What isdeemed logical at any point in time is highly influenced by the ideologically driven politicalatmosphere. For instance, media conglomeration

was both a function of the general atmosphere of deregulation and a FederalCommunications Commission ruling under the Clinton administration ... relaxingthese rules and visions of 'synergy' between productions and distribution unitshas led to an even greater concentration of media conglomerates and will thusprobably lead to a narrower range of programming and voices in the future(Kellner, 1997, p. 108).

This example illustrates the impossibility of isolating elements of globalizing economic trendsfrom politics, culture, ideology and naturalized forms of 'reason.'

Keliner's call for a taultiperspectival' approach, informed by political economy, that notonly reads texts as hegemonically ideological, but also incorporates notions of meaningful socialrepresentations within systems of production and distribution, is unfortunately beyond the scopeof the project at hand. Instead, I wish to draw on scholars like Kellner to emphasize the value ofoverlapping approaches and demonstrate the connections between politics, culture andeconomics in the interstices of globalization discourse. Economics is a structuring force, butsemiotic and narrative analyses reveal links to the influence of culture and politics.

Each scholar represented in this spectrum of approaches has attributed a varying degreeof power to culture. But, they all significantly presuppose the intersection of culture andeconomics. Although each has substantiated that a relationship between discourse, ideology andglobalizing tendencies exists, few strive to explain how discourse envelops ideology andinfluences globalizing practices. However, Marjorie Ferguson, informed by Barthes, has focusedher attention on second order significations in globalization mythology. At this point, in aneffort to further substantiate the convergence of economics, politics and culture, and to re-articulate the value and necessity of a semiotic approach, I trace a similar relationship betweendiscursive mythology and structuration.

Connecting Semiotics, Structuration and Mythology

In his seminal work on mythology, Barthes posits: "in myth the meaning is distorted bythe concept. Of course, this distortion is possible only because the form of the myth is alreadyconstituted by a linguistic meaning...myth is a value," (1980, pp. 122-123). As a parallel,globalization mythology is more significant than its explicit linguistic meaning might suggest.Globalization myths also signify values.

Ferguson extends this line of analysis. She argues that representations of globalizationexplicitly function as explanations, but, more significantly, also implicitly serve ideological

objectives. She states:

As a conceptual notion, then, 'globalization' offers mixed messages. It soundslike a relatively value-neutral descriptor of a supranational universe ... But oncloser examination it reveals extensive causal assumptions, normative intentions

51

and value judgements ... Such rhetoric, far from being value-free, impliesreification and carries ideological baggage whereby globalization becomes thenew dynamic ... of world change ... [I]ts status may be moving from that ofmythology to ideology (1992, pp. 73-74).

The mythological, ideological rhetoric that Ferguson is referring to is not so much aboutglobalization per se as it is "about the objectives of and relationships between the disparateinterests and institutions seeking to ride on the back of the globalizing momentum," (1992, p.

74). In this sense, globalization rhetoric clearly operates and should be acknowledged as asecond order system of signification. Ferguson emphasizes the social and dynamic nature ofglobalization's myths:

The mythology about globalization also reveals how old myths adapt and newones arise ... Nothing is finite about this structuring of social reality. Like all thebest mythologies, this too is fluid, as new myths emerge to explain a changingworld so old ones adapt or fade away (Ferguson, 1992, p. 74).

She makes reference to the systemic power of narrative constructions to structure and confinesocial reality through the categorization of political, economic and cultural ideas. Unfortunately,absent from this account is the specificity that an explicit analysis would afford. In myestimation, the aforementioned signification supports a recognition of narrative constructions as

a unit of study and substantiates the value of discursive analysis in the interrogation of whatglobalization means, or, more specifically, what globalization myths signify.

Barthes makes a case that the very power and principle of myth lies in its ability totransform "history into nature ... the concept can remain manifest without however appearing tohave an interest in the matter: what causes mythical speech to be uttered is perfectly explicit, butit is immediately frozen into something natural; it is not read as a motive, but as a reason,"(1980, p. 129). Therefore, prior to incorporating semiotic analysis in the study of globalization,we are restricted to question only that which is said. Accordingly, we are unable (without thecontribution of semiotics) to delve beneath the surface, beyond what is said, to examine what the

messages might signify.

Barthes recognized that myths could exist in modes of writing, such as journalism. Forexample, in newspaper articles, "the signification becomes a parasite of the article," (Barthes,

1980, p. 132). Here, he reconfirms that language, as a system, is meaningful on both theconnotative and denotative levels. This is why deconstructing what the newspapers signify canexpose more critical explanations of culture and society. Mythology's hegemonic power is soeffective because it " does not deny things, on the contrary, its function is to talk about them ... it

purifies them, it makes them innocent, it gives them a natural and eternal justification ... it

organizes a world which is without contradictions because it is without depth ... things appear tomean something by themselves," (Barthes, 1980, p. 143). My initial error in approaching thisproject was to underestimate the subtlety of myths.

I originally mistook 'globalization as a business strategy' as globalization's myth. In asense then, disappointment over early readings of popular representations of globalization (as abusiness strategy) precluded my immediate recognition of mythology's more powerful effect: to

explicitly reveal global strategizing in a way that renders it natural, justified, and innocent while

conflating it with a seemingly inevitable strand of progress and sensible advancement.Discursive analyses and the study of second order signification are then central to exposingstructures. And, exposing the social construction of structural barriers is the crucial first steptoward recognizing our potential to re-construct social realities and influence social change.With this in mind, I turn toward the details ofthis analysis.

Representations of Globalization in The Wall Street Journal

It is not possible for even The Wall Street Journal to discuss economics without alsoinvoking issues of politics and culture, though it primarily does so in an implicit and purportedlyneutral manner. To the extent that economics is considered a 'science,' the 'logic' of producing,distributing and consuming appears universally evident and disinterested. However, in fact,

perhaps no publication more devoutly presupposes the 'logic' of economics as 'common sense.'As Herman and McChesney suggest, The Wall Street Journal functions as a model for theindustry, setting both professional standards and news agendas. It is therefore likely thatrepresentations of economic discourse in The Wall Street Journal influence similar coverage in a

variety of smaller newspapers.

The Wall Street Journal began indexing globalization, as a news topic, in 1995. It was

discontinued as an indexed topic of news in 1998. My sample therefore consists of the 31indexed articles, which ran between October, 1995 and December, 1997. I am not suggesting

that issues of or relevant to globalization were not mentioned in this publication prior to 1995,since 1997, or that additional articles published within the specified period of time made no

mention of globalization. Indeed, a multitude of such articles were excluded from this sample

and could prove to be a valuable starting point for future work. I have simply chosen to limit my

sample to the coverage The Wall Street Journal declared germane to the topic at hand.

Convention tells us that where articles are placed in a newspaper is indicative of the

story's perceived prominence. The stories judged to be most significant are customarily placed

in the front of the newspaper. It is quite revealing then that over fifty percent of the stories aboutglobalization appeared in the first section of The Wall Street Journal, and approximately onethird of the total sample appeared on the front page. In addition, the topic of globalizationwarranted the publication of four special reports. These details all speak to the tremendous sense

of presence that we associate with globalization.

Perhaps what was most significant in relation to placement was that, although all of the

articles explicitly represented globalization as intrinsically economic, only two stories wereclassified as 'Economy' pieces and only one was categorized as a 'Business' article. The paper'seditors demonstrated no show of apprehension as they overridingly positioned economicdiscourse throughout the newspaper, naturalizing associations between culture and politics as

economic.

It is also notable that nineteen percent of the sampled articles, all incidentally located inthe first section of the paper, were classified as 'International' stories. Globalization is obviouslyimpacting regions of the world beyond our national borders. However, what is telling about this

53

classification is the implication that 'International' stories are considered prominent news items

in terms of their relation to economic issues, events and activities.

Headlines are often considered the most important narrative element in any news story.Because few people read a newspaper from front to back, it is not uncommon for the headline tobe the only part of an article that is actually read. From the sample of headlines, broken apartinto word groups and narrative phrases, two primary themes emerged: globalization wasunavoidably powerful; and / or unquestionably positive.

In the first case, headlines expressed the strength and powerful momentum ofglobalization with phrases such as: 'driving force,' flood of deals' and 'continental shift.'Globalization was represented as something that should inspire panic. It demanded that we

defend ourselves; it was a force that one needed to survive. The following excerpts evoked a

sense of urgency: 'head off crisis,' just survive,' gird for global battle,' threatened by globaleconomy' and 'scramble in race.' And the implied best defense, to avoid being conquered by the`global powerhouses' and the 'mega-mergers,' was to choose to join the race or risk beingovertaken.

The second theme aroused feelings of liberation and freedom. Globalization, in this

sense, was all about a new environment of bigger and better opportunities. For example, 'firmsexpand,' stocks surge' and 'firms thrive,' in this 'era of growth' with its 'freer global markets,'`no boundaries,' expanding strategies' and 'emerging markets.' The headlines urged, 'follow

customers,' forestall inflation' and `reorganize.' The barriers are few' for 'global

powerhouses.'

These suggestions are in no way value-free. They automatically assume the virtue ofgrowth and expansion, and herald freedom without. limitations. When globalization is positioned

as the result of reorganization, it implies that the latter stage is more organized and systematic.

In a sense then, globalization becomes conflated with order and efficiency. This type ofconflation is in and of itself considerable. But embedded deeper within that conflation is thevaluing of productive efficiency, which often connotes cost-effectiveness. If we grant that cost-effectiveness is a central tenet of economic logic, we can begin to see how cultural values aredeeply embedded within 'pure' economic reason.

Informed by the 'inverted pyramid' construction of news articles (itself a signifyingcode), the lead sentence (or lead paragraph) contextualizes the article by conveying to the readerthe pith of the story. In other words, readers are told what is (supposedly) at issue one inch intothe account'. The sampled leads frame the articles in accordance with a few dominant themesthat especially resonate with one of America's most fundamental cultural axioms: competition.More often than not, the leads conjured up images of contests. Phrases such as 'rapid pace,'`global powerhouses,' threat for U.S.,' compete around the globe' and 'bold step forward' allcontribute to generating an atmosphere of competition. There is a sense of needing to measure

up in the global context. An article began by naming the 'leaders in globalization,' suggesting

I wish to problematize my use of 'story' and 'account.' As synonyms for 'article,' they suggest the inherently

subjective construction of news that, unfortunately, is not often attributed to journalism.

54

the metaphor of an athletic event to connote that globalization was a race that we should strive to

lead.

As one example, the lead of the most recent article asserts that 'the big question for 1998'is whether or not the Asian `financial crisis' is a "welcome tranquilizer for the U.S. economy orthe first tremor of the Clinton recession," (December 29, 1997). Here it is assumed that theyear's 'biggest question' must be related to the state of the economy. This lead is richly layered

with signified meaning. First, financial problems are crises. Second, the use of the word`tranquilizer' suggests that the U.S. economy is witnessing unimagined growth and expansion (as

a result of this globally integrated market system). Similarly, the use of the word 'tremor'evokes images of a forthcoming earthquakea massive, natural disaster. The looming disasteris a threatening recession, though not just any recession. This recession is the Clinton recession,

as though Clinton's presidency is the only force that could lead to such an occurrence.

It would take the average reader approximately four seconds to read the leaddeconstructed above. And, I would argue that he or she would most likely accept the level ofsignificance granted to issues of economy by immediately and instinctively moving on to the

next sentence. In doing so, this reader probably would not overtly identify and question theassociations made between economic downturns and notions of crisis. He or she might skip overthe links connecting globalization and the phenomenal growth of the U.S. economy, and arecession with the Clinton administration. Hasty readings may lead readers to automaticallyabsorb these associations as naturally related, and therefore miss the presence of culture andpolitics in that which is economic.

Another article reports on the reality of globalization:

In a world stripped of the superpower confrontation that defined internationalbehavior during the Cold War, commercial interaction has more and more becomea force that shapes relations among nations ... In the U.S., international trade nowaccounts for about 24% of gross [sic] domestic product. This has been anextremely positive development. As trade barriers fall away, as flows of foreigndirect investment increase, new competitors enter the marketplace, creating newopportunities for consumers and job seekers (April 28, 1997).

This quotation characterizes the world as 'stripped' of Cold War politics. `[S]tripped' is aninteresting word choice when positioned in relation to 'superpower confrontation.' What itsuggests is that the world is so in need of an overarching ideology to 'guide internationalbehavior' that even the threat of Cold War confrontation is preferable to the absence of some sortof central dogma. But we need not worry, for 'more and more,' commercial interaction' hasapparently evolved to meet that need. In this sense economics is 'naturally' positioned as thenew world ideology, conflating the logic of economics with a sense of world order. This notonly naturalizes the incorporation of politics and culture into that which is economic, but alsopresupposes that what is economic is inevitably transnational, cross-cultural and orderly.

The passage continues with the assumption that a rising percentage of international tradeis 'an extremely positive development.' This may or may not be the case, but in this instancethere is no recognized need to back the stated assertion. Its content is understood to be evident.

55

Therefore, the falling away of trade barriers, increases in foreign direct investment andmarketplace competition that support this development must also be meritorious. The directednature of these political decisions becomes masked behind the logic of economic development.

Let me concede that critiques of globalization were incorporated into the narrativeconstructions of this sample. However, such critiques were more frequently placed at the end ofthe articles than in the beginning. This brief analysis was intended to be less about critiquingglobalization than it was to demonstrate that signified meanings and manifest values are layered

within the content of economic discourse.

It is important to recognize that discourse, significations, ideology and social structuresdo not mesh together in a seamless, uncomplicated fashion. Nevertheless, over time, linguisticcodes can become absorbed into our consciousness, in accordance with (in Stuart Hall's terms) a`pattern of preferred reading,' and meaningfully influence how we make sense of the world.

According to Hall, codes interact in a language system to produce 'dominant' readings oftextual representations. We do need to acknowledge that every reader is not going to interpretevery code in the same manner. Hall is careful to specify that 'dominant' is never equated with`determinant.' But this alone does not disqualify the power and presence of dominant ideology.We must not confuse the existence of 'negotiated' and 'resistive' readings as an extinguishmentof 'dominant' readings. Notions of negotiated and resistive readings seem, in fact, to require theexistence of a dominant reading. Otherwise, what would be negotiated and resisted?

Hall suggests that 'patterns of preferred reading' have

the institutional / political / ideological order imprinted in them ... The domainsof 'preferred meanings' have the whole social order embedded in them as a set ofmeanings, practices and beliefs: the everyday knowledge of social structures, of`how things work for all practical purposes in a culture,' the rank order of powerand interest and the structure of legitimations, limits and sanctions (Hall, 1980, p.

134).

Therefore, by accepting the preferred reading of codes as logical, we correspondingly accepttheir embedded social order.

The discursive analysis specified above demonstrates that there is considerable evidencesupporting the presence of cultural and political values in representations of globalization. But, Iwould argue that the patterns described in the analysis probably went undetected by the vastmajority of readers. From that, I infer two basic outcomes: 1.) culture and politics can becomenaturalized as intrinsically connected to economics, to the extent that their presence is invisiblewhen not deliberately pursued; and 2.) their invisibility can permit them to become furtherwoven into the fabric of economic discourse and, therefore, further structure our world.

Hall explains:

The media serve, in societies like ours, ceaselessly to perform the criticalideological work of 'classifying out the world' within the discourses of dominantideologies ... the work of 'ideological reproduction' which they perform ... is a

56

systematic tendency, not an incidental featureto reproduce the ideological fieldof a society in such a way as to reproduce, also, its structure of domination (1979,p. 346).

As we continue to interact with mediated representations, we inadvertently (but systematically)contribute to reinforcing the hegemonic power of dominant ideology to constrain our realities.Critical understanding of our role in this process is necessary if we hope to re-direct socialchange in the future. In order to negotiate and resist dominant, hegemonic readings, we mustconscientiously strive to identify the patterns of preferred readings.

Concluding Remarks

For this analysis, I have, throughout the essay, preferenced illustrations that are clearly

rooted in the economic. However, do not mistake this decision as a totalizing, Marxistunderstanding of the world. Doing so would entail missing my point entirely. For as much ascommunication scholars may explicitly recognize aspects of both culture and political economyin issues of globalization, more popular understandings overwhelmingly weigh in favor of aseemingly 'pure,' economic approach. Culture, it appears, is a factor only in the sense thathomogenization supports (and heterogeneity complicates) the expansion of the economicenvironment. My point is that accepting a popular representation of globalization as signifyingsomething 'purely' economic invariably involves accepting its political and cultural values as

well. Media (in this case, The Wall Street Journal) can articulate, reinforce and reproduceideologies that structure our world, even without explicitly referencing culture and politics.

The myth embedded in popular representations of globalization is not merely thatglobalization is a business strategy, but that it is a value-laden, historically-located, socially-

constructed, politically-motivated business strategy. The power of the myth renders suchconstructions and motivations transparent. The logic directing the strategy appears inherentlynatural, stripped of all its political purposefulness. Taken to an extreme, the influence of cultureand politics on economic values disappears and subsequent value judgements then appear not asthe choices they are, but as natural inevitabilities.

I am not attempting to imply that globalizing tendencies are all negative, or, on the otherhand, all positive. But rather, failing to recognize the full signification of 'globalization' is to be

ill-informed. Globalization cannot be considered value-free, innocent or evolved (as Bartheswould state) from the 'nature' of things. Any tendency or disposition to associate globalizationwith 'common sense' or 'neutrality' only confirms the hegemonic power of its myth.

Let me also clarify that I am not upholding semiotics and discursive analysis as the mostvaluable and appropriate ways to study globalization, its processes, structures, merits orconstraints. On the contrary, my opinion is that globalization, in particular, and economics, ingeneral, are too complex to be understood through any one method of analysis. My project hasthe more modest intention of advocating the incorporation of additional methods. This projectrepresents my attempt to demonstrate that semiotics and discursive analysis have the potential toilluminate additional components of a complex subject, and can therefore contribute toaspirations of greater understanding.

57

In this essay, I have utilized globalization as a site for the interrogation of economic

discourse and then drawn connections between globalization, ideology, and the structuring of

social reality. I have shown how globalization mythology functions to naturalize the purposeful

composition of 'logic' and therefore argued for the use of discursive analysis to expose the

values layered within our understanding of that which is economic. This essay has attempted to

illustrate some of the consequences of accepting representations without evaluating their

significations, and it has subsequently stressed the importance of critical consciousness for

greater understanding and participation in the future.

If we fail to identify significations in their entirety, we overlook their subtle but powerful

influence on the social construction of our realities. When this occurs, we accept those realities

as natural or inevitable and fail to address issues concerning how they are created andconstrained. Perhaps most significantly, when this occurs, we fail to recognize our potential to

re-construct reality and influence social change.

REFERENCES

Appadurai, Arjun. (1990). "Disjuncture and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy," in Mike Featherstone

(ed.), Global Culture: Nationalism, Globalization and Modernity. London: Sage Publications, pp. 295-310.

Barthes, Roland. (1980). Mythologies. New York: Hill and Wang. (Translated from the French edition, 1957).

Ferguson, Marjorie. (1992). "The Mythology about Globalization." European Journal of Communication,

7(1992): 69-93.

Hall, Stuart, Dorothy Hobson, Andrew Lowe, and Paul Willis. (1980). Culture, Media, Language. London:

Hutchinson.

Hall, Stuart. (1979). "Culture, the Media and the 'Ideological Effect,'" in James Curran, Michael Gurevitch and

Janet Woollacott (eds.), Mass Communication and Society. Beverly Hills: Sage Publications.

Herman, Edward S. and McChesney, Robert W. (1997). The Global Media: The New Missionaries of Global

Capitalism. London: Cassell.

Kellner, Douglas. (1997). "Overcoming the Divide: Cultural Studies and Political Economy," in Marjorie Ferguson

and Peter Golding (eds.), Cultural Studies in Question. London: Sage Publications, pp. 102-120.

Nye, Joseph S., Jr. (1990, October 3). "No, the U.S. isn't in Decline," The New York Times, p. A-33.

Robertson, R. (1990). "Mapping the Global Condition: Globalization as the Central Concept," Theory, Culture and

Society, 7(2/3): 15-30.

Schiller, Herbert I. (1991) "Not Yet the Post-Imperialist Era." Critical Studies in Mass Communication, 8(`91):

13-28.

Tomlinson, John. (1991). Cultural Imperialism. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.

58

Run

ning

Hea

d: C

onve

rgen

ce o

f th

e In

tern

et

Con

verg

ence

of

the

Inte

rnet

Web

site

s

by N

ewsp

aper

, Bro

adca

st, a

nd I

nter

net N

ews.

Org

aniz

atio

ns

Sang

Hee

Kw

eon

Col

lege

of

Mas

s C

omm

unic

atio

n an

d M

edia

Art

Sout

hern

Illi

nois

Uni

vers

ity a

t Car

bond

ale

Mai

ling

addr

ess:

1960-1

Eve

rgre

en T

erra

ceC

arbo

ndal

e,IL 62901

E-m

ail:s

ang@

siu.

edu

Pape

r pr

esen

ted

at th

e A

EJM

C G

radu

ate

Edu

catio

n In

tere

stG

roup

Res

earc

h D

ivis

ion

in P

hoen

ix, A

Z, A

ugus

t9-12, 2000

59

Con

verg

ence

of

the

Inte

rnet

1

Abs

trac

t

Thi

s pa

per

exam

ines

nin

e ne

ws

web

site

s, in

clud

ing

thos

e of

thre

e di

ffer

ent m

edia

org

aniz

atio

ns, w

hich

hav

e co

nver

ged

into

Inte

rnet

web

site

s. T

he w

ebsi

tes

of th

e ne

ws

orga

niza

tions

are

com

pare

d w

ith n

ewsp

aper

, TV

bro

adca

stin

g, a

nd I

nter

net o

nly

web

site

s. T

he c

ompa

red

units

are

fra

me

fact

ors:

pic

ture

s, n

ews

cont

ribu

tors

, and

inte

ract

ivity

. New

spap

er w

ebsi

tes

pres

ente

d

mor

e ne

ws

item

s th

an b

oth

TV

bro

adca

stin

g an

d In

tern

et

orga

niza

tion

web

site

s, w

here

as T

V w

ebsi

tes

mad

e gr

eate

r us

e

of b

oth

phot

os a

nd g

raph

ics.

New

spap

er s

ites

have

a h

igh

inte

ract

ivity

sco

re. T

his

stud

y fo

und

that

TV

bro

adca

stin

g ha

s

high

pic

tori

al c

onte

nt, n

ewsp

aper

site

s ha

ve m

any

new

s ite

ms

and

a hi

gh p

ortio

n of

sta

ff c

ontr

ibut

ion,

whi

le I

nter

net o

nly

new

s si

tes

rely

hea

vily

on

outs

ide

new

s co

ntri

butio

n.

60

Inte

rnet

Con

tent

Ana

lysi

s:

Con

verg

ence

of

the

Inte

rnet

Web

site

s

by N

ewsp

aper

, Bro

adca

st, a

nd I

nter

net N

ews

Org

aniz

atio

ns

Intr

oduc

tion

The

Int

erne

t has

bec

ome

impo

ssib

le to

igno

re in

mas

s

com

mun

icat

ion

stud

y, b

ecau

se th

e us

e of

the

Inte

rnet

kee

ps g

row

ing

as b

oth

mas

s m

edia

com

pani

es a

nd in

divi

dual

s ha

ve jo

ined

as

cont

ent p

rovi

ders

. It

is g

ener

ally

acc

epte

d th

at a

new

med

ium

bec

omes

a m

ass

med

ium

whe

n it

is a

dopt

ed b

y 50

mill

ion

user

s (N

eufe

ld, 1

997)

. If

that

pro

posi

tion

is

acce

pted

, Com

mer

ceN

et (

1999

) es

timat

es I

nter

net u

sers

to n

umbe

r 76

mill

ion.

The

Int

erne

t, es

peci

ally

the

Wor

ld W

ide

Web

has

join

ed th

e ra

nks

of th

e m

ass

med

ia. W

hile

one

in f

ive

peop

le u

se th

e In

tern

et a

t lea

st o

nce

a

wee

k, th

is n

umbe

r m

ore

than

trip

led

in th

e pa

st tw

o ye

ars

(Pew

, 199

8), a

nd

new

s m

edia

com

pani

es h

ave

built

thei

r on

line

site

s ac

cord

ingl

y.

Tod

ay, i

t is

now

est

imat

ed th

at m

ore

than

4,0

00 n

ewsp

aper

s co

uld

be o

nlin

e by

the

year

200

0, a

nd T

V n

ews

orga

niza

tions

suc

h as

CN

N, A

BC

,

and

MSN

BC

are

team

ing

up w

ith p

artn

ers

on th

eir

web

site

s ra

ther

than

com

petin

g w

ith th

em (

Gel

si, 1

998)

. Ste

ve G

elsi

sta

tes,

"sy

nerg

y be

twee

n

TV

and

Web

new

s is

bec

omin

g a

bigg

er is

sue.

" T

hey

are

lear

ning

that

web

site

s ca

n be

use

d to

bri

ng m

ore

dept

h to

a s

tory

, hel

ping

it r

ival

new

spap

ers

in th

is a

rea,

whe

reas

new

spap

er p

ublis

hers

bui

ld th

eir

own

new

s w

eb s

ite to

prov

ide

a hi

ghly

gra

phic

new

s so

urce

that

com

pete

s w

ith T

V n

ews.

As

a

61

Con

verg

ence

of

the

Inte

rnet

2

resu

lt, th

e In

tern

et n

ews

has

shif

ted

the

para

digm

for

bot

h ne

ws

prod

uctio

n

and

cons

umpt

ion.

Def

initi

on o

f C

onve

rsio

n

The

Int

erne

t exe

mpl

ifie

s th

e tr

end

of m

edia

con

verg

ence

. Pri

nt

new

s m

edia

and

bro

adca

st n

ews

med

ia a

re e

spec

ially

det

erm

ined

to b

ring

thei

r ow

n ch

arac

teri

stic

s to

a w

ebsi

te a

nd tr

y to

ove

rcom

e th

eir

wea

knes

s in

kind

of

new

s tr

ansm

issi

on. T

his

tend

ency

of

new

s or

gani

zatio

ns, a

cros

s

med

ia ty

pes,

to d

uplic

ate

cont

ent c

ame

to I

nter

net t

o be

cal

led

"med

ia

conv

erge

nce"

(M

cQua

il, 1

994)

.

Con

verg

ence

is th

e co

min

g to

geth

er o

f al

l for

ms

of m

edia

ted

com

mun

icat

ions

in a

n el

ectr

onic

, dig

ital f

orm

dri

ven

by th

e

com

pute

rs a

nd e

nabl

ed b

y ne

twor

k te

chno

logy

. Con

verg

ence

pres

ents

pro

foun

d ch

alle

nges

for

the

exis

ting

med

ia o

rder

and

has

pave

d th

e w

ay f

or th

e de

velo

pmen

t of

mul

timed

ia p

rodu

cts

blen

ding

text

, dat

a, g

raph

ics,

ful

l-m

otio

n vi

deo,

and

thei

r un

iver

sal

acce

ssib

ility

and

inte

ract

ivity

in th

e on

line

wor

ld (

Pavl

ik, 1

998,

p.13

4).

Whe

n su

ch a

mer

ger

of f

orm

s ha

ppen

s to

the

Inte

rnet

, is

the

cont

ent f

orm

and

styl

e si

mila

r to

or

diff

eren

t fro

m o

ther

med

ia?

On

the

Inte

rnet

, is

ther

e

any

diff

eren

ce b

etw

een

cont

ent p

rovi

ded

by n

ewsp

aper

com

pani

es,

broa

dcas

ting

orga

niza

tions

, and

the

Inte

rnet

pro

vide

r or

gani

zatio

ns?

Reg

ardl

ess

of th

e w

ebsi

te n

ews

prov

ider

s, th

ere

are

sim

ilari

ties

and

diff

eren

ces.

The

re a

re m

any

new

spap

er w

ebsi

tes

usin

g au

dio,

vid

eo, a

nd

grap

hics

, whe

reas

oth

er w

ebsi

tes

adop

t the

inte

ract

ive

mod

e.

62

The

refo

re, t

his

pape

r's r

esea

rch

ques

tion

is b

ased

on

the

Inte

rnet

tech

nolo

gy's

two

conv

ersi

on c

hara

cter

istic

s: m

edia

con

vers

ion

and

text

conv

ersi

on. O

vera

ll, th

e In

tern

et h

as a

two-

side

d co

nver

genc

e: o

ne is

the

med

ia c

onve

rgen

ce o

f th

e co

mpu

ter

and

tele

phon

e, th

e ot

her

is th

e te

xt

conv

erge

nce

of v

ario

us m

ass

med

ia te

xts

incl

udin

g T

V, n

ewsp

aper

s, a

nd

mag

azin

es. A

s a

resu

lt, th

e In

tern

et's

use

s an

d gr

atif

icat

ions

are

dif

fere

nt

from

trad

ition

al m

edia

and

mor

e co

mpl

ex. W

hen

the

trad

ition

ally

dist

inct

ive

med

ia p

rovi

de th

eir

new

s co

nten

t on

the

Inte

rnet

, the

text

,

grap

hics

, and

nar

rativ

e w

ill b

e af

fect

ed. A

ccor

ding

to M

arsh

al M

cLuh

an

(196

0), t

he m

ediu

m is

key

to th

e ne

ws

form

and

con

tent

. Fur

ther

mor

e, th

e

neo-

form

alis

ts s

aid

that

for

m a

nd c

onte

nt c

an n

ot b

e se

para

ted

(Mey

er,

1999

).

The

con

verg

ence

in th

e In

tern

et in

volv

ed a

lso

radi

o, m

agaz

ine,

gam

es a

nd m

usic

. The

oth

er m

edia

con

verg

ence

is in

com

mun

icat

ion

aspe

cts

such

as

e-m

ail,

text

or

file

tran

sfer

(FT

P) o

r gr

oup

disc

ussi

on.

Rog

er F

idle

r (1

997,

p.2

7) s

tate

s th

at:

A m

erge

r im

plie

s th

at tw

o or

mor

e en

titie

s (f

or e

xam

ple

com

pani

es, t

echn

olog

y, o

r m

edia

) ar

e co

min

g to

geth

er to

form

a s

ingl

e, in

tegr

ated

ent

ity. C

onve

rgen

ce is

mor

e lik

e

a cr

ossi

ng o

f pa

ths

or m

arri

age,

whi

ch r

esul

ts in

the

tran

sfor

mat

ion

of e

ach

conv

ergi

ng e

ntity

, as

wel

l as

the

crea

tion

of n

ew e

ntiti

es.

Fidl

er e

mph

asiz

es th

e co

evol

utio

n an

d co

exis

tenc

e of

dif

fere

nt m

edia

form

s. A

s th

e re

sult,

the

Inte

rnet

's c

onte

nt w

ould

eith

er c

hang

e fo

rm o

r

mai

ntai

n its

cur

rent

for

m b

y fo

llow

ing

trad

ition

al m

edia

's s

tren

gths

. Thu

s,

63

Con

verg

ence

of

the

Inte

rnet

3

Inte

rnet

con

tent

will

be

dist

ingu

ishe

d fr

om th

e co

nten

t con

stru

ctor

's o

r

prov

ider

's c

hara

cter

istic

s. T

here

fore

, thi

s re

sear

ch f

ocus

es o

n th

ree

diff

eren

t med

ia w

ebsi

tes:

pri

nt, T

V b

road

cast

ing,

and

Int

erne

t onl

y

orga

niza

tions

.

Thi

s st

udy

cons

ists

of

com

pari

son

rese

arch

to te

st e

ither

the

diff

eren

ces

or s

imila

ritie

s am

ong

prin

t, br

oadc

astin

g, a

nd I

nter

net-

only

new

s w

ebsi

tes.

The

foc

uses

of

the

com

pari

son

are

digi

tal i

mag

es (

grap

hic

and

phot

ogra

phic

), in

tera

ctiv

ity, a

nd n

ews

cate

gori

es. A

s a

resu

lt of

conv

erge

nce

from

dif

fere

nt m

edia

to th

e In

tern

et, t

his

rese

arch

mea

ns to

anal

yze

the

diff

eren

ces

betw

een

Inte

rnet

new

s te

xt a

nd c

onte

nt.

Stud

y of

Int

erne

t Con

vers

ion

and

Con

tent

Ana

lysi

s

Alth

ough

man

y In

tern

et u

ser

surv

eys

and

indu

stri

al s

urve

y ha

ve

been

don

e, I

nter

net c

onte

nt s

tudi

es a

re f

ew. F

urth

erm

ore

all t

he s

tatis

tics

abou

t Int

erne

t use

rs a

re s

till t

enta

tive

beca

use

the

stan

dard

of

mea

sure

men

t

has

not y

et b

een

acad

emic

ally

est

ablis

hed.

Als

o, th

e re

sear

ch a

pplic

atio

n fo

r

the

Inte

rnet

has

bee

n di

sreg

arde

d as

a n

ew p

oten

tial:

ther

efor

e, th

e th

eori

es

abou

t com

mun

icat

ion

will

bec

ome

less

use

ful,

beca

use

until

rec

ently

"[m

]ass

com

mun

icat

ions

res

earc

hes

have

ove

rloo

ked

not o

nly

the

Inte

rnet

but t

he e

ntir

e fi

eld

of c

ompu

ter-

med

iate

d co

mm

unic

atio

n, s

tayi

ng in

stea

d

with

the

trad

ition

al f

orm

s of

bro

adca

st a

nd p

rint

med

ia th

at f

it m

ore

conv

enie

ntly

into

mod

els

for

appr

opri

ate

rese

arch

topi

cs a

nd th

eori

es o

f

mas

s co

mm

unic

atio

n "(

Mor

ris

& O

gan

1996

, p.3

9).

The

dis

tinct

ive

feat

ure

of th

e In

tern

et is

that

it is

a m

ultif

acet

ed

mas

s m

ediu

m, t

hat i

s, it

con

tain

s m

any

diff

eren

t con

figu

ratio

ns o

f

com

mun

icat

ion

(Mor

ris

& O

gan

p.42

). S

ome

have

enc

oura

ged

stud

ying

the

64

Inte

rnet

and

sug

gest

ed th

e un

its o

f an

alys

is f

or th

e st

udy

(Dec

embe

r, 1

996)

.

Als

o, s

chol

ars

have

stu

died

the

feat

ures

of

the

Inte

rnet

incl

udin

g vi

rtua

l

real

ity, v

irtu

al r

elat

ions

hips

, and

inte

ract

ivity

(B

oicc

a, 1

992)

.

Com

pare

d to

trad

ition

al m

edia

, som

e di

stin

ctiv

e fe

atur

es o

f th

e

Inte

rnet

med

ium

are

pic

tori

al u

sage

, new

s co

ntri

buto

r m

etho

d, a

nd

inte

ract

ivity

. The

se th

ree

fact

ors

fram

e th

e an

alys

is o

f th

e W

orld

Wid

e W

eb

in e

xam

inin

g ho

w v

isua

l ele

men

ts a

re a

sser

ted,

how

new

s is

rec

onst

ruct

ed

on th

e W

eb, a

nd h

ow I

nter

net u

sers

inte

ract

. As

a co

nver

ged

med

ium

, the

Inte

rnet

pro

vide

s ea

ch u

ser

with

man

y di

ffer

ent n

ews

cont

ent.

Still

, if

it

need

s to

def

ine

the

char

acte

rist

ics

of th

e In

tern

et n

ews,

do

the

conv

erge

d

new

s w

ebsi

tes

new

s st

yle

and

form

hav

e si

mila

ritie

s or

dif

fere

nces

fro

m

new

spap

er, T

V b

road

cast

ing,

and

Int

erne

t onl

y or

gani

zatio

n m

edia

?

Fram

ing

The

ory

Whe

n m

edia

org

aniz

atio

ns c

onve

rge

on th

e In

tern

et, m

edia

orga

niza

tions

hav

e di

ffer

ent f

ram

e se

tting

s in

term

s of

jour

nalis

tic a

ctiv

ity

as w

ell a

s in

term

s of

per

spec

tive

tow

ard

the

med

ia c

omm

odity

. On

the

Inte

rnet

, the

re m

ight

hap

pen

to b

e an

y nu

mbe

r of

mea

ning

ful s

imila

ritie

s

and

diff

eren

ces

betw

een

the

cont

ent p

rovi

ded

by p

rint

org

aniz

atio

ns a

nd

that

fro

m b

road

cast

out

lets

. Web

site

s th

at a

re r

un b

y T

V o

rgan

izat

ions

and

new

spap

er c

ompa

nies

hav

e m

any

sim

ilar

fram

es b

ecau

se o

f th

e In

tern

et

tech

nolo

gy's

con

verg

ence

. With

cur

rent

ban

dwid

th li

mita

tion,

TV

com

pani

es th

at w

ant a

pre

senc

e on

the

web

mus

t pre

sent

mos

t of

thei

r ne

ws

info

rmat

ion

as te

xt, a

nd m

any

onlin

e ne

wsp

aper

s ar

e no

w u

sing

aud

io a

nd

vide

o cl

ips

in th

eir

new

s st

orie

s. I

n th

is d

igita

l med

ium

, the

re m

ay b

e so

me

65

Con

verg

ence

of

the

Inte

rnet

4

dist

inct

ion

in f

ram

ing

met

hods

for

the

new

s as

far

as

prin

t and

TV

bro

adca

st

com

pani

es a

re c

once

rned

.

The

refo

re, t

he m

ost u

sefu

l the

oret

ical

mod

el f

or e

xpla

inin

g te

xt

and

med

ia c

onve

rsio

n in

the

Inte

rnet

is th

e fr

amin

g th

eory

. The

fra

me

is

conc

eive

d as

a w

indo

w th

roug

h w

hich

the

obse

rver

look

s in

to a

n ou

ter

wor

ld.

Kre

ss, e

t. al

. (19

96)

sugg

est t

hat v

isua

l com

posi

tion

rela

tes

the

repr

esen

tatio

nal a

nd in

tera

ctiv

e m

eani

ngs

of a

n im

age

to e

ach

othe

r th

roug

h

thre

e in

terr

elat

ed s

yste

ms:

info

rmat

ion

valu

e, s

alie

nce,

and

fra

min

g. K

ress

's

appr

oach

exa

min

es th

e st

ruct

ural

ele

men

t tex

t or

pict

ure,

text

str

uctu

re, a

nd

sour

ce c

ontr

ibut

or.

Tuc

hman

(19

72)

stat

e th

at n

ews

med

ia f

ram

e so

cial

issu

es b

ased

on a

"ce

ntra

l org

aniz

ing

idea

for

new

s co

nten

t tha

t sup

plie

s a

cont

ext a

nd

sugg

ests

wha

t the

issu

e is

thro

ugh

the

use

of s

elec

tion,

em

phas

is, e

xclu

sion

,

and

elab

orat

ion.

"

The

refo

re, t

he p

rodu

ctio

n pr

oces

ses

shou

ld b

e "e

ffic

ient

." O

ne o

f th

e be

st

way

s to

hav

e w

ork

done

eff

icie

ntly

, esp

ecia

lly w

ithin

"de

adlin

es,"

wou

ld b

e

thro

ugh

"rou

tiniz

atio

n" o

f th

e pr

oces

ses

of w

orki

ng.

Thu

s, a

ccor

ding

to T

uchm

an (

1972

), r

outin

izat

ion

of n

ews

repo

rtin

g is

the

esse

ntia

l cha

ract

er o

f "t

he r

ule

of o

bjec

tivity

" in

jour

nalis

m.

Follo

win

g th

is r

ule

of o

bjec

tivity

, new

s or

gani

zatio

ns c

onst

ruct

thei

r ru

le in

the

Inte

rnet

age

. Sch

olar

s w

ould

arg

ue th

at th

e re

ason

jour

nalis

ts h

ave

cert

ain

patte

rns

in r

epor

ting

soci

al is

sues

is th

at th

is f

acili

tate

s th

e "p

roce

ss

of n

ews

prod

uctio

n,"

mea

ning

that

the

"rou

tiniz

ed"

patte

rns

of r

epor

ting

mak

e it

poss

ible

to p

rodu

ce n

ews

stor

ies

mor

e ef

fici

ently

and

eco

nom

ical

ly

66

in te

rms

of ti

me

and

effo

rt. F

urth

erm

ore,

it w

ould

pro

tect

the

jour

nalis

ts

from

any

pos

sibl

e bl

ame

beca

use

mos

t "ro

utin

ized

" w

ays

of r

epor

ting

are

base

d on

the

rule

of

"obj

ectiv

ity,"

whi

ch a

lso

guar

ante

es th

e

prof

essi

onal

ism

of

jour

nalis

ts. A

s w

e se

e in

the

disc

ussi

on o

f "g

atek

eepi

ng"

and

"obj

ectiv

ity"

(Sch

udso

n, 1

978)

, mas

s m

edia

do

not r

epor

t the

fac

ts a

s

them

selv

es; r

athe

r, th

ey a

re c

ontin

uous

ly c

onst

ruct

ing

"the

rea

litie

s,"

incl

udin

g so

cial

issu

es. T

he "

fram

ewor

k" r

epre

sent

s th

e ou

tsid

e w

orld

's

real

ity th

roug

h m

edia

, whi

ch c

onst

ruct

s so

cial

rea

lity.

And

the

fram

ed

soci

al r

ealit

y is

not

mer

ely

pres

ente

d bu

t res

onat

es w

ith d

omin

ant c

ultu

ral

belie

fs a

nd v

alue

s (R

eese

p.4

86).

The

refo

re, t

he r

epor

ting

of a

"ro

utin

ized

obje

ctiv

ity"

is o

ne w

ay o

f fr

amin

g fo

r a

cert

ain

issu

e.

Loc

atio

n of

Fra

min

g

Fram

es h

ave

at le

ast f

our

loca

tions

in th

e co

mm

unic

atio

n pr

oces

s.

Firs

t, co

mm

unic

ator

s (n

ews

orga

niza

tions

) co

nsci

ousl

y or

unc

onsc

ious

ly

prod

uce

fram

es. M

edia

fra

mes

eve

ryda

y re

ality

thro

ugh

effi

cien

tly

pack

agin

g ne

ws.

Sec

ond,

text

s co

ntai

n fr

ames

, "w

hich

are

man

ifes

ted

by

the

pres

ence

or

abse

nce

of c

erta

in k

eyw

ords

, sto

ck p

hras

es, s

tere

otyp

ed

imag

es, s

ourc

es o

f in

form

atio

n, a

nd s

ente

nces

that

prov

ide

them

atic

ally

rei

nfor

cing

clu

ster

s of

fac

ts o

r ju

dgm

ents

" (E

ntm

an,

1993

,

p. 5

2). T

hird

, rec

eive

rs a

re g

uide

d in

thei

r in

terp

reta

tion

of c

omm

unic

ator

s'

fram

es b

y th

eir

own

fram

es (

rela

ted

to th

e pr

imin

g th

eory

). T

his

fram

e

happ

ens

in th

e au

dien

ce's

exp

erie

nce.

The

aud

ienc

e pr

oces

ses

sele

ctiv

e

men

tal i

nfor

mat

ion.

Fou

rth,

soc

iety

's c

ultu

re a

t lar

ge "

is th

e st

ock

of

com

mon

ly in

voke

d fr

ames

" (p

. 53)

. The

who

le s

ocie

ty f

ram

es n

ews

a

67

Con

verg

ence

of

the

Inte

rnet

5

cert

ain

way

. New

s st

orie

s co

uld

not b

e be

yond

the

soci

ety'

s id

eolo

gica

l

boun

dary

. An

exam

ple

is E

ntm

an's

199

1 st

udy,

whi

ch e

xam

ined

how

Tim

e,

New

swee

k, a

nd th

e "C

BS

Eve

ning

New

s" f

ram

ed th

e K

AL

and

Ira

n A

ir

inci

dent

s. T

he m

edia

cov

erag

e in

volv

ed th

e sh

ootin

g do

wn

of a

Kor

ean

airl

iner

by

the

Sovi

ets

and

an I

rani

an a

irlin

er b

y th

e A

mer

ican

s. A

n an

alys

is

of s

ever

al r

epor

ts r

evea

led

that

, in

mos

t cas

es, t

he K

AL

dow

ning

was

desc

ribe

d by

the

U.S

. pre

ss a

s an

act

of

"bar

bari

sm"

com

mitt

ed b

y th

e

Sovi

ets

who

"in

tent

iona

lly m

urde

red

inno

cent

hum

an b

eing

s" (

Ent

man

,

1991

, .9)

. On

the

othe

r ha

nd, t

he I

ran

Air

dow

ning

was

des

crib

ed a

s an

"acc

iden

t" r

esul

ting

from

fau

lty te

chno

logy

and

con

fusi

on, w

ith d

ry a

nd

plai

n la

ngua

ge u

sed

with

in r

epor

ts to

des

crib

e th

e fa

te o

f th

e Ir

an A

ir

airp

lane

(17

). I

n al

l fou

r lo

catio

ns, f

ram

es s

elec

t and

hig

hlig

ht s

o as

"to

cons

truc

t an

argu

men

t abo

ut p

robl

ems

and

thei

r ca

usat

ion,

eva

luat

ion,

and/

or s

olut

ion"

(E

ntm

an, 1

993,

53)

.

As

Ent

man

put

it, t

o fr

ame

is to

sel

ect s

ome

aspe

cts

of a

per

ceiv

ed

real

ity a

nd m

ake

them

mor

e sa

lient

in a

com

mun

icat

ing

text

, in

such

a w

ay

as to

pro

mot

e a

part

icul

ar p

robl

em d

efin

ition

, cau

sal i

nter

pret

atio

n, m

oral

eval

uatio

n, a

nd o

r tr

eatm

ent r

ecom

men

datio

n (E

ntm

an, 1

993,

52)

.

Key

to th

e co

ncep

t of

fram

ing

is th

e tw

in e

lem

ents

of

sele

ctio

n an

d

salie

nce

base

d on

med

ia. P

rodu

cers

sel

ect t

he f

ram

e (o

ften

cal

led

the

angl

e,

them

e, p

ersp

ectiv

e, o

r sl

ant)

for

the

text

, and

then

attr

ibut

e of

the

subj

ect

with

in th

at f

ram

e be

com

e m

ore

salie

nt th

an o

bjec

ts o

utsi

de th

e fr

ame.

In

this

con

text

, thr

ee f

ram

ing

devi

ces

have

bee

n id

entif

ied

for

com

pari

son

betw

een

new

spap

er a

nd b

road

cast

ing

orga

niza

tion'

s co

nver

sion

res

ults

. The

68

thre

e el

emen

ts a

re p

ictu

re (

incl

udin

g ph

otog

raph

y an

d gr

aphi

cs),

new

s

cont

ribu

tors

, and

inte

ract

ivity

.

Whe

n di

ffer

ent n

ews

med

ia c

onve

rge

into

the

Inte

rnet

, the

y ha

ve a

sim

ilar

tech

nolo

gica

l con

text

that

is c

reat

ed b

y In

tern

et a

nd n

ew m

edia

calle

d te

chno

logi

cal c

onte

xt. T

he h

yper

text

or

text

con

vers

ion

into

the

Inte

rnet

is te

xt le

vel f

ram

ing.

The

refo

re, t

his

pape

r fo

cuse

s on

the

Inte

rnet

's

text

leve

l fra

min

g se

tting

. Thi

s pa

per

com

pare

s th

e te

xt f

ram

e's

sim

ilari

ty

and

diff

eren

ces

amon

g ne

wsp

aper

, TV

bro

adca

stin

g an

d In

tern

et o

nly

orga

niza

tion

new

s w

ebsi

tes.

Thi

s te

chno

logi

cal c

onte

xt p

rovi

des

a ne

w

fram

e to

new

s pr

esen

tatio

n on

web

site

s. T

here

fore

, thi

s pa

per

will

dete

rmin

e th

e fr

ame

shif

t tre

nds

from

trad

ition

al f

ram

e m

etho

ds to

new

fram

e st

yles

.

Pict

ures

The

Wor

ld W

ide

Web

has

an

adva

ntag

e ov

er p

rint

new

spap

ers

beca

use

it is

exc

elle

nt f

or d

ispl

ayin

g co

lorf

ul g

raph

ics.

Dur

ing

the

last

deca

de, t

he m

ost s

trik

ing

chan

ges

in A

mer

ican

mas

s m

edia

hav

e be

en a

n

incr

ease

d us

e of

gra

phic

s du

e to

dig

ital t

echn

olog

ies.

With

adv

ance

d

com

pute

r te

chno

logy

, ret

riev

ing

grap

hics

fro

m d

atab

ases

and

upd

atin

g th

em

as r

equi

red

in a

n In

tern

et n

ews

site

can

be

com

plet

ed in

min

utes

. The

tren

d

of in

crea

sing

new

s w

ebsi

te u

se o

f gr

aphi

cs c

an c

ontin

ue in

the

web

envi

ronm

ent.

Red

unda

ncy

in te

levi

sion

gra

phic

s al

low

s vi

ewer

s to

bet

ter

unde

rsta

nd a

sto

ry, a

ccor

ding

to a

n ex

peri

men

t by

Dre

w a

nd G

rim

es (

1987

).

Als

o on

e ex

peri

men

t fou

nd th

at h

igh-

grap

hic

web

site

s w

ere

cons

ider

ed

mor

e at

trac

tive

than

low

gra

phic

site

s (C

ham

berl

in, 1

998)

. An

expe

rim

ent

69

Con

verg

ence

of

the

Inte

rnet

6

reve

als

that

tabl

es a

nd g

raph

s ar

e m

ore

effi

cien

tly p

roce

ssed

than

text

pres

enta

tions

of

the

sam

e da

ta (

Kel

ly, 1

993)

.

Alth

ough

pic

ture

s ar

e ve

ry e

ffec

tive

in w

ebsi

tes,

hig

h gr

aphi

cs a

nd

phot

os r

educ

e In

tern

et s

peed

. Acc

ordi

ng to

Hoa

g (1

997)

, an

Inte

rnet

use

r's

firs

t pri

ority

is s

peed

and

inte

ract

ivity

. He

poin

ts o

ut s

ever

al r

easo

ns f

or th

e

grow

th in

usa

ge o

f w

eb n

ews:

onl

ine

new

s m

ade

it po

ssib

le f

or a

rea

der,

with

out l

eavi

ng th

eir

offi

ce, t

o ha

ve im

med

iate

acc

ess,

whi

ch is

con

stan

tly

upda

ting.

Int

erne

t jou

rnal

ism

's p

rior

ity is

sim

ple

jour

nalis

m. T

here

fore

,

Inte

rnet

new

s se

rves

bot

h th

e pu

blis

her

and

the

read

er to

a le

sser

ext

ent,

beca

use

read

er's

use

s an

d gr

atif

icat

ions

in a

cces

sing

thei

r ne

ws

dem

and

just

one

fram

e at

a ti

me.

An

Inte

rnet

des

igne

r m

ust b

alan

ce te

xt a

nd p

ictu

res

for

read

ers.

By

expl

orin

g ap

proa

ches

to w

eb p

age

grap

hic

use

and

phot

o

freq

uenc

y in

thre

e di

ffer

ent m

edia

, thi

s pa

per

exam

ines

how

new

spap

er a

nd

broa

dcas

ting

med

ia d

emon

stra

te th

e co

nver

genc

e fr

om tr

aditi

onal

med

ia

form

s to

a n

ew f

orm

.

New

s C

ontr

ibut

ors

Bot

h te

levi

sion

and

new

spap

ers

in th

e U

nite

d St

ates

bec

ame

prof

itabl

e in

the

1970

s w

hen

stat

ions

ado

pted

ele

ctro

nic

new

sgat

heri

ng

tech

nolo

gy a

nd c

omm

erci

al d

atab

ases

. The

dat

abas

e an

d w

ire

serv

ice

has

been

gro

win

g as

tech

nolo

gy c

ontin

ues

to a

dvan

ce.

The

re is

no

doub

t tha

t onl

ine

serv

ice

prov

ider

s an

d In

tern

et

data

base

s se

arch

mor

e qu

ickl

y an

d m

ore

prod

uctiv

ely

than

old

-fas

hion

ed

met

hods

. On-

line

reso

urce

s ha

ve b

een

amon

g th

e m

ost d

ynam

ic p

ortio

ns o

f

the

com

pute

r in

dust

ry in

this

dec

ade.

The

refo

re, n

ews

on th

e In

tern

et c

omes

70

form

var

ious

con

trib

utor

s su

ch a

s ne

ws

orga

niza

tion

wri

ter,

wir

e

serv

ice(

AP,

UPI

, AFP

, and

Reu

ters

), a

nd s

peci

al w

rite

rs.

Acc

ordi

ng to

Tuc

hman

(So

losk

i 198

9), n

ews

not o

nly

refl

ects

real

ity, i

t act

ually

hel

ps to

cre

ate

it. N

ews

is d

iale

ctic

al in

that

it d

raw

s on

pres

ent c

once

ptua

lizat

ions

of

real

ity a

nd h

elps

to a

lter

our

perc

eptio

n of

it.

Thu

s, h

ow n

ew o

rgan

izat

ions

gat

her

new

s an

d ty

pes

of s

ourc

es th

ey u

se a

re

impo

rtan

t to

stud

y be

caus

e th

ey d

eter

min

e no

t onl

y w

hat i

nfor

mat

ion

is

pres

ente

d to

the

publ

ic, b

ut a

lso

wha

t im

age

of s

ocie

ty is

pre

sent

ed. T

he

mor

e re

sour

ces

avai

labl

e fo

r ne

ws

cove

rage

, the

nar

row

er th

e ho

les

are

in

the

new

s ne

t, an

d th

us m

ore

even

ts w

ill b

e ca

ptur

ed f

or p

rese

ntat

ion

as

new

s.

Inte

ract

ivity

The

Int

erne

t's m

ost d

istin

ctiv

e fe

atur

e is

inte

ract

ivity

. Int

erac

tivity

is th

at u

ser's

clic

king

inte

nded

act

ion

with

one

's d

ecid

ing

wha

t inf

orm

atio

n

with

out c

licki

ng m

ouse

or

typi

ng k

eybo

ard.

Thi

s in

tera

ctiv

ity in

the

Inte

rnet

is b

ased

on

its 'g

ram

mar

' of

hype

rtex

t pre

sent

atio

n. T

he h

yper

text

-bas

ed

stem

can

be

cons

ider

ed a

s on

e of

str

uctu

ral c

hara

cter

istic

s of

the

Web

.

The

not

ion

of h

yper

text

den

otes

an

info

rmat

ion

med

ium

that

link

s

verb

al a

nd n

onve

rbal

info

rmat

ion

(Lan

dow

, 199

9). A

cces

sing

hyp

erte

xt

info

rmat

ion

invo

lves

poi

ntin

g an

d cl

icki

ng o

n th

e hy

pert

ext l

inks

that

appe

ar o

n m

ost w

eb s

ites.

The

hyp

erte

xts

have

link

s th

at e

nabl

e us

er to

choo

se th

e co

nten

ts o

r in

form

atio

n. W

eb u

sers

sho

uld

choo

se in

form

atio

n

they

nee

d by

clic

king

thos

e hy

pert

ext l

inks

. The

refo

re, i

nter

activ

ity d

oes

not

sim

ply

mea

n cl

icki

ng th

e m

ouse

, but

mea

ns s

endi

ng a

nd r

etri

evin

g sp

ecif

ic

info

rmat

ion

thro

ugh

inte

ract

ive

proc

esse

s on

mul

tiple

pat

hway

s. T

he

71

Con

verg

ence

of

the

Inte

rnet

7

capa

bilit

y of

hav

ing

vari

ous

links

in h

yper

text

als

o, a

llow

s a

user

to

cons

truc

t a p

roce

ss to

get

info

rmat

ion

rega

rdle

ss o

f tim

e an

d lo

catio

n.

Inte

ract

ivity

is a

new

for

m o

f ne

ws

or te

xt p

rese

ntat

ion

in n

ew

med

ia. R

oger

s (1

986)

not

ed th

at th

e m

ost e

ssen

tial c

apac

ity o

f el

ectr

onic

med

ia is

that

of

inte

ract

ivity

. Int

erac

tivity

has

bee

n as

sum

ed to

be

a na

tura

l

attr

ibut

e of

inte

rper

sona

l com

mun

icat

ion.

The

con

cept

is m

ore

rece

ntly

appl

ied

to a

ll ne

w m

edia

, fro

m tw

o-w

ay c

able

to th

e In

tern

et. R

afae

li's

defi

nitio

n (1

988)

of

inte

ract

ivity

rec

ogni

zes

thre

e pe

rtin

ent l

evel

s: tw

o-w

ay

(non

inte

ract

ive)

com

mun

icat

ion,

rea

ctiv

e (o

r qu

asi-

inte

ract

ive)

com

mun

icat

ion,

and

ful

ly in

tera

ctiv

e co

mm

unic

atio

n.

Ope

ratio

nal D

efin

ition

s

Inte

rnet

con

tent

has

man

y di

men

sion

s an

d va

riou

s us

es a

nd

grat

ific

atio

ns, b

ut to

com

pare

dif

fere

nt n

ews

pres

enta

tions

and

fra

min

g

styl

es, t

his

pape

r fo

cuse

s on

gra

phic

or

pict

oria

l use

fre

quen

cy, i

nter

activ

ity,

and

fron

t-pa

ge n

ews

pres

enta

tion

met

hods

. To

mak

e a

com

pari

son

betw

een

med

ia, t

his

pape

r op

erat

iona

lizes

thes

e te

rms:

pic

ture

, new

s co

ntri

buto

r, a

nd

inte

ract

ivity

.

A p

ictu

re: a

pic

ture

is d

efin

ed a

s a

repr

esen

tatio

n of

som

ethi

ng

incl

udin

g ph

otog

raph

y an

d gr

aphi

cal p

rese

ntat

ion.

The

tota

l num

ber

and

the

size

will

be

coun

ted.

Als

o, th

e in

tera

ctiv

e lo

catio

n w

ill b

e re

cord

ed,

spec

ific

ally

, whe

ther

the

pict

ure

is o

n th

e fr

ont p

age,

at a

sec

ond

inte

ract

ive

loca

tion,

or

on a

sep

arat

e in

tera

ctiv

e le

vel.

The

re a

re tw

o ca

tego

ries

in p

ictu

res:

pho

tos

and

pict

oria

l gra

phs.

Som

etim

es b

oth

cate

gori

es a

re u

sed

in th

e sa

me

pict

ure

or th

e tw

o

cate

gori

es a

re b

lurr

ing,

but

this

pap

er m

akes

a c

lear

dis

tinct

ion

betw

een

72

phot

ogra

phy

and

grap

hics

. A p

hoto

s is

def

ined

as

a re

pres

enta

tion

of s

ome

even

t by

phot

ogra

phs.

A g

raph

is d

efin

ed a

s vi

sual

pre

sent

atio

n of

dat

a,

map

s, o

bjec

ts, d

iagr

ams

etc.

Thi

s st

udy

coun

ts th

e am

ount

of

the

num

ber

base

d on

the

pict

ure'

s

loca

tion

eith

er f

ront

-pag

e or

link

ed p

age

and

size

eith

er la

rge,

med

ium

, or

smal

l. T

he s

ize

of p

hoto

s an

d gr

aphs

on

the

Web

wer

e pr

efix

ed in

pix

els.

The

refo

re, t

he s

ize

of p

hoto

s an

d gr

aphs

rem

ains

rel

ativ

ely

fixe

d no

mat

ter

how

larg

e th

e co

mpu

ter

scre

en is

. To

deci

de th

e si

ze o

f th

e ph

otos

and

grap

hs, t

he g

raph

s an

d ph

otos

are

mea

sure

d in

inch

es b

y th

eir

size

as

they

appe

ar o

n a

14-i

nch

com

pute

r sc

reen

. The

gra

phic

s w

ere

divi

ded

into

thre

e

cate

gori

es: l

arge

, med

ium

, and

sm

all.

The

ran

ge o

f pi

ctur

e si

zes

is

dete

rmin

ed b

y fi

rst m

easu

re th

e ar

ea o

f ea

ch p

ictu

re a

nd g

raph

and

then

divi

ding

by

scre

en a

rea.

Whe

n th

e ra

tio is

abo

ve 6

5% th

e pi

ctur

e is

cons

ider

ed la

rge;

bet

wee

n 35

-65%

med

ium

, and

bel

ow 3

5% s

mal

l.

Nor

mal

ly, t

he s

quar

e si

zes

of e

ach

cate

gory

are

sta

ndar

d to

the

ratio

clo

sest

to 4

:3, t

here

fore

, lar

ge is

gre

ater

than

4'x

3.3'

; med

ium

less

than

4'x

3.3'

and

gre

ater

than

2'x

l' (o

ne m

ediu

m e

xam

ple

is 3

.5'x

2.5'

);

smal

l 2'x

l' or

sm

alle

r.

Loc

atio

n is

def

ined

as

a ho

mep

age,

a f

ront

pag

e, o

r a

linke

d pa

ge:

1.A

hom

e pa

ge is

def

ined

as

a ne

wsp

aper

's in

itial

or

open

ing

scre

en o

n th

e

web

. It g

ener

ally

con

tain

s on

ly h

yper

text

link

s fo

r ac

cess

ing

info

rmat

ion

publ

ishe

d w

ithin

a n

ewsp

aper

's s

ite o

r on

an

exte

rnal

, or

off-

site

loca

le o

n

the

web

.

73

Con

verg

ence

of

the

Inte

rnet

8

2.A

fro

nt p

age

is d

efin

ed th

e sa

me

as th

e ne

wsp

aper

's f

ront

pag

e. T

he "

fron

t

page

can

be

acce

ssed

thro

ugh

the

hom

e pa

ge o

r ca

n its

elf

serv

e as

the

new

spap

er's

initi

al w

eb s

cree

n, a

nd c

an b

e re

cogn

ized

by

its s

imila

rity

in

appe

aran

ce to

a p

rint

new

spap

er f

ront

pag

e."

3.A

link

pag

e fo

llow

s ei

ther

a f

ront

-pag

e or

hom

epag

e to

con

nect

the

stor

y or

fini

sh th

e hy

pert

ext,

whi

ch is

link

ed to

hom

e or

fro

nt p

ages

.

With

in th

ose

site

s' p

hoto

s or

gra

phic

s, th

e pi

ctur

es m

ight

be

rela

ted

to th

e ne

ws

stor

y an

d m

ay p

rese

nt th

e pi

ctur

e its

elf.

The

refo

re y

ou

deci

de w

heth

er th

e pi

ctur

e is

rel

ated

to th

e ne

ws

stor

y or

to th

e pi

ctur

e

itsel

f.

New

s co

ntri

buto

rs: n

ews

cont

ribu

tors

con

sist

of

four

dif

fere

nt

type

s. T

he f

irst

is n

ewsp

aper

or

web

page

org

aniz

atio

n's

staf

f of

rep

orte

rs,

the

othe

r is

the

trad

ition

al w

ire

serv

ices

(A

P, U

PI, A

FP, a

nd R

eute

rs)

or

othe

r ne

ws

prov

ider

, and

the

thir

d is

an

acad

emic

or

med

ical

fie

ld's

stu

dies

as c

ontr

ibut

ing

the

new

s so

urce

s ca

lled

spec

ial c

ontr

ibut

ors.

The

fou

rth

cate

gory

con

sist

s of

con

trib

utor

or

new

s so

urce

s th

at c

anno

t be

iden

tifie

d

such

as

unid

entif

ied

audi

ence

s or

opi

nion

wri

ters

.

The

web

site

s ha

ve s

port

s si

tes,

bus

ines

s si

tes,

wea

ther

site

s, f

ood

site

s,

etc.

But

this

res

earc

h fo

cuse

s on

the

daily

fro

nt-p

age

new

s ite

m c

once

pt.

The

refo

re, t

his

anal

ysis

exc

lude

d m

eta-

linke

d ne

ws

or r

elat

ed li

nked

new

s

stor

ies.

The

fro

nt n

ews

item

s w

ere

clas

sifi

ed a

s 1)

eve

ryda

y up

date

s 2)

cove

r ne

ws

stor

ies

3) f

ront

-pag

e co

ncep

t. If

ther

e is

dif

ficu

lty in

def

inin

g in

Inte

rnet

org

aniz

atio

n w

eb s

ite, t

his

stud

y ad

ds o

ne c

ateg

ory

as "

top

new

s."

74

Thi

s st

udy

firs

t def

ined

the

tota

l num

ber

of n

ews

stor

ies

on th

e fr

ont

page

. The

n th

is r

esea

rch

anal

yzed

who

the

wri

ters

wer

e. T

he c

ateg

orie

s ar

e

follo

w 1

) St

aff

wri

ters

. The

sta

ff w

rite

r is

def

ined

as

thos

e w

ho a

re r

epor

ters

or w

rite

rs in

the

sam

e m

edia

org

aniz

atio

n. F

or e

xam

ple,

The

New

Yor

k

Tim

es' r

epor

ters

or

edito

rs b

ut n

ot o

ther

new

s co

mpa

nies

' wri

ters

. 2)

Wir

e

serv

ices

or

othe

r ne

ws

agen

cy: T

his

incl

uded

new

s ag

enci

es s

uch

as A

P,

UPI

, AFP

, Reu

ters

, or

othe

r ne

ws

com

pani

es. 3

) Sp

ecia

l con

trib

utor

s w

ho

are

not n

ews

orga

niza

tion

wri

ters

, suc

h as

pro

fess

ors

or m

edic

al d

octo

rs,

and

4) I

ndec

iphe

rabl

e: T

his

stud

y de

term

ined

that

if n

o na

me

is a

ssig

ned

to

the

repo

rter

or

wri

ter,

it is

inde

ciph

erab

le.

Inte

ract

ivity

: Usi

ng th

e te

chni

cal i

nter

activ

ity d

efin

ition

, the

pap

er

clas

sifi

es s

ix-d

imen

sion

leve

ls (

Hee

ter,

198

9, 2

21).

It a

llow

s tw

o w

ay

asso

ciat

ion

betw

een

user

s an

d in

form

atio

n: T

he d

egre

es a

re s

ix le

vels

fro

m

Dim

ensi

on 1

: com

plex

of

choi

ces

avai

labl

e, to

Dim

ensi

on 8

: fac

ilita

tion

of

inte

rper

sona

l com

mun

icat

ion.

The

inte

ract

ivity

cod

ing

mea

sure

s ho

w m

any

read

ers

can

activ

ely

sear

ch o

r re

spon

d to

the

new

s co

mpa

ny o

r ne

ws

stor

y. T

hat i

s, it

s pu

rpos

e is

to m

easu

re th

e re

ader

's p

artic

ipat

ion

of o

ppor

tuni

ty o

r in

put a

nd th

e

elab

orat

ion

proc

ess.

New

s w

eb s

ites

are

offe

ring

a n

umbe

r of

inte

ract

ivity

and

qua

si-

inte

ract

ivity

fea

ture

s. I

n th

is s

tudy

, the

ent

ire

fron

t pag

e's

Inte

rnet

site

was

the

unit

of o

bser

vatio

n fo

r th

e in

tera

ctiv

ity. T

he in

tera

ctiv

ity c

odin

g

mea

sure

s ho

w m

any

read

ers

can

activ

ely

sear

ch o

r re

spon

d to

the

new

s

com

pany

or

new

s st

ory.

Tha

t is,

its

purp

ose

is to

mea

sure

the

read

er's

part

icip

atio

n of

opp

ortu

nity

or

inpu

t and

the

elab

orat

ion

proc

ess.

Thi

s st

udy

75

Con

verg

ence

of

the

Inte

rnet

9

code

d fo

r 1)

ava

ilabi

lity

for

disc

ussi

on f

orum

s of

feri

ng. 2

) A

rchi

ve

sear

chin

g al

low

s us

ers

to e

nter

key

wor

ds a

nd f

ind

stor

ies

that

con

tain

them

.

3) A

use

r po

ll al

low

s us

ers

to v

ote

on a

topi

c an

d se

e th

e up

date

d ta

bula

tion.

4) A

n in

tera

ctiv

e he

lp o

r FA

Q (

freq

uent

ask

ed q

uest

ions

) se

ctio

n al

low

s

user

s to

sel

ect t

opic

s an

d re

ceiv

e an

swer

s ab

out t

he u

sing

the

web

site

. 5)

The

ava

ilabi

lity

of e

-mai

l to

the

orga

niza

tion.

6)

E-m

ail t

o in

divi

dual

auth

or. 7

) A

pub

lishe

d se

ctio

n fo

r ne

wsr

eade

rs' c

omm

ents

or

read

er's

opin

ion.

8)

New

s ite

ms

with

icon

s fo

r re

al a

udio

, vid

eo o

r sl

ide,

that

is,

visu

al e

labo

ratio

n of

the

text

.

Res

earc

h Q

uest

ions

The

goa

l of

this

stu

dy is

to c

ompa

re w

ebsi

tes'

dim

ensi

ons

with

thre

e di

ffer

ent n

ews

med

ia's

web

site

s, n

amel

y, n

ewsp

aper

, bro

adca

st, a

nd

Inte

rnet

org

aniz

atio

ns.

RQ

1: E

ach

orga

niza

tion

has

diff

eren

t siz

ed g

raph

ics

and

diff

eren

t

freq

uenc

ies

of g

raph

ic o

r pi

ctor

ial u

se. T

his

RQ

1 w

ill c

ompa

re th

e

freq

uenc

y of

gra

phic

and

pic

tori

al u

sage

. Are

ther

e di

ffer

ent n

umbe

rs a

nd

leve

ls f

rom

dif

fere

nt m

edia

? T

o w

hat e

xten

t do

the

new

s w

ebsi

tes

of

new

spap

er a

nd b

road

cast

ing

new

s or

gani

zatio

ns d

iffe

r in

the

num

ber

and

size

of

pict

ure

usag

e?

RQ

2: T

here

may

be

diff

eren

t lev

els

of n

ews

wri

ting.

The

new

spap

er

web

site

s's

new

s m

ight

be

wri

tten

mai

nly

by r

epor

ters

or

staf

f an

d ou

tsid

e

wir

e se

rvic

es. I

nter

net o

rgan

izat

ion

web

site

new

s co

mes

fro

m n

ews

agen

cies

or

outs

ide

new

s co

ntri

buto

rs. H

ow m

uch

new

s co

mes

fro

m s

taff

76

repo

rter

s on

new

spap

er a

nd T

V w

ebsi

tes?

Lik

ewis

e, h

ow m

uch

new

s co

mes

from

out

side

new

s se

rvic

es?

RQ

2-1:

How

man

y st

orie

s ar

e on

the

fron

t pag

es o

f th

e ne

wsp

aper

,

broa

dcas

ting,

and

the

Inte

rnet

org

aniz

atio

ns w

ebsi

tes?

RQ

2-2.

Wha

t por

tion

of n

ews

com

es f

rom

sta

ff, w

ire

serv

ices

,

spec

ial c

ontr

ibut

or, a

nd h

ave

no in

dica

tion

for

each

thre

e di

ffer

ent

med

ia ?

RQ

3: W

hat a

re th

e le

vels

of

inte

ract

ivity

am

ong

diff

eren

t med

ia

orga

niza

tions

? T

o m

easu

re n

arra

tive

styl

es, t

he r

esea

rch

ques

tion

test

s th

e

web

site

s' te

xtua

l con

stru

ctio

n m

etho

ds. W

hat a

re th

e di

ffer

ence

s in

the

num

ber

and

type

of

inte

ract

ive

feat

ures

pro

vide

d by

new

spap

er, T

V

broa

dcas

ting,

and

Int

erne

t onl

y or

gani

zatio

n w

ebsi

tes?

As

was

com

mon

with

the

earl

ier

rese

arch

in th

e In

tern

et p

arad

igm

the

typo

logi

es d

o no

t mat

ch o

n a

one-

to-o

ne b

asis

bet

wee

n th

e tw

o st

udie

s.

Thi

s is

to b

e ex

pect

ed s

ince

the

rese

arch

is s

till i

n its

infa

ncy

and

rese

arch

ers

are

boun

d to

con

cent

rate

on

diff

eren

t thi

ngs.

All

the

stud

ies

abou

t the

Int

erne

t con

tent

ana

lysi

s ar

e st

ill te

ntat

ive

beca

use

the

stan

dard

of

anal

ysis

and

the

unit

of a

naly

sis

have

not

yet

bee

n ac

adem

ical

ly e

stab

lishe

d,

and

Inte

rnet

res

earc

h is

new

and

rec

ent.

The

refo

re, t

here

hav

e no

t bee

n

enou

gh s

tudi

es to

set

this

res

earc

h hy

poth

eses

. Thu

s, th

is s

tudy

cou

ld n

ot

pred

ict t

he c

onte

nt d

iffe

renc

es a

nd s

imila

ritie

s fo

r th

e In

tern

et.

77

Con

verg

ence

of

the

Inte

rnet

10

Met

hodo

logy

:

Thi

s re

sear

ch w

ill c

ondu

ct a

con

tent

ana

lysi

s of

sel

ecte

d w

ebsi

tes.

To

stud

y th

e re

sear

ch q

uest

ions

, thi

s re

sear

ch f

ocus

es o

n th

e fr

ont p

age

and

its li

nked

new

s st

orie

s. I

n ot

her

wor

ds, m

ost n

ews

is c

lass

ifie

d by

new

s

type

, but

this

res

earc

h fo

cuse

s on

fro

nt p

age

rela

ted

stor

ies.

The

fro

nt p

ages

are

actu

ally

the

hom

epag

es in

new

s w

ebsi

tes.

The

mos

t com

mon

tren

din

new

s or

gani

zatio

n w

ebsi

tes

is f

ront

-pag

e ne

ws

site

s ap

pear

ing

on h

ome

page

s. T

hat m

eans

fro

nt-p

ages

bec

ome

hom

epag

es. N

ewsr

eade

rs a

re n

ot

inte

rest

ed in

the

new

s or

gani

zatio

n's

goal

s or

phi

loso

phy.

The

y w

ant t

o re

ad

new

s an

d ga

in k

now

ledg

e or

info

rmat

ion.

The

refo

re, m

ost n

ews

web

site

s'

firs

t hav

e pa

ges

shif

ted

from

hom

e pa

ge to

fro

nt p

age.

The

con

tent

ana

lysi

s is

dra

wn

from

the

web

site

s of

thre

e na

tiona

l

new

spap

ers,

thre

e br

oadc

astin

g w

ebsi

tes,

and

thre

e In

tern

et o

nly

new

s

web

site

s. I

n th

e In

tern

et n

ews

web

site

s, th

ere

are

spor

t site

s, w

eath

er s

ites,

spec

ial c

omm

erce

site

s, a

nd s

peci

al to

pic

new

s si

tes.

How

ever

, thi

s re

sear

ch

is in

tere

sted

in jo

urna

listic

new

s w

eb s

ites

and

natio

nal n

ews

web

site

s.

The

refo

re, t

he p

opul

atio

n of

this

res

earc

h is

U.S

bas

ed jo

urna

listic

new

s

web

site

s am

ong

prin

t, te

levi

sion

bro

adca

stin

g, a

nd I

nter

net o

rgan

ized

web

site

s.

Thi

s st

udy

rest

rict

s to

nat

iona

l new

s or

gani

zatio

ns: t

hree

new

spap

ers,

TV

bro

adca

stin

gs a

nd I

nter

net o

nly

new

s or

gani

zatio

ns. T

his

stud

y el

imin

ates

all

loca

l new

spap

ers

and

TV

bro

adca

stin

g si

tes.

78

The

Int

erne

t sam

ples

are

:

Prin

tB

road

cast

ing

Inte

rnet

Los

Ang

eles

Tim

es

New

Yor

k T

imes

Was

h in

gton

Post

CN

N

CB

S

AB

C

Dru

dge

Rep

ort

Wor

ld N

et D

aily

New

s M

ax

Uni

vers

e:

Thi

s st

udy

com

pare

d th

e te

xt, p

ictu

re, a

nd in

tera

ctiv

ity w

ith

new

spap

er, T

V b

road

cast

ing,

and

Int

erne

t org

aniz

atio

ns. T

hus,

this

stu

dy's

univ

erse

is li

mite

d to

the

U.S

. jou

rnal

ism

web

site

s th

at c

over

nat

iona

l lev

el.

The

refo

re, t

his

stud

y el

imin

ates

all

loca

l TV

bro

adca

stin

g an

d ne

wsp

aper

web

site

s. A

s th

e re

sult,

this

stu

dy's

con

tent

uni

vers

e is

lim

ited

U.S

. new

s

web

site

s th

at c

onta

in o

rigi

nal m

ater

ial o

n ge

nera

l new

s to

pics

, upd

ated

dai

ly

base

s. T

he n

ine

site

s ar

e L

os A

ngel

es T

imes

, New

Yor

k T

imes

, Was

hing

ton

Post

, "C

NN

", "

CB

S", "

AB

C",

Dru

dge

Rep

ort,

Wor

ld N

et D

aily

, and

New

s M

ax. Sa

mpl

e da

ys:

Thi

s re

sear

ch e

xam

ine

for

15 d

ays

(3/1

2-4/

25/2

000)

, fro

nt p

ages

,

hom

e pa

ges,

and

new

s st

ory

page

s of

eac

h of

the

thre

e di

ffer

ent m

edia

web

site

s.

Cod

ing

units

:

The

uni

t of

anal

ysis

is a

fro

nt-p

age

or a

hom

e pa

ge c

ompo

nent

and

its li

nked

new

s si

tes:

pho

togr

aph

and

grap

hics

, int

erac

tivity

, and

new

s st

ory

cont

ribu

tor.

The

ope

ratio

nal d

efin

ition

in th

is r

esea

rch

for

hom

e pa

ge a

nd

fron

t pag

es is

use

d. T

he "

hom

e pa

ge is

a n

ewsp

aper

's in

itial

, or

open

ing

79

Con

verg

ence

of

the

Inte

rnet

11

scre

en o

n th

e w

eb. I

t gen

eral

ly c

onta

ins

only

hyp

erte

xt li

nks

for

acce

ssin

g

info

rmat

ion

publ

ishe

d w

ithin

a n

ewsp

aper

's s

ite o

r on

an

exte

rnal

, or

off-

site

loca

le o

n th

e w

eb, w

here

as th

e "f

ront

pag

e ca

n be

acc

esse

d th

roug

h th

e

hom

e pa

ge o

r ca

n its

elf

serv

e as

the

new

spap

er's

initi

al w

eb s

cree

n, a

nd c

an

be r

ecog

nize

d by

its

sim

ilari

ty in

app

eara

nce

to a

pri

nt n

ewsp

aper

fro

nt

page

" (M

asse

y, 1

999,

139

).

Cod

ing

Proc

edur

es:

The

res

earc

her

will

inst

ruct

the

code

rs o

n th

e pr

oced

ure

for

codi

ng.

Thr

ee g

radu

ate

stud

ents

and

one

und

ergr

adua

te s

tude

nts

in th

e D

epar

tmen

t

of J

ourn

alis

m a

t SIU

C w

ill c

ode

the

sam

pled

web

site

s. E

ach

code

r w

ill c

ode

thre

e di

ffer

ent m

edia

web

site

s. T

hat m

eans

eac

h co

der

will

cod

e on

e pr

int,

one

broa

dcas

ting,

and

one

Int

erne

t org

aniz

atio

n w

ebsi

te.

Dat

a Pr

oces

sing

The

dat

a in

the

codi

ng s

heet

are

inpu

t sta

tistic

s da

ta s

prea

d sh

eets

.

The

n, th

e st

atis

tical

ana

lysi

s w

as c

ondu

cted

usi

ng s

tatis

tic s

oftw

are

pack

age.

The

inde

pend

ent v

aria

bles

are

tota

l num

bers

of

pict

ure

(pho

tos

and

grap

hics

), n

umbe

r of

pic

ture

siz

e, lo

catio

n, n

ews

cont

ribu

tor

clas

sifi

catio

ns (

staf

f w

rite

r, w

ire

serv

ices

, spe

cial

con

trib

utor

s an

d

inde

ciph

erab

le),

and

inte

ract

ivity

num

bers

. To

test

the

rese

arch

que

stio

n #1

,

2, a

nd 3

, t-t

est,

Chi

-squ

are

(x2

), A

NO

VA

, and

Pea

rson

cor

rela

tion

coef

fici

ents

(r)

wer

e co

mpu

ted

usin

g SA

S/U

NIX

and

JM

PIN

3.2

6/M

AC

.

Rel

iabi

lity:

An

inte

rcod

er r

elia

bilit

y w

as c

heck

ed in

one

-day

pilo

t-te

st s

essi

on.

The

for

mul

a us

ed is

Sco

tt's

pi (

pi=

prop

rtio

n ob

serv

ed a

gree

men

t-pr

opor

tion

expe

cted

agr

eem

ent/1

- pr

opor

tion

expe

cted

agr

eem

ent)

, whi

ch c

ompe

nsat

es

80

for

the

rate

s of

agr

eem

ent t

hat w

ould

be

expe

cted

by

chan

ce (

Wim

mer

,

1991

,173

). E

ach

stud

ent c

oded

thre

e w

ebsi

tes

and

com

pare

d th

e co

ders

'

agre

emen

t for

eac

h un

it of

ana

lysi

s: p

ictu

re, n

ews

cont

ribu

tors

, and

inte

ract

ivity

. The

inte

rcod

er r

elia

bilit

y in

pho

togr

aphy

was

90.

2%, n

ews

cont

ribu

tor

was

87.

3%, a

nd in

tera

ctiv

ity w

as 9

7.2%

.

Res

ults

Thi

s st

udy

mea

sure

d th

e th

ree

diff

eren

t new

s or

gani

zatio

n's

fram

e

diff

eren

ces

and

sim

ilari

ties

for

Inte

rnet

new

s w

ebsi

tes,

whi

ch a

re c

onve

rged

from

bot

h co

mpu

ter

and

tele

com

mun

icat

ions

. The

mai

n re

sear

ch

com

pari

son

is b

etw

een

new

spap

er a

nd T

V b

road

cast

ing.

The

Int

erne

t onl

y

new

s si

tes

are

only

com

pare

d to

oth

er m

edia

in te

rms

of o

vera

ll di

ffer

ence

s

for

the

next

res

earc

h pu

rpos

e.

Ove

rall,

due

to te

leco

mm

unic

atio

n co

nver

sion

into

the

Inte

rnet

,

new

spap

ers

and

TV

bro

adca

stin

gs c

onve

y ne

ws

thro

ugh

a bl

end

of w

ritte

n

wor

ds, p

hoto

grap

hy, g

raph

ics,

and

inte

ract

ivity

on

the

web

. The

se h

ave

diff

eren

t new

s pr

esen

tatio

n st

yles

and

fra

me

met

hods

fro

m th

eir

orig

inal

med

ia o

rgan

izat

ions

. The

refo

re, t

his

rese

arch

's m

ain

purp

ose

is to

dete

rmin

e w

hen

diff

eren

t med

ia p

rese

nt n

ews

on th

e In

tern

et, w

hat k

ind

of

fram

e si

mila

rity

and

dif

fere

nces

will

hap

pen.

Thi

s re

sear

ch f

ound

out

that

TV

web

site

s ha

ve a

hig

h pe

rcen

tage

of to

tal p

ictu

re u

sage

, new

spap

ers

site

s ha

ve a

hig

h nu

mbe

r of

tota

l new

s

stor

ies

as w

ell a

s a

high

inte

ract

ivity

sco

re (

Tab

le 9

). O

n th

e ot

her

hand

,

Inte

rnet

onl

y ne

ws

web

site

s ha

ve a

hig

h po

rtio

n of

wir

e se

rvic

e or

oth

er

med

ia n

ews

cont

ribu

tion.

81

Con

verg

ence

of

the

Inte

rnet

12

The

refo

re, t

his

pape

r ca

n sa

y th

at T

V b

road

cast

ing

has

high

pict

oria

l con

tent

, new

spap

ers

have

man

y ne

ws

item

s an

d st

aff

wri

ters

.

Inte

rnet

onl

y ne

ws

site

s ha

ve h

ighl

y re

late

d ou

tsid

e ne

ws

cont

ribu

tion.

Des

crip

tive

stat

istic

s: O

f th

e 9

diff

eren

t new

s w

ebsi

tes,

a to

tal 2

7

web

site

s w

ere

anal

yzed

. Tab

le 9

sho

ws

the

new

s fr

eque

ncy,

tota

l pic

ture

,

and

inte

ract

ivity

of

the

Inte

rnet

new

s si

tes.

Ave

rage

new

s ite

ms

per

day

in

new

spap

er s

ites

is 8

6.33

, for

TV

site

s 58

.44,

and

for

Int

erne

t site

s 39

.33

(Tab

le 4

). N

ewsp

aper

web

site

s ha

ve tw

ice

as m

any

new

s ite

ms

than

Int

erne

t

only

org

aniz

atio

ns. T

his

rese

arch

foc

used

on

fron

t-pa

ges

and

thei

r lin

ked

new

s ite

ms.

Thi

s m

ight

be

caus

ed b

y th

e la

rge

diff

eren

ces

betw

een

thos

e

med

ia a

s w

ell a

s ne

wsp

aper

hav

ing

mor

e sy

stem

atic

new

sgat

heri

ng

prac

tices

. Als

o, w

hile

in th

e ea

rly

codi

ng p

erio

d, th

e re

sear

ch f

ound

that

Inte

rnet

new

s si

tes

have

str

ong

hype

rlin

k po

wer

to o

ther

site

s an

d cr

eate

a

met

asite

fra

me.

Thu

s, th

ere

is a

big

dif

fere

nce

in to

tal n

umbe

r of

sto

ries

. The

diff

eren

ces

in n

umbe

r of

new

s st

orie

s be

twee

n ne

wsp

aper

s an

d T

V s

ites

is

rela

tivel

y hi

gh.

Pict

ure

Fram

e

The

ana

lysi

s of

pic

ture

usa

ge d

ata

reve

als

that

dif

fere

nt m

edia

hav

e

diff

eren

t lev

els

of p

icto

rial

usa

ge. O

vera

ll, th

e A

NO

VA

sco

re is

84.

37 (

a=.

001,

P>

F) (

Tab

le 1

). T

hat m

eans

, the

re a

re a

sig

nifi

cant

mea

n di

ffer

ence

s

com

pare

d th

ose

with

thre

e di

ffer

ent m

edia

: new

spap

er, T

V b

road

cast

ing,

and

Inte

rnet

onl

y ne

ws

web

site

s. T

V s

ites

use

pict

ures

mor

e fr

eque

ntly

than

new

spap

er s

ites.

CN

N h

as a

hig

h le

vel o

f pi

ctur

e us

age,

bot

h in

term

s of

phot

os a

nd g

raph

ics

(pic

ture

s= 7

9.3,

pho

tos=

58.0

0, a

nd g

raph

ics=

21.3

3).

82

All

thre

e T

V b

road

cast

ing

new

s si

tes

have

hig

her

num

ber

of p

ictu

re u

sage

then

new

spap

er s

ites

have

.

App

endi

x's

Tab

le 3

sho

ws

each

new

s si

te's

dai

ly a

vera

ge p

ictu

re

num

bers

. TV

bro

adca

stin

g si

tes

have

rel

ativ

ely

high

er n

umbe

rs (

CN

N=

79.3

,

AB

C =

64,6

7 C

BS

62.6

7) th

an n

ewsp

aper

s (N

ew Y

ork

Tim

es=

49.6

7, L

os

Ang

eles

Tim

es=

41.3

3, a

nd W

ashi

ngto

n Po

st=

37.6

7). T

he I

nter

net o

nly

web

site

s ha

ve th

e lo

wes

t sco

re (

Dru

dge=

18.0

0, W

orld

Net

19.

00, a

nd

New

s M

ax=

13.0

0).

Com

pare

d to

tota

l num

ber

of n

ews

stor

y, to

tal p

ictu

re n

umbe

rs a

re

grea

ter

than

tota

l new

s ite

ms.

The

rea

son

is th

at s

ome

new

s st

orie

s in

TV

broa

dcas

tings

hav

e m

ore

than

one

pic

ture

or

grap

hic

in a

new

s st

ory

to

supp

ort n

ews

text

; the

refo

re, t

otal

num

ber

of p

ictu

res

per

day

(68.

89)

in

Tab

le 1

out

num

bere

d to

tal n

ews

stor

ies

(58.

44)

in T

V s

ites

(Tab

le4)

.

Ove

rall,

in p

ictu

re u

sage

, the

ave

rage

num

ber

of to

tal p

ictu

re

(Tab

le 1

) on

Int

erne

t site

s is

16.

89, n

ewsp

aper

s 42

.89,

and

TV

site

s 68

.89.

On

the

othe

r ha

nd, n

ewsp

aper

site

s us

ed m

ore

smal

l siz

e ph

otos

than

larg

e

phot

os (

Tab

le 2

), w

here

as T

V s

ites

used

the

sam

e nu

mbe

r of

mid

dle

size

phot

os (

19.5

5). T

his

is c

orre

late

d be

twee

n th

e to

tal n

ews

stor

ies

and

the

num

ber

of m

iddl

e or

larg

e si

ze p

hoto

s. T

hat m

eans

, new

spap

er s

ites

have

mor

e ne

ws

item

s th

an T

V s

ites.

Thu

s, in

ord

er to

incr

ease

tota

l new

s ite

ms,

new

spap

er s

ites

use

smal

l siz

e ph

otos

. On

the

othe

r ha

nd, I

nter

net o

nly

web

site

s us

e m

ore

med

ium

siz

e (9

.22)

than

sm

all s

ize

phot

os, b

ut th

e

num

ber

of la

rge

size

pho

tos

is a

ver

y sm

all p

ortio

n (0

.55)

(T

able

2).

New

s C

ontr

ibut

ors

83

Con

verg

ence

of

the

Inte

rnet

13

The

re a

re f

our

web

site

new

s co

ntri

buto

rs: s

taff

wri

ters

, wir

e

serv

ice,

spe

cial

con

trib

utor

s, a

nd s

ourc

es th

at a

re in

deci

pher

able

. Ove

rall,

ther

e is

a h

igh

chi-

squa

re s

igni

fica

nce

for

new

s co

ntri

buto

rs c

ompa

red

to

each

med

ia (

X2=

99.

09, p

=. 0

01, d

f= 6

) (T

able

5).

Tha

t is,

the

new

s w

rite

r's

num

bers

hav

e a

sign

ific

ant s

core

for

dev

iate

d fr

eque

ncie

s. T

he th

ree

diff

eren

t med

ia h

ave

sign

ific

antly

dif

fere

nt n

umbe

rs o

f ne

ws

cont

ribu

tors

,

both

new

spap

er a

nd T

V b

road

cast

ing

med

ia. R

aw n

umbe

rs s

how

that

new

spap

ers

have

a la

rger

pot

ion

of s

taff

wri

ting

for

exam

ple

Los

Ang

eles

Tim

es (

62.2

5% s

taff

/ 17.

21%

wir

e se

rvic

e), t

he N

ew Y

ork

Tim

es (

80.5

3 ')/

0

/ 12.

90%

), a

nd W

ashi

ngto

n Po

st (

58.0

1 %

/ 30

.56

%),

than

do

TV

web

site

s,

whi

ch h

ave

a sm

all p

ortio

n of

sta

ff w

rite

rs a

nd a

larg

e po

rtio

n of

wir

e

serv

ice

CN

N (

27.1

9 %

/ 67.

74%

), C

BS

(61.

46%

/35.

32%

), a

nd A

BC

(27.

22%

/ 48.

34%

). T

his

is s

igni

fica

nt f

or n

ews

cont

ribu

tion

diff

eren

ces

betw

een

new

spap

ers

and

TV

bro

adca

stin

g w

ebsi

tes

(Tab

le 2

-2).

A m

ore

sign

ific

ant c

hi-s

quar

e po

rtio

n is

Int

erne

t onl

y

orga

niza

tion'

s w

ebsi

tes:

Dru

dge'

s po

rtio

n of

sta

ff v

ersu

s w

ire

is 1

9.52

% /

71.8

8%, W

orld

net

is 2

7.93

% /

62.1

8%, a

nd N

ews

Max

is 2

0.87

% /

71.3

0

%(T

able

6).

Tha

t mea

ns th

at I

nter

net o

rgan

izat

ion

new

s w

eb s

ites

are

high

ly d

epen

dent

upo

n w

ire

serv

ices

rat

her

than

sta

ff w

ritin

g.

The

dif

fere

nce

in th

e nu

mbe

r of

new

s st

orie

s is

bas

ed o

n th

e

orig

inal

med

ia. N

ewsp

aper

site

s ha

s an

ave

rage

of

86.3

sto

ries

per

day

, TV

site

s ha

ve 5

8.4,

and

Int

erne

t onl

y or

gani

zatio

ns h

ave

39.3

sto

ries

(T

able

4).

Inte

ract

ivity

Firs

t, th

is r

esea

rch

mea

sure

d w

hat d

iffe

renc

es th

ere

are

amon

g

prin

t, br

oadc

astin

g an

d In

tern

et n

ews

site

s in

the

use

of p

ictu

re f

requ

ency

84

and

size

. The

thre

e pr

int n

ewsp

aper

site

s' a

vera

ge s

core

s w

ere

6.11

on

a

tota

l pos

sibl

e sc

ore

of 8

, whe

reas

the

thre

e T

V b

road

cast

ing

site

s' a

vera

ge

scor

es w

ere

5.55

. The

t-te

sts

scor

e is

34.

21 a

t a=

. 001

(T

able

7).

The

Inte

rnet

onl

y w

ebsi

tes'

ave

rage

is 2

.44.

The

inte

ract

ive

scor

e w

ere

diff

eren

t

for

new

spap

ers

and

TV

bro

adca

stin

gs. T

he d

istin

ctiv

e di

ffer

ence

is

prim

arily

due

to th

e fa

ct th

at n

ewsp

aper

hav

e e-

mai

l for

indi

vidu

al

jour

nalis

ts a

nd h

elp

sect

ions

, whe

reas

TV

bro

adca

stin

g si

tes

have

rea

l aud

io

or v

ideo

sec

tion.

The

se la

st tw

o fe

atur

es in

TV

site

s ar

e a

quas

i-in

tera

ctiv

e

feat

ure.

Thi

s st

udy

incl

uded

inte

ract

ivity

mea

sure

men

t rat

her

than

pic

tori

al

freq

uenc

y. T

he a

udio

and

vid

eo c

lips

in T

V w

ebsi

tes

are

inte

ract

ive

beca

use

thes

e he

lp n

ewsr

eade

rs a

nd th

ey e

labo

rate

use

r's in

tera

ctiv

e. S

ome

read

ers

look

fir

st a

t the

pic

ture

; oth

ers

read

the

text

bef

ore

look

ing

at th

e pi

ctur

e,

whi

le s

till o

ther

vac

illat

e be

twee

n te

xt a

nd v

ideo

clip

s. T

his

read

ing

activ

ity

is a

qua

si-i

nter

activ

e be

havi

or, t

hus

this

stu

dy in

clud

e in

tera

ctiv

ity a

nd

mea

sure

the

inte

ract

ivity

. Ove

rall,

Tab

le 7

sho

ws

that

the

inte

ract

ivity

scor

es: 2

.44

of I

nter

net,

6.11

of

new

spap

er, a

nd 5

,55

of T

V m

edia

web

site

(Tab

le 8

) an

d in

tera

ctiv

ity s

core

of

each

web

site

s (T

able

8).

Con

clus

ion

Nin

e na

tiona

l med

ia w

ere

com

pare

d on

the

web

site

s in

term

of

both

dif

fere

nces

and

sim

ilari

ties.

The

sim

ilari

ties

are

that

all

nine

of

thes

e

med

ia u

se h

yper

text

, nam

ely

text

, pic

ture

s an

d in

tera

ctiv

ity (

Figu

re 1

, 2, a

nd

3). W

hen

tele

com

mun

icat

ion

conv

erge

d in

to th

e In

tern

et, d

iffe

rent

med

ia

had

diff

eren

t fra

me

form

ats

to p

rese

nt th

e ne

ws.

Thi

s pa

per

focu

sed

on th

ree

fram

e se

tting

s: p

ictu

res,

new

s co

ntri

buto

rs, a

nd in

tera

ctiv

ity. T

his

fram

ing

85

Con

verg

ence

of

the

Inte

rnet

14

mod

el p

rovi

des

the

answ

er to

the

ques

tion:

whe

n co

nver

genc

e of

med

ia

happ

ens

to th

e In

tern

et, a

re th

e co

nten

t's f

orm

and

sty

le s

imila

r or

dif

fere

nt

from

oth

er m

edia

? O

n th

e In

tern

et, i

s th

ere

any

diff

eren

ce b

etw

een

cont

ent

prov

ided

by

new

spap

er c

ompa

nies

, bro

adca

stin

g or

gani

zatio

ns, a

nd th

e

Inte

rnet

pro

vide

r or

gani

zatio

ns?

The

str

engt

h of

the

web

new

s si

tes

is th

eir

offe

ring

of

conv

erge

d

cont

ent:

text

, pho

togr

aphy

, gra

phic

s, a

nd a

udio

and

vid

eo c

lips.

In

this

rese

arch

, all

text

for

ms

are

co-e

valu

ated

fro

m d

iffe

rent

med

ia. T

V s

ites

have

a st

rong

pic

ture

fra

me

and

audi

o-vi

deo

clip

s.

The

oth

er p

oten

tial o

f w

eb n

ews

site

s is

inte

ract

ivity

bet

wee

n th

e

user

and

the

med

ium

. Bot

h ne

wsp

aper

(6.

11)

and

TV

bro

adca

stin

g m

edia

(5.8

) ha

ve h

igh

inte

ract

ivity

sco

res.

Alm

ost 1

00%

of

web

new

s si

tes

prov

ide

orga

niza

tion

e-m

ail a

nd r

esea

rch

engi

nes.

Alth

ough

new

spap

ers

show

ed

mor

e in

tera

ctiv

ity th

an th

e T

V s

ites,

the

gap

may

be

mor

e re

duce

d w

ithin

a

shor

t per

iod

beca

use

Inte

rnet

tech

nolo

gy m

ay b

e sh

red

betw

een

new

spap

er

and

TV

web

site

s.

New

s co

ntri

butio

n m

easu

rem

ent s

how

s th

at T

V s

ites

and

Inte

rnet

only

site

s ar

e de

pend

ent u

pon

outs

ide

new

s so

urce

s su

ch a

s w

ire

serv

ices

or

othe

r ne

ws

data

ser

vice

s th

at a

re h

ighl

y in

terc

onne

cted

. Thi

s re

sear

ch f

ound

that

Int

erne

t new

s si

tes

are

likel

y to

rec

eive

new

s fr

om w

ires

(A

P, U

PI,

AFP

, and

Reu

ters

) an

d ot

her

new

s m

edia

.

Lim

itatio

ns

Thi

s st

udy

has

seve

ral l

imita

tions

incl

udin

g lim

ited

sam

ples

beca

use

this

stu

dy s

ampl

ed w

ebsi

tes

natio

nal c

over

age

orga

niza

tions

suc

h

as L

os A

ngel

es T

imes

, The

New

Yor

k T

imes

, and

Was

hing

ton

Post

. Als

o

86

the

TV

bro

adca

stin

g si

tes

used

in th

is s

tudy

thre

e na

tiona

l net

wor

ks (

CN

N,

CB

S, a

nd A

BC

). T

hus

it co

uld

not a

pply

to lo

cal o

r in

depe

nden

t

new

spap

ers

and

broa

dcas

ting

com

pani

es. T

oday

, the

re a

re m

ore

than

3,6

33

on-l

ine

new

spap

ers

in th

e U

nite

d St

ates

. Thi

s st

udy

focu

sed

only

on

natio

nal r

epre

sent

ed n

ews

med

ia s

ites.

Thu

s th

is r

esea

rch

resu

lt lim

ited

to

gene

raliz

atio

n to

oth

er lo

cal m

edia

.

Furt

herm

ore,

this

stu

dy f

ocus

ed o

n on

ly f

ront

-pag

e ne

ws

site

s fo

r

its r

esea

rch

purp

oses

. How

ever

, the

Int

erne

t cre

ates

new

way

s of

del

iver

ing

new

s to

rea

ders

, tha

t is,

hyp

erlin

ks o

r m

eta-

site

link

s. T

radi

tiona

l

new

spap

ers

and

broa

dcas

ting

med

ia o

rgan

izat

ions

pre

sent

thei

r ne

ws

diff

eren

t way

s fo

r ex

ampl

e, th

roug

h m

ulti-

text

, im

ages

, and

inte

ract

ivity

.

Thu

s, th

e re

sear

ch p

arad

igm

sho

uld

shif

t oth

er w

ays

such

as

disc

ours

e

anal

ysis

or

cont

extu

al n

ews

web

site

s an

alys

is.

As

the

resu

lt of

this

, in

orde

r to

gai

n a

mor

e co

mpl

ete

unde

rsta

ndin

g of

the

Inte

rnet

new

s fr

ame

and

pres

enta

tion,

mul

tiple

of

met

hod

are

need

ed. F

or e

xam

ple,

the

com

bina

tion

of la

bora

tory

expe

rim

ents

, con

tent

ana

lysi

s, a

nd a

sur

vey

of I

nter

net u

sers

for

one

sub

ject

wou

ld p

rovi

de m

ore

accu

rate

dim

ensi

ons

to th

e an

swer

of

Inte

rnet

conv

erge

nce.

Con

verg

ence

of

the

Inte

rnet

15

Ref

eren

ces

Bal

dwin

, T.F

., M

cVoy

, S. &

Ste

infi

eld,

C. (

1996

). C

onve

rgen

ce:

Inte

grat

ing

med

ia in

form

atio

n an

d co

mm

unic

atio

n. T

hous

and

Oak

s, C

A:

Sage

.

Bio

cca,

F. (

1992

) C

omm

unic

atio

n w

ithin

vir

tual

rea

lity:

Cre

atin

g a

spac

e fo

r re

sear

ch. J

ourn

al o

f C

omm

unic

atio

n 42

(1):

5-2

2.

Cha

mbe

rlin

, R. (

1998

). P

erce

ptio

n of

gra

phic

s ve

rsus

no

grap

hics

on W

eb s

ites.

Pres

ente

d at

the

Ass

ocia

tion

for

Jour

nalis

m a

nd M

ass

com

mun

icat

ion

Con

fere

nce

pape

r in

199

8.

Com

mer

ceN

et (

1999

). T

he n

etw

ork

wiz

ards

inte

rnet

dom

ain

surv

ey. J

an. 1

999.

Com

mer

ceN

et R

esea

rch

cent

ers

[Onl

ine]

Ava

ilabl

e:

http

//ww

w.c

omm

erce

.net

/res

earc

h/st

ats/

.

Con

nove

r, T

E. (

1999

). G

raph

ic c

omm

unic

atio

ns to

day.

Wes

t

Publ

ishi

ng C

ompa

ny: N

ew Y

ork.

Dec

embe

r, J

. (19

96).

Uni

ts o

f an

alys

is f

or in

tern

et c

omm

unic

atio

n.

Jour

nal o

f C

omm

unic

atio

n 46

(1):

14-

37.

Ent

man

, R.M

.. (1

991)

. Fra

min

g U

.S. c

over

age

of in

tern

atio

nal

new

s: C

ontr

asts

in

narr

ativ

es o

f th

e K

AL

and

Ira

n ai

r in

cide

nts.

Jou

rnal

of

Com

mun

icat

ion,

41(4

): 6

-27. Ent

man

, R. (

1993

). F

ram

ing:

Tow

ard

clar

ific

atio

n of

a f

ract

ured

para

digm

. In

Lev

y, M

& G

urev

itch,

M. (

Eds

.), D

efin

ing

med

ia s

tudi

es, N

ew

Yor

k: O

xfor

d U

nive

rsity

Pre

ss.

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Fidl

er, R

oger

(19

97).

Med

iam

orph

osis

: Und

erst

andi

ng n

ew m

edia

.

Tho

usan

d O

aks,

CA

: Pin

e Fo

rge

Pres

s.

Gel

si, S

teve

(19

98).

The

"W

eb E

ffec

t" d

escr

ibes

web

new

s'

com

bina

tion

char

acte

rist

ics.

Ava

ilabl

e on

http

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ww

.for

bes.

com

/tool

/htm

197/

aug/

0813

/fea

ture

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.

Gild

er, G

. (19

94).

Fid

ler's

ele

ctro

nic

new

s pa

nel i

s a

bette

r be

t for

the

futu

re th

an h

ome

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. ASN

E b

ulle

tin 7

56(1

2-16

): 9

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Ha,

L. &

Jam

es E

. L. (

1998

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nter

activ

ity r

eexa

min

ed: A

bas

elin

e

anal

ysis

of

earl

y bu

sine

ss w

eb s

ites.

Jou

rnal

of

Bro

adca

stin

g &

Ele

ctro

nic

Med

ia 4

2(2)

: 457

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.

Hee

ter,

Car

rie

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9). I

mpl

icat

ions

of

new

inte

ract

ive

tech

nolo

gies

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conc

eptu

aliz

ing

com

mun

icat

ion.

In

J. L

. Sal

vagg

io &

J. B

ryan

t (E

d.),

Med

ia u

se in

the

info

rmat

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Law

renc

e A

lbum

Ass

ocia

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New

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ey.

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g, A

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97).

Spe

ed a

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e in

tern

et f

acto

rs in

flue

ncin

g ch

oice

of a

cces

s ca

paci

ty a

nd s

ubse

quen

t eff

ects

on

med

ia c

onsu

mpt

ion.

Mic

higa

n

Stat

e U

nive

rsity

: A D

isse

rtat

ion.

Kel

ly, J

. (19

93).

The

eff

ects

of

disp

lay

form

at a

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ata

dens

ity o

n

time

spen

t rea

ding

sta

tistic

s in

text

tabl

es a

nd g

raph

s. J

ourn

alis

m Q

uart

erly

70(1

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49.

Kre

ss, G

. & L

eeuw

an T

.V. (

1996

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eadi

ng im

ages

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gra

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ar

of v

isua

l des

ign.

Lon

don:

Rou

tledg

e.

Lan

dow

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he d

efin

ition

of

hype

rtex

t and

its

hist

ory

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conc

epts

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ilabl

e on

the

Inte

rnet

at

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ww

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.bro

wn.

edu/

proj

ect

/hyp

erte

xt/la

ndow

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ry. h

tml.

89

Con

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ence

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rnet

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en. (

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eb p

age

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grap

hic

use

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ree

U.S

.

new

spap

ers.

Jou

rnal

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s C

omm

unic

atio

n Q

uart

erly

75(

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53-

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Mas

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an &

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y, M

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nter

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e, o

nlin

e

jour

nalis

m, a

nd E

nglis

h-L

angu

age

Web

new

spap

ers

in A

sia.

Jou

rnal

ism

&

Mas

s C

omm

unic

atio

n Q

uart

erly

76(

1) 1

38-1

51.

McL

augh

lin, M

.L (

1996

). T

he a

rt s

ite o

n th

e W

orld

Wid

e W

eb.

Jour

nal o

f C

omm

unic

atio

n 46

(1):

51-

77.

McL

uhan

, M. (

1964

). U

nder

stan

ding

med

ia: T

he e

xten

sion

s of

man

. New

Yor

k: M

cGra

w-H

ill.

McQ

uail,

D (

1994

). M

ass

Com

mun

icat

ion

theo

ry: A

n in

trod

uctio

n.

Lon

don:

Sag

e Pu

blic

atio

n.

Mey

er, G

& T

hom

as, J

. (19

99)

The

bau

dy w

orld

of

the

byte

band

it: A

pos

tmod

erni

st in

terp

reta

tion

of th

e co

mpu

ter

unde

rgro

und.

Ava

ilabl

e on

line:

http

://su

n.so

ci.n

iu.e

du/g

mey

er/b

audy

.htm

l.

Mor

ris,

M. &

Oga

n, C

. (19

96).

The

Int

erne

t as

mas

s m

ediu

m.

Jour

nal o

f C

omm

unic

atio

n, 4

6(1)

: 39-

50.

Neu

feld

, E. (

1997

, May

5).

Whe

re a

re a

udie

nces

goi

ng?

Med

ia

Wee

k 7

(18)

p. S

22-S

29.

Pavl

ik, J

. (19

98).

New

med

ia te

chno

logy

: Cul

tura

l and

com

mer

cial

pers

pect

ives

. Bos

ton:

Ally

n an

d B

acon

.

Pew

Res

earc

h C

ente

r (1

998)

. Med

ia c

onsu

mpt

ion:

Am

eric

an n

ews

habi

ts.

On-

line

at h

ttp://

ww

w.p

eopl

e pr

ess.

org/

med

sec3

.htm

.

90

Ree

se, S

teph

en D

. (19

97)

New

s pa

radi

gm a

nd th

e id

eolo

gy o

f

obje

ctiv

ity: A

soc

ialis

t at t

he W

all S

tree

t Jou

rnal

. In

D. B

erko

witz

(ed

.)

Soci

al m

eani

ng o

f ne

ws

Tho

usan

d O

aks:

Sag

e.

Raf

aeli,

S. (

1988

). I

nter

activ

ity: F

rom

new

med

ia to

com

mun

icat

ion,

In

R. H

awki

ns, e

t al.

(Ed.

) A

dvan

cing

com

mun

icat

ion

scie

nce:

Mer

ging

mas

s an

d in

terp

erso

nal p

roce

ss. N

ewbu

rry

Park

: Sag

e

p.10

-134

. Rif

fe, D

. & F

reita

g A

. (19

97).

A c

onte

nt a

naly

sis

of c

onte

nt

anal

ysis

: tw

enty

-fiv

e ye

ars

of J

ourn

alis

m Q

uart

erly

. Jou

rnal

ism

& M

ass

Com

mun

icat

ion

Qua

rter

ly 7

4(3)

: 515

-524

.

Rog

er, E

.M. (

1986

). C

omm

unic

atio

n te

chno

logy

. New

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k: F

ree

Pres

s.

91

Con

verg

ence

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Inte

rnet

17

Sche

ufel

e, D

ietr

am A

. (19

99).

Fra

min

g as

a th

eory

of

med

ia e

ffec

t,

Jour

nal o

f C

omm

unic

atio

n 49

(1):

103

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.

Schu

dson

, Mic

hael

. (19

97).

Tow

ard

a tr

oubl

esho

otin

g m

anua

l for

jour

nalis

m h

isto

ry, J

ourn

alis

m &

Mas

s C

omm

unic

atio

n Q

uart

erly

74(

3):

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476.

Solo

ski,

J. (

1989

). S

ourc

es a

nd c

hann

els

of lo

cal n

ews.

Jou

rnal

ism

Qua

rter

ly 6

6(4)

: 864

-870

.

Tuc

hman

, Gay

e (1

972)

. Obj

ectiv

ity a

s st

rate

gic

ritu

al: A

n

exam

inat

ion

of n

ewsm

en's

not

ions

of

obje

ctiv

ity. A

mer

ican

Jou

rnal

of

Soci

olog

y, 7

7. 6

60-6

70.

Wim

mer

, R. &

Dom

inic

k, J

.R.(

1991

). M

ass

med

ia r

esea

rch:

An

intr

oduc

tion.

Bel

mon

t,CA

: Wad

wor

th P

ublis

hing

Com

pany

. 92

Con

verg

ence

of

the

Inte

rnet

18

Tab

le 1

Pict

ure

Mea

ns b

y M

edia

Web

site

sPi

ctur

e M

ean

Prob

abili

ty

For

Pict

ure

Phot

os (

Mea

n)G

raph

ics

(Mea

n)

New

spap

er9

42.8

9 (3

86)

33.3

4%37

.89(

341)

5.00

(45)

TV

968

.89

(620

)53

.54%

52.5

6(47

3)16

.33

(147

)

Inte

rnet

916

.89

(152

)13

.13%

15.7

8(14

2)1.

11(1

0)

Tot

al27

1158

(100

%)

100%

956

(100

%)

202(

100%

)

(AN

OV

A F

=84

.37

oc=

. 001

) Pi

ctur

e=Ph

oto+

Gra

phic

s.T

hus,

pic

ture

's %

rep

rese

nts

othe

rs

Tab

le 2

Phot

os S

ize

Freq

uenc

y by

Med

ia

Med

iaL

arge

Med

ium

Smal

l

New

spap

ers

3.68

(29

.7%

)19

.56(

36.4

%)

14.5

6 (3

6.4%

)

TV

bro

adca

stin

g8.

11(6

5.6%

)25

.00(

46.5

%)

19.4

4(51

.4%

)

Inte

rnet

0.56

(4.5

%)

9.22

(36.

4%)

6.00

(48.

6%)

Tot

al10

0%10

0%10

0%

9493

Con

verg

ence

of

the

Inte

rnet

19

Tab

le 3

Pict

ure,

Pho

tos

and

Gra

phic

s by

Web

site

s

Web

site

sPi

ctur

ePh

otos

Gra

phic

s

Los

Ang

eles

Tim

es41

.33

32.6

78.

67

New

Yor

k T

imes

49.6

745

.33

4.33

Was

hing

ton

Post

37.6

735

.67

2.00

CN

N79

.33

58.0

021

.33

CB

S62

.67

48.0

014

.67

AB

C64

.67

51.6

713

.00

Dru

dge

18.0

0.

17.0

01.

00

Wor

ld N

et D

aily

19.0

017

.00

1.00

New

s M

ax13

.67

13.3

30.

33

It is

dai

ly m

ean

num

ber.

Thu

s, %

is n

ot n

eces

sary

.

Tab

le 4

Tot

al N

ews

Item

s by

Med

ia (

Uni

t:day

)N

umbe

rM

ean

Prob

abili

tySt

d E

rror

New

spap

er9

86.3

3 (7

77)

46.8

9%3.

62

TV

958

.44

(526

)31

.74%

3.62

Inte

rnet

939

.33

(354

)21

.36%

3.62

Tot

al27

1657

100%

3.62

96

Con

verg

ence

of

the

Inte

rnet

20

Tab

le 5

Con

trib

utor

's F

requ

ency

by

Med

ia

Frequency

Col Pct

lIntr

ITV

!news

ITotal

staff

I26.66

I72.32

1172.63

I271.61

122.60

I41.48

167.07

I

wires

I

81

I85.04

I50.67

I216.71

I68.65

148.78

I19.69

I

special

I

7.99

I8.34

I28.5

I44.83

I6.77

14.78

I11.07

I

indcpher

I2.34

I8.64

I5.6

116.58

I

1.98

I4.96

I2.18

I

Total

117.99

174.34

257.40

549.73

100.00

100.00

100.00

100.0

Statistic

DF

Value

Prob

Chi-Square

699.094

0.001

Sample Size = 549.73

93

97

Tab

le 6

New

s C

ontr

ibut

or b

y W

ebsi

tes.

SITE

Contributor

Frequencyl

Row Pct

I 'staff

'wires

(special lindiciphl

Total

L.A.Time

I60.3

I16.67

115.6

I4.3

I96.87

I62.25

I17.21

I16.10

I4.44

I100.00

N.Y.Time

I68.67

I11

I5.3

I0.3

I85.27

I80.53

I12.90

I6.22

I0.35

I100.0

Washingtol

43.66

I23

I7.6

I1

I75.26

I58.01

I30.56

I10.10

I1.33

I100.00

CNN

I14.33

135.7

I2

I0.67

I52.7

I27.19

I67.74

13.80

I1.27

I100.00

CBS

I44.66

I25.67

I1.67

I0.67

I72.6

I61.46

I35.32

I2.30

I0.92

I100.00

ABC

113.33

I23.67

I4.67

I7.3

I48.97

I27.22

I48.34

I9.54

I14.91

1100.00

Drudge

I8.33

I30.67

I3

I0.67

I42.67

I19.52

I71.88

I7.03

I1.57

I100.00

WorldNet

I10.33

I23

I2.66

I1

I36.99

I27.93

I62.18

I7.19

I2.70

I100.00

NewsMax

I8

I27.33

I2.33

I0.67

I38.33

I20.87

I71.30

I6.08

I1.75

I100.00

Total

271.61

216.71

44.83

16.58

549.73

49.41

39.42

8.15

3.02

100.00

*Websites

are the

independent

variable,

contributors

are the dependent

variable.

STATISTICS FOR TABLE OF SITE BY CONTRIBUTOR

Statistic

DF

Value

Prob

Chi-Square =159.23 (df=24) r=0.001Sample Size = 549.73

Con

verg

ence

of

the

Inte

rnet

21

100

Con

verg

ence

of

the

Inte

rnet

22

Tab

le 7

Inte

ract

ivity

Sco

re b

y M

edia

Web

site

sIn

tera

ctiv

ity S

core

(T

otal

)Pr

obab

ility

Std

Err

or

New

spap

er9

6.11

(55

)43

.31%

0.16

TV

95.

55 (

50)

39.3

7%0.

16

Inte

rnet

92.

44 (

22)

17.3

2%0.

16

Tot

al27

127(

100%

)10

0%0.

16

Uni

t: Pe

r D

ay P

ossi

ble

Max

imum

Sco

re is

8.

Tab

le 8

Inte

ract

ivity

Sco

re b

y W

ebsi

tes

Web

site

sIn

tera

ctiv

ity

Los

Ang

eles

Tim

es6.

33(1

9)

New

Yor

k T

imes

6.00

(18)

Was

hing

ton

Post

6.00

(18)

CN

N5.

67(1

7)

CB

S5.

33(1

6)

AB

C5.

67(1

7)

Dru

dge

2.33

(7)

Wor

ldN

et D

aily

2.33

(7)

New

sMax

2.67

(8)

Uni

ts d

ays

(t =

34.2

1 a=

.001

)

102

-C

onve

rgen

ce o

f th

e In

tern

et 2

3

Tab

le 9

Ove

rall

Ave

rage

Pic

ture

, New

s It

em, a

nd I

nter

activ

ity b

y M

edia

Tot

al P

ictu

reT

otal

New

sIn

tera

ctiv

ity

New

spap

ers

42.8

9(33

.33%

)86

.33(

46.8

9%)

6.11

(43.

31%

)

TV

Site

s68

.89(

53.3

5%)

58.4

4(31

.17%

)5.

55(3

9.37

%)

Inte

rnet

site

s16

.89(

13.1

3%)

39.3

3(21

.36%

)2.

44(1

7.32

%)

Tot

al10

0%10

0%10

0%

(Uni

t/day

)

104

Figu

re 1

. Pic

ture

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quen

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y M

edia

[At d

a .)

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3126

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535

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58

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105

Con

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the

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re 2

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s It

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Freq

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_..

106

The Impact and Relationship of Policy and Competition

on the Program Diversity in Cable TV

Seung Kwan Ryu

Doctoral Candidate

School of Journalism

Southern Illinois University at Carbondale

Carbondale, Illinois

1941 W. Evergreen Dr. #8, Carbondale, IL 62901

E-mail: [email protected]

Phone: 618-351-6291

A Paper Submitted to

the Graduate Education Interest Group

of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication

The Impact and Relationship of Policy

ABSTRACT

This study explores the impact of deregulation on program diversity in U.S. cable

television, and the relationship of governmental policy and competition on program

diversity. It examines whether there was more program diversity before or after the

passage of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, by comparing two time periods: 1992-

1995 (from the enactment of the Cable Consumer Protection and Competition Act of

1992 to the Telecommunications Act of 1996) and 1996-to the present (after the

enactment of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 up to now).

The first period (1992-1995) brought about strong regulations in the U.S. cable

industry, whereas during the second period (1996 up to now) all regulations were virtually

dropped. Hence, this change offers an excellent opportunity to examine the effects of

governmental policy on program diversity in cable TV. The study suggests that both

*vertical program diversity and *horizontal (*may need to define these terms) diversity

during the deregulatory period have resulted in decreasing the program diversity. As to the

relationship between policy and competition in program diversity, while the policy factor

was more associated with vertical diversity, the competition factor was more associated

with horizontal diversity.

The

Im

pact

and

Rel

atio

nshi

p of

Pol

icy

3

Intr

oduc

tion

The

pas

sage

of t

he C

able

Act

of 1

992

was

inte

nded

to fu

rthe

r th

e st

ate

gove

rnm

enta

l pur

pose

of p

rote

ctin

g th

e pu

blic

inte

rest

by

allo

win

g co

nsum

ers

to r

ecei

ve a

high

ly d

iver

se a

s w

ell a

s an

opt

imal

num

ber

of p

rogr

am c

hann

els.

Thi

s co

uld

be

acco

mpl

ishe

d by

enc

oura

ging

com

petit

ion

in th

e m

arke

tpla

ce (

Alla

rd, 1

993)

. Alth

ough

the

Cab

le A

ct o

f 199

2 tr

ied

to p

rom

ote

cabl

e co

mpe

titio

n, th

e pr

actic

al r

ealit

yre

mai

ned

that

effe

ctiv

e co

mpe

titio

n is

lack

ing

in m

ost a

reas

(G

ersh

on &

Ege

n, 1

999)

. On

the

othe

rha

nd

the

Tel

ecom

mun

icat

ions

Act

of 1

996

has

been

hai

led

as th

e ha

rbin

ger

of a

new

era

of

expa

nded

com

petit

ion

that

will

brin

g ab

out f

aste

r te

chni

cal a

dvan

ces,

gre

ater

con

sum

er

choi

ce, a

nd m

ore

econ

omic

al s

ervi

ces.

In th

is s

ense

, the

pro

mis

e of

mor

e co

mpe

titio

nin

the

Tel

ecom

mun

icat

ion

Act

s of

199

6 pr

ovid

es a

goo

d op

port

unity

to s

ee if

vie

wer

s ar

e

inde

ed r

ecei

ving

mor

e di

vers

ity in

thei

r pr

ogra

mm

ing.

The

obj

ectiv

e of

this

stu

dy is

two-

fold

. Firs

t, th

is s

tudy

exp

lore

s th

e im

pact

of

dere

gula

tion

on p

rogr

am d

iver

sity

in U

.S. c

able

tele

visi

on, b

ased

on

the

assu

mpt

ion

that

dive

rsity

has

bee

n co

nsid

ered

one

of t

he m

ost i

mpo

rtan

t soc

ieta

l goa

ls to

em

body

the

publ

ic in

tere

st in

the

U.S

. bro

adca

st m

edia

. In

orde

r to

do

that

, it e

xam

ines

whe

ther

ther

e

has

been

mor

e di

vers

ity in

the

num

ber

of p

rogr

am ty

pes

befo

re a

nd a

fter

the

pass

ageof

the

Tel

ecom

mun

icat

ions

Act

of 1

996,

com

parin

g tw

o tim

e pe

riods

: 199

2-19

95(f

rom

the

enac

tmen

t of t

he C

able

Con

sum

er P

rote

ctio

n an

d C

ompe

titio

n A

ct o

f19

92 to

the

Tel

ecom

mun

icat

ions

Act

of 1

996)

and

199

6-to

the

pres

ent (

afte

r th

e en

actm

ent o

f the

Tel

ecom

mun

icat

ions

Act

of 1

996

up to

now

). S

econ

d, it

inve

stig

ates

how

muc

h re

lativ

e

asso

ciat

ion

it ha

s w

ith e

ach

of th

e tw

o fa

ctor

s-go

vern

men

tal p

olic

y an

d co

mpe

titio

n-w

ith

prog

ram

div

ersi

ty in

cab

le T

V.

109

The

Im

pact

and

Rel

atio

nshi

p of

Pol

icy

4

Def

initi

on o

f Div

ersi

ty a

nd D

iver

sity

Indi

ces

Alth

ough

this

stu

dy m

easu

res

prog

ram

div

ersi

ty, p

ast s

tudi

es h

ave

exam

ined

two

type

s of

div

ersi

ty in

dice

s, c

hann

el d

iver

sity

and

pro

gram

div

ersi

ty. P

rogr

am d

iver

sity

is

divi

ded

into

ver

tical

div

ersi

ty a

nd h

oriz

onta

l div

ersi

ty. W

hile

ver

tical

div

ersi

ty is

des

igne

d

to m

easu

re h

ow d

iver

se p

rogr

ams

a st

atio

n or

pro

gram

mer

pro

vide

s, h

oriz

onta

l div

ersi

ty

estim

ates

how

man

y di

ffere

nt p

rogr

am ty

pes

a vi

ewer

can

sel

ect f

rom

at a

giv

en ti

me

peri

od. O

n th

e ot

her

hand

, cha

nnel

div

ersi

ty is

div

ided

into

abs

olut

e ch

anne

l div

ersi

ty a

nd

rela

tive

chan

nel d

iver

sity

. The

form

er is

the

tota

l num

ber

of c

hann

els

in u

se b

y a

cabl

e

syst

em d

ivid

ed b

y th

e to

tal p

ossi

ble

num

ber

of c

hann

els

in th

e ca

ble

indu

stry

. The

latte

r

mea

ns th

e to

tal n

umbe

r of

cha

nnel

s in

act

ual u

se b

y a

syst

em d

ivid

ed b

y to

tal c

hann

el

capa

city

of t

he s

yste

m.

Lite

ratu

re R

evie

w

Rel

atio

nshi

p B

etw

een

Pol

icy

and

Div

ersi

ty

Sev

eral

indi

ces

have

bee

n us

ed to

mea

sure

div

ersi

ty o

f cha

nnel

s an

d pr

ogra

mm

ing.

How

ever

, the

y ca

n ge

nera

lly b

e su

mm

ariz

ed in

to tw

o fa

ctor

s, p

olic

y fa

ctor

s an

d ec

onom

ic

fact

ors.

Pre

viou

s st

udie

s pr

ovid

e m

ixed

res

ults

with

res

pect

to th

e re

latio

nshi

p be

twee

n

gove

rnm

enta

l pol

icy

and

prog

ram

div

ersi

ty. S

ome

rese

arch

ers

argu

ed th

at s

tron

ger

and

mor

e ac

tive

regu

latio

n of

cab

le s

yste

ms

will

indu

ce h

ighe

r di

vers

ity (

Ow

en,

1977

;

Dom

inic

k &

Pea

rce,

197

6; M

itche

ll, 1

978;

Roo

f, T

raut

h, &

Huf

fman

, 199

3) w

here

as

othe

rs a

sser

ted

that

the

gove

rnm

ent s

houl

d no

t int

erfe

re w

ith th

e m

arke

tpla

ce to

try

to

incr

ease

div

ersi

ty (

Hur

witz

, 197

8; L

e D

uc, 1

973,

198

3, 1

987;

Sha

k,19

90).

BE

ST C

OPY

AV

AIL

AB

LE

110

The

Im

pact

and

Rel

atio

nshi

p of

Pol

icy

Res

earc

hers

dis

agre

e on

whe

ther

gov

ernm

ent p

olic

y w

ill e

ncou

rage

pro

gram

dive

rsity

. Ow

en (

1977

) ar

gued

that

a c

hang

e in

gov

ernm

enta

l reg

ulat

ions

wou

ld

enco

urag

e m

ultip

le c

hann

els

in b

road

cast

ing

mar

kets

and

impr

ove

the

qual

ity o

f

prog

ram

min

g an

d pr

omot

e di

vers

ity. D

omin

ick

and

Pea

rce

(197

6) fo

und

that

olig

opol

istic

com

mer

cial

tele

visi

on n

etw

orks

had

follo

wed

the

min

imum

req

uire

men

tsof

a s

erie

s of

stan

dard

ized

pol

icie

s, w

hile

con

tinuo

usly

red

ucin

g pr

ogra

m d

iver

sity

ove

r tim

e.O

n th

e

othe

r ha

nd, L

e D

uc (

1973

, 198

3, 1

987)

arg

ued

that

the

fede

ral

com

mun

icat

ions

pol

icy,

who

se p

rimar

y co

ncer

n is

stim

ulat

ing

com

petit

ion,

div

ersi

ty, a

nd p

ublic

acc

ess,

has

been

,

and

will

con

tinue

to b

e, fr

uitle

ss. S

uppo

rtin

g th

is v

iew

, Sha

k (1

990)

asse

rted

in h

is

qual

itativ

e st

udy

that

U.S

. cab

le p

olic

y fa

iled

in s

ecur

ing

subs

tant

ial d

iver

sity

.H

e ar

gued

that

eve

n w

hen

the

cabl

e in

dust

ry m

atur

ed a

fter

the

natio

nwid

edi

ssem

inat

ion

of s

igna

ls o

f

pay

chan

nels

, the

div

ersi

ty p

robl

em c

ould

not

be

solv

ed. M

ore

rece

ntly

, Roo

f, T

raut

h, &

Huf

fman

(19

93)

asse

rted

that

it w

ould

be

nece

ssar

y to

kee

p m

onop

olie

sfr

om d

omin

atin

g

prod

uctio

n an

d ex

hibi

tion

in th

e ca

ble

TV

indu

stry

.

Sev

eral

crit

ics

have

ser

ious

ly e

xam

ined

the

assu

mpt

ions

und

erly

ing

dere

gula

tion,

and

the

actu

al r

esul

t of p

artic

ular

asp

ects

of d

ereg

ulat

ion

in b

road

cast

ing

(De

Jong

&

Bat

es, 1

991;

Cha

mbe

rs &

Bat

es, 1

992;

Bat

es &

Cha

mbe

rs, 1

999)

. Few

stud

ies,

how

ever

,

have

exa

min

ed c

able

TV

. Eve

n th

ough

thes

e st

udie

s ha

ve p

rovi

ded

som

e su

ppor

tfor

bot

h

prop

onen

ts a

nd o

ppon

ents

of d

ereg

ulat

ion,

gen

eral

conc

lusi

ons

wer

e lim

ited

sinc

e ea

ch

stud

y fo

cuse

d on

a s

ingl

e is

sue,

or

offe

red

a lim

ited

exam

inat

ion

ofev

iden

ce.

In o

ne o

f the

few

em

piric

al s

tudi

es o

n th

e to

pic,

De

Jong

and

Bat

es (

1991

)

dem

onst

rate

d th

at b

oth

abso

lute

and

rel

ativ

e ch

anne

l div

ersi

ty in

crea

sed

from

1976

to

1986

. The

gro

wth

in r

elat

ive

dive

rsity

, how

ever

, was

sm

alle

r th

an th

ein

crea

se in

abs

olut

e

111

BE

ST

CO

PY

AV

AIL

AB

LE

The

Im

pact

and

Rel

atio

nshi

p of

Pol

icy

6

dive

rsity

. Thi

s su

gges

ted

that

par

t of t

he g

row

th in

the

num

ber

of d

iffer

ent c

hann

els

avai

labl

e to

con

sum

ers

was

due

to a

n ex

pans

ion

in th

e ch

anne

lcap

acity

of c

able

sys

tem

s.

The

y po

inte

d ou

t tha

t the

gro

wth

in r

elat

ive

dive

rsity

was

subs

tant

ially

less

than

that

of t

he

num

ber

of c

hann

els,

and

the

rela

tive

and

abso

lute

div

ersi

ty m

easu

res

indi

cate

d th

at th

e

aver

age

cabl

e sy

stem

offe

red

less

than

half

of it

s po

tent

ial f

or d

iver

sity

. The

y co

nclu

ded

that

cha

nnel

div

ersi

ty h

as in

crea

sed,

but

was

stil

l rat

her

low

rela

tive

to it

s fu

ll po

tent

ial.

Cha

mbe

r an

d B

ates

(19

92)

exam

ined

the

assu

mpt

ion

ofef

fect

ive

com

petit

ion

in

the

radi

o m

arke

t. T

he r

esul

ts o

f the

se s

tudi

es c

ast d

oubt

s on

the

abso

lute

val

idity

of t

he

pres

umpt

ion

of s

uffic

ient

and

effe

ctiv

e co

mpe

titio

n in

bro

adca

stin

g.A

ccor

ding

to B

ates

&

Cha

mbe

rs (

1999

), in

crea

sed

conc

entr

atio

n di

d ra

ise

doub

tsab

out t

he v

iabi

lity

of

cons

ider

ing

radi

o m

arke

ts a

s in

stan

ces

of m

onop

olis

tic c

ompe

titio

nra

ther

than

olig

opol

ies

beca

use

the

mar

ketp

lace

mod

el (

whe

re th

e in

dust

ry w

ould

rely

on

mar

ket f

orce

s to

dete

rmin

e th

e pu

blic

inte

rest

) w

orks

onl

y if

ther

e is

com

petit

ion.

In o

ther

wor

ds, t

he

hallm

ark

of th

e 19

96 A

ct, w

hich

is in

tend

ed to

ser

ve th

e pu

blic

inte

rest

thro

ugh

prom

otin

g

the

prog

ram

div

ersi

ty in

bro

adca

st m

edia

, can

be

achi

eved

only

if th

ere

is s

uffic

ient

com

petit

ion.

How

ever

, it a

ppea

rs th

at c

ompe

titio

n is

see

min

gly

activ

e, th

e sh

ort-

term

impa

ct o

f the

199

6 A

ct s

eem

s to

hav

e be

en a

n in

crea

se in

conc

entr

atio

n, c

ross

-med

ia

owne

rshi

p, a

nd v

ertic

al in

tegr

atio

n.

Rel

atio

nshi

p B

etw

een

Eco

nom

ic F

acto

rs a

nd D

iver

sity

Sev

eral

stu

dies

atte

mpt

ed to

find

the

rela

tions

hip

betw

een

econ

omic

fact

ors

and

prog

ram

div

ersi

ty; t

he r

esul

ts w

ere

also

som

ewha

t con

trad

icto

ry. S

ever

al r

esea

rche

rs

foun

d th

at c

ompe

titio

n or

incr

easi

ng th

e nu

mbe

r of

cha

nnel

spr

omot

ed p

rogr

am d

iver

sity

112

The

Impa

ct a

nd R

elat

ions

hip

of P

olic

y7

(Lan

d, 1

968;

Lev

in, 1

971;

Litm

an, 1

979;

Gra

nt, 1

994)

whe

reas

oth

ers

foun

d th

e op

posi

te

resu

lts (

Nol

l, P

eck

and

McG

owan

, 197

3; L

in, 1

995)

.

Levi

n (1

971)

rel

ated

pro

gram

div

ersi

ty to

the

chan

ge in

the

mar

ket s

truc

ture

with

in lo

cal T

V m

arke

ts. H

e ut

ilize

d a

dive

rsity

inde

x fir

st d

evel

oped

by

Her

man

Lan

d an

d

Ass

ocia

tes

(196

8) w

hich

str

esse

d pr

ogra

m r

atin

gs a

s th

e de

term

inan

t of p

rogr

am ty

pes.

Land

(19

68)

had

disc

over

ed th

at a

s th

e nu

mbe

r of

com

mer

cial

sta

tions

ros

e in

a lo

cal

mar

ket f

rom

one

to s

ix, t

he d

iver

sity

inde

x ro

se b

y 20

%, a

t a d

eclin

ing

rate

with

eac

h

succ

essi

ve s

tatio

n. T

hese

res

ults

wer

e co

nfirm

ed b

y Le

vin'

s co

mpa

rabl

e st

udy

of 8

8

mar

kets

and

279

sta

tions

.

Nol

l, P

eck

and

McG

owan

(19

73)

defin

ed d

iver

sity

in th

ree

prog

ram

min

g

dim

ensi

ons:

the

num

ber

of o

ptio

ns, d

iver

sity

by

prog

ram

type

s an

d pr

ogra

m to

ne w

here

tone

ref

erre

d to

the

soci

al e

ffect

of p

rogr

am c

onte

nt a

nd th

e ob

ject

ivity

of p

ublic

affa

irs,

and

new

s pr

ogra

ms.

The

y di

scov

ered

that

a n

ew s

tatio

n en

try

did

not a

utom

atic

ally

guar

ante

e gr

eate

r di

vers

ity b

ecau

se o

f the

tend

ency

of a

dver

tiser

sup

port

ed b

road

cast

stat

ions

to m

axim

ize

audi

ence

siz

e by

dup

licat

ing

popu

lar

prog

ram

type

s ra

ther

than

expe

rimen

t with

diff

eren

t pro

gram

cat

egor

ies.

Ow

en, B

eebe

and

Man

ning

(19

74)

dem

onst

rate

d th

at d

iver

sity

was

func

tiona

lly

rela

ted

to m

arke

t str

uctu

re (

and

espe

cial

ly c

ompe

titio

n), t

echn

olog

ical

fact

ors

affe

ctin

g th

e

num

ber

of a

vaila

ble

chan

nels

, and

the

finan

cing

met

hod

of g

ener

atin

g re

venu

es. T

his

theo

retic

al w

ork

was

late

r co

nfirm

ed a

nd e

xten

ded

by S

penc

e an

d O

wen

(19

77)

and

Wild

man

and

Ow

en (

1985

).

Litm

an (

1979

) at

tem

pted

to c

onfir

m th

e ro

bust

ness

of t

he D

omin

ick

and

Pea

rce

(197

6) r

esea

rch

by e

xam

inin

g a

perio

d of

tim

e w

hen

the

netw

ork

cart

el a

ppea

red

to b

e

113

The

impa

ct a

nd R

elat

ions

hip

of P

olic

y8

unst

able

due

to a

flur

ry o

f com

petit

ive

actio

n, tr

igge

red

by a

sud

den

shift

in m

arke

t sha

res

amon

g th

e in

dust

ry le

ader

s du

ring

the

1975

-76

prog

ram

sea

son.

He

foun

d a

dram

atic

fall

in p

rogr

am c

once

ntra

tion

(gre

ater

div

ersi

ty)

durin

g th

e fo

ur-y

ear

perio

d fo

llow

ing

the

uphe

aval

. Gra

nt (

1994

) ex

amin

ed th

e pr

ogra

m d

iver

sity

of b

asic

cab

le, s

uper

stat

ions

(T

BS

,

WG

N e

.g.)

, pay

cab

le, a

nd b

road

cast

net

wor

ks, u

sing

a 1

6-da

y sa

mpl

e of

41

broa

dcas

t

and

cabl

e ne

twor

ks. H

e fo

und

that

the

aver

age

dive

rsity

of p

rogr

am ty

pes

decr

ease

d, a

nd

the

dive

rsity

acr

oss

thos

e ch

anne

l typ

es in

crea

sed

as th

e nu

mbe

r of

cha

nnel

s in

crea

sed.

Lin

(199

5) fo

und

that

eve

n in

the

com

petit

ive

vide

o m

arke

tpla

ce o

f the

198

0s, s

hifts

in

prog

ram

div

ersi

ty w

ere

rath

er li

mite

d. S

he c

oncl

uded

that

the

theo

ry th

at a

ltern

ativ

e vi

deo

com

petit

ion

enco

urag

es n

etw

ork

prog

ram

div

ersi

ty w

as n

ot s

uppo

rted

.

Stu

dies

in O

ther

Med

ia

Gre

co (

1999

) ex

plor

ed th

e im

pact

of h

oriz

onta

l mer

gers

and

acq

uisi

tions

on

corp

orat

e co

ncen

trat

ion

in th

e U

.S. b

ook

publ

ishi

ng in

dust

ry d

urin

g 19

89-1

994.

The

prin

cipa

l arg

umen

ts r

egar

ding

the

crea

tion

of a

med

ia m

onop

oly

are

outli

ned,

usi

ng th

e

Her

finda

hl-H

irsch

man

Inde

x to

inve

stig

ate

whe

ther

Dep

artm

ent o

f Jus

tice

antit

rust

guid

elin

es w

ere

viol

ated

. He

cont

ende

d th

at c

once

rns

abou

t the

div

ersi

ty h

ave

been

min

imiz

ed b

ecau

se o

f oth

er m

edia

out

lets

.

Wan

ta a

nd J

ohns

on (

1994

) ex

amin

ed th

e co

nten

t cha

nges

in n

ewsp

aper

indu

stry

.

The

y in

vest

igat

ed h

ow c

ompe

titio

n af

fect

ed th

e co

nten

t of t

he S

t. Lo

uis

Pos

t-D

ispa

tch

durin

g a

decl

inin

g st

ate

of c

ompe

titio

n, m

onop

oly,

the

reem

erge

nce

of c

ompe

titio

n, a

nd

retu

rn to

mon

opol

y. T

hey

foun

d th

at c

ompe

titio

n is

onl

y on

e va

riabl

e th

at e

xpla

ins

BE

ST

CO

PY

AV

AIL

AB

LE

114

The

Im

pact

and

Rel

atio

nshi

p of

Pol

icy

9

chan

ges

in c

onte

nt, a

sser

ting

that

som

e co

nten

t cha

nges

foun

d ap

pear

to r

epre

sent

tren

ds

rath

er th

an r

espo

nses

to c

ompe

titio

n.

In th

e m

otio

n pi

ctur

e ar

ea, D

omin

ick

(198

7) s

tudi

ed 1

898

film

s re

leas

ed d

urin

gth

e

perio

d of

196

4-83

. The

res

ults

sho

wed

som

e flu

ctua

tions

in th

e tr

ends

for

cont

ent

conc

entr

atio

n an

d ye

ar to

yea

r st

abili

ty b

ut o

nly

min

or fl

uctu

atio

ns in

the

Hom

ogen

eity

Inde

x. H

e fo

und

that

ther

e w

ere

posi

tive

corr

elat

ion

betw

een

mar

ket p

ower

and

conc

entr

atio

n of

film

gen

res,

thus

sup

port

ing

the

hypo

thes

is r

egar

ding

the

impa

ctof

econ

omic

fact

ors

on p

rogr

am c

onte

nt.

Res

earc

h Q

uest

ions

One

of t

he p

rimar

y go

als

of c

omm

unic

atio

ns p

olic

y ha

s be

en to

enc

oura

ge m

edia

dive

rsity

, how

ever

, few

stu

dies

hav

e ex

amin

ed th

e ef

fect

iven

ess

of th

e po

licy

ondi

vers

ity

in c

able

TV

. Alth

ough

som

e re

sear

ch fo

und

that

gov

ernm

enta

l reg

ulat

ion

of m

edia

syst

ems

is n

eces

sary

in o

rder

to e

ncou

rage

com

petit

ion

and

dive

rsifi

catio

n, o

ther

s fo

und

quite

the

oppo

site

.

The

pot

entia

l cha

nnel

cap

acity

of c

able

TV

is a

lmos

t unl

imite

d, s

o it

is b

elie

ved

that

pro

gram

div

ersi

ty is

mor

e ap

prop

riate

than

cha

nnel

div

ersi

ty in

ord

er to

effi

cien

tly

mea

sure

the

impa

ct o

f der

egul

atio

n. T

here

fore

, thi

s st

udy

focu

ses

onth

e pr

ogra

m d

iver

sity

rath

er th

an c

hann

el d

iver

sity

. Nex

t, th

is s

tudy

focu

ses

on e

xam

inin

g th

e re

latio

nshi

p

amon

g go

vern

men

tal p

olic

y an

d ec

onom

ic fa

ctor

(co

mpe

titio

n),

and

prog

ram

div

ersi

ty.

Pre

viou

s st

udie

s di

d no

t pro

vide

com

pelli

ng e

vide

nce

that

str

ongl

y su

ppor

t the

impa

ct o

f com

petit

ion

on p

rogr

am d

iver

sity

con

cern

ing

the

econ

omic

fact

or. O

ne s

tudy

(De

Jong

& B

ates

, 199

1) in

vest

igat

ed o

nly

chan

nel d

iver

sity

to e

xam

ine

the

impa

ct o

f

115

BE

ST C

OPY

AV

AIL

AB

LE

The

Im

pact

and

Rel

atio

nshi

p of

Pol

icy

10

polic

y am

ong

thre

e pe

riods

: hig

h (1

976)

, mod

erat

e (1

981)

, and

no

regu

latio

n (1

986)

. Lee

(199

5) fa

ctor

ed in

the

degr

ee o

f bot

h po

licy

and

com

petit

ion.

He

foun

d th

at m

oder

ate

regu

lato

ry p

olic

y w

ith a

low

com

petit

ion

amon

g ch

anne

ls c

an b

e a

prop

er e

nviro

nmen

t for

mai

ntai

ning

the

high

est l

evel

of c

hann

el a

nd p

rogr

am d

iver

sity

. Thi

s st

udy

is a

par

tial

repl

icat

ion

of th

e pr

evio

us s

tudi

es, i

nclu

ding

mor

e re

cent

tim

e pe

riod.

Thi

s st

udy

atte

mpt

s to

exp

lore

the

follo

win

g re

sear

ch p

robl

ems:

I) H

ow m

uch

prog

ram

div

ersi

ty h

as c

able

TV

pro

vide

d du

ring

the

regu

lato

ry

perio

d (1

992

to 1

995)

and

der

egul

ator

y pe

riod

(199

6 up

to th

e pr

esen

t)?

2) H

as th

ere

been

mor

e pr

ogra

m d

iver

sity

in th

e nu

mbe

r of

pro

gram

type

s be

fore

or a

fter

the

pass

age

of th

e T

elec

omm

unic

atio

ns A

ct o

f 199

6?

3) W

hich

fact

or b

etw

een

gove

rnm

enta

l pol

icy

and

com

petit

ion

is m

ore

asso

ciat

ed

with

pro

gram

div

ersi

ty?

Met

hod

In o

rder

to m

easu

re th

e de

gree

of d

iver

sity

, sev

eral

alte

rnat

ive

term

s an

d m

easu

res

have

bee

n pr

opos

ed. F

or in

stan

ce, c

hann

el d

iver

sity

(D

e Jo

ng &

Bat

es, 1

991)

, div

ersi

ty in

cont

ent a

nd fo

rm (

Roo

f, T

raut

h &

Huf

fman

, 199

3), p

rogr

am (

or p

rogr

amm

ing)

dive

rsity

(Lev

in, 1

97!;

Dom

inic

k &

Pea

rce,

197

6; O

wen

, 197

7; L

itman

, 197

9; 1

992)

, and

pro

gram

varie

ty (

Wak

shla

g &

Ada

ms,

198

5) h

ave

been

use

d. A

s to

how

div

ersi

ty s

houl

d be

defin

ed, M

cQua

il (1

992)

cat

egor

ized

div

ersi

ty in

thre

e w

ays

(I)

dive

rsity

ref

lect

ing

diffe

renc

es in

soc

iety

(2)

div

ersi

ty g

ivin

g ac

cess

to d

iffer

ent p

oint

s of

vie

w, a

nd (

3)

dive

rsity

offe

ring

a w

ide

rang

e of

cho

ice

(p. 1

44).

116

The

Im

pact

and

Rel

atio

nshi

p of

Pol

icy

11

Thi

s st

udy

adop

ted

McQ

uail'

s (1

992)

third

dim

ensi

on o

f div

ersi

ty-d

iver

sity

as

choi

ce a

nd e

xam

ined

pro

gram

div

ersi

ty a

s th

e op

erat

iona

lmea

sure

for

div

ersi

ty. T

hus,

dive

rsity

is d

efin

ed a

s th

e de

gree

of

prog

ram

cho

ice

avai

labl

e to

the

view

erfr

om a

ll

chan

nels

of

a gi

ven

type

(G

rant

, 199

4). I

n ad

ditio

n, th

e st

udy

mea

sure

d bo

th v

ertic

al

dive

rsity

and

hor

izon

tal d

iver

sity

that

Lev

in (

1971

) an

d L

itman

(19

79)

posi

ted.

Whi

le

vert

ical

div

ersi

ty is

a m

easu

re o

f th

e de

gree

of

the

vari

atio

n w

ithin

the

prog

ram

sch

edul

e

of a

spe

cifi

c ch

anne

l, ho

rizo

ntal

div

ersi

ty p

rovi

des

a m

easu

re o

f th

e nu

mbe

r of

opt

ions

avai

labl

e to

the

view

er a

t any

giv

en ti

me

(Gra

nt, 1

994)

. Thi

s st

udy

code

d ba

sic

cabl

e

chan

nels

. Am

ong

basi

c ch

anne

ls, f

ive

gene

ral c

hann

els

and

five

spe

cial

cha

nnel

s w

ere

sele

cted

, whi

ch w

as d

one

in a

pre

viou

s st

udy

by L

itman

, Has

egaw

a, S

hrik

hand

e &

Bar

bats

is (

1994

). T

he f

ive

sele

cted

gen

eral

cha

nnel

s ar

e br

oadl

y ta

rget

ed c

hann

els:

A&

E,

Fam

ily, L

ifet

ime,

TN

T a

nd T

BS.

The

oth

er f

ive

sele

cted

spe

cial

cha

nnel

s ar

e m

ore

narr

owly

targ

eted

cha

nnel

s: C

NN

, DIS

C, E

SPN

, MT

V, a

nd N

ICK

.

Prog

ram

div

ersi

ty w

as e

xam

ined

dur

ing

the

afor

emen

tione

d tw

o pe

riod

s us

ing

cont

ent a

naly

sis.

Thi

s st

udy

used

Her

find

ahl-

Hir

schm

an I

ndex

(H

HI)

t of

conc

entr

atio

n,

whi

ch w

as p

rove

n as

a r

obus

t mea

sure

in p

revi

ous

stud

ies

(Litm

an e

t al.,

199

4; L

in, 1

995)

.

Hor

izon

tal d

iver

sity

was

mea

sure

d by

cou

ntin

g th

e nu

mbe

r of

ava

ilabl

e di

ffer

ent

prog

ram

type

s du

ring

eac

h 30

-min

ute

time

slot

,w

hich

was

als

o do

ne in

pre

viou

s st

udie

s

(Lev

in, 1

980;

Litm

an, 1

979)

. Pro

gram

div

ersi

ty o

f ba

sic

chan

nels

dur

ing

the

cent

ral p

rim

e

Her

find

ahl-

Hir

schm

an I

ndex

is c

alcu

late

d by

I)

sum

min

g sq

uare

s of

tim

e sh

are

of e

ach

prog

ram

cate

gory

. or

by 2

) su

mm

ing

squa

res

of th

e pr

obab

ility

of

each

pro

gram

cat

egor

y to

be li

sted

. The

for

mul

a

is a

s fo

llow

s: 1

-1H

1= E

Pie

whe

re P

i= R

atio

of

time

for

prog

ram

type

Ito

tota

l lis

le f

or p

rogr

amm

ing

(Kam

bara

. 199

2. p

. 197

).O

r =

Pro

babi

lity

of p

rogr

am ty

pe i

to b

e in

clud

ed o

n th

e pr

ogra

m li

stin

g (G

rant

. 199

4. p

. 58)

. Thi

s in

dex

has

a po

ssib

le m

axim

um v

alue

of

1.0

whe

n on

ly o

ne p

rogr

am ty

pe is

car

ried

ove

r th

e tim

e pe

riod

. Thu

s.th

e in

dex

is in

vers

ely

rela

ted

to d

iver

sity

. whi

ch m

eans

the

high

er th

e va

lue

of th

is in

dex.

the

mor

epo

pula

r th

e pr

ogra

m ty

pes

and

the

low

er th

e di

vers

ity.

117

The

Im

pact

and

Rel

atio

nshi

p of

Pol

icy

12

time

(6 p

.m. t

o 10

p.m

) w

as m

easu

red

thro

ugh

the

TV

Gui

de E

vans

ville

-Pad

ucah

Edi

tion,

cove

ring

the

who

le p

rogr

amm

ing

sche

dule

on

tele

visi

on s

tatio

ns a

nd c

able

ope

rato

rs in

Sout

hern

Ind

iana

, Wes

tern

Ken

tuck

y, a

nd S

outh

ern

Illin

ois,

issu

ed f

rom

199

2 to

199

9.

Tw

o-w

eek

wee

kday

sam

ples

in e

very

sea

sona

l per

iod

(Jan

uary

to M

arch

; Apr

il to

Jun

e;

July

to S

epte

mbe

r; a

nd O

ctob

er to

Dec

embe

r) w

as c

olle

cted

bas

ed o

n co

nstr

ucte

d w

eek

sam

plin

g m

etho

ds. T

he to

tal n

umbe

r of

wee

ks w

ere

64 w

eeks

(8

wee

ks ti

mes

8 y

ears

).

Am

ong

the

sele

cted

sam

ple,

day

s fr

om S

atur

day

thro

ugh

Wed

nesd

ay w

ere

code

d in

eac

h

wee

k to

incl

ude

the

prog

ram

s of

wee

kday

s as

wel

l as

wee

kend

s. T

here

fore

, the

tota

l

num

ber

of d

ays

that

wer

e co

ded

amou

nted

to 3

20 (

5 da

ys ti

mes

64

wee

ks).

The

sub

ject

ive

choi

ce o

f th

e nu

mbe

r of

pro

gram

cat

egor

ies

and

thei

r

appr

opri

aten

ess

can

infl

uenc

e th

e re

sult

of d

iver

sity

mea

sure

men

t (L

itman

et a

l., 1

994)

.

Thi

s st

udy

chos

e si

xtee

n pr

ogra

m ty

pes

sim

ilar

to th

ose

Litm

an e

t al.

(199

4) a

dopt

ed.

Litm

an (

1992

) su

gges

ted

that

twel

ve to

twen

ty-f

our

prog

ram

cat

egor

ies

are

reas

onab

le o

n

his

cate

gori

zatio

n,2

and

on th

e po

pula

rity

of

prim

e-tim

e pr

ogra

ms

(Eas

tman

, Hea

d, &

Kle

in, 1

988;

Hea

d &

Ste

rlin

g, 1

990)

. To

help

cor

rect

ly id

entif

y ea

ch p

rogr

am, s

ever

al

refe

renc

e bo

oks

wer

e us

ed.3

Def

initi

ons

and

exam

ples

of

thes

e pr

ogra

m c

ateg

orie

s ar

e as

fol

low

s:

Litm

an (

1992

) su

gges

ted

that

the

num

ber

of c

ateg

orie

s m

ust n

ot b

e so

larg

e as

to s

ugge

st th

at n

opr

ogra

ms

arc

sim

ilar

yet s

o fe

w th

at th

ey a

vera

ge to

geth

er a

nd h

ide

sign

ific

antly

dif

fere

ntki

nds

of

prog

ram

s.3

Ter

race

. V. (

1976

). T

he C

ompl

ete

Enc

yclo

pedi

a of

Tel

evis

ion

Prog

ram

s: 1

947-

1976

. San

Die

go, C

A:

Bar

nes:

Ter

race

. V. (

1981

). T

elev

isio

n: 1

970-

1980

. San

Die

go, C

A: B

arne

s: a

nd B

row

n. L

. (19

92).

Les

Bro

wn'

s E

ncyc

lope

dia

of T

elev

isio

n. N

ew Y

ork:

New

Yor

k Z

oetr

ope.

BE

ST

CO

PY

AV

AIL

AB

LE11

8

The

Impa

ct a

nd R

elat

ions

hip

of P

olic

y13

Def

initi

ons

of P

rogr

am C

ateg

orie

s

1.A

rt/M

usic

/Cul

ture

(E

nter

tain

men

t): P

opul

ar a

rtis

tic a

nd c

ultu

ral p

rogr

ams

to

ente

rtai

n vi

ewer

s, s

uch

as m

usic

vid

eo p

rogr

ams

by p

op m

usic

ians

.

2.A

rt/M

usic

/Cul

ture

(N

on-E

nter

tain

men

t): P

rogr

ams

abou

t int

rodu

cing

or

desc

ribi

ng p

ure

and

aest

hetic

art

s an

d cu

lture

, suc

h as

cla

ssic

al m

usic

.

3.C

hild

ren/

Car

toon

(E

nter

tain

men

t): P

rogr

ams

mad

e fo

r ch

ildre

n's

(bel

ow th

e

age

of e

ight

een)

ent

erta

inm

ent,

such

as

cart

oons

whe

re r

obot

s an

dan

imal

s st

ar.

4.C

hild

ren/

Car

toon

(N

on-E

nter

tain

men

t): P

rogr

ams

mad

e fo

r ed

ucat

ing

or

inst

ruct

ing

child

ren

(bel

ow th

e ag

e of

eig

htee

n). F

or in

stan

ce, t

hose

pro

gram

s

desi

gned

to te

ach

child

ren

som

ethi

ng.

5.D

ocum

enta

ry/E

duca

tiona

l/Ins

truc

tiona

l: Pr

ogra

ms

devo

ted

to s

yste

mat

ical

ly

desc

ribi

ng, e

xpla

inin

g, a

nd in

stru

ctin

g th

ings

, fac

ts, a

nd c

hara

cter

s of

inte

rest

,

such

as

expl

orin

g pr

ogra

ms

abou

t an

anim

al's

life

on

Dis

cove

ry c

hann

el.

6.D

ram

a: R

egul

arly

sch

edul

ed, c

ontin

uing

, or

non-

cont

inui

ng s

tory

lines

, suc

h as

soap

ope

ras

and

seri

es.

7.G

ame:

Pro

gram

s in

whi

ch c

onte

stan

ts a

nsw

er q

uest

ions

in o

rder

to w

in p

rize

s

and

rew

ards

.

8.M

ovie

: All

kind

s of

mot

ion

pict

ures

that

wer

e re

leas

ed f

or th

eate

rs o

r m

ade

for

tele

visi

on.

9.N

ews/

Info

rmat

ion:

Tim

ely,

sho

rt r

epor

ts o

f st

orie

s on

cur

rent

eve

nts

and

affa

irs,

incl

udin

g re

gula

r ev

enin

g ne

ws,

fin

anci

al r

epor

ts, a

nd w

eath

er r

epor

ts.

The

Impa

ct a

nd R

elat

ions

hip

of P

olic

y14

10. P

ublic

Aff

airs

/New

s M

agaz

ine

(Ent

erta

inm

ent)

: Pro

gram

s of

cur

rent

eve

nts

with

in-d

epth

rep

orts

and

dis

cuss

ions

for

ent

erta

inin

g pu

rpos

es, s

uch

as

sens

atio

nal r

epor

ts a

bout

cel

ebri

ties.

11. P

ublic

Aff

airs

/New

s M

agaz

ine

(Non

-Ent

erta

inm

ent)

: Pro

gram

s of

cur

rent

even

ts w

ith in

-dep

th r

epor

ts a

nd d

iscu

ssio

ns f

or n

on-e

nter

tain

ing

purp

oses

,

such

as

pane

l dis

cuss

ions

abo

ut d

iplo

mat

ic a

nd e

cono

mic

rel

atio

ns w

ith o

ther

coun

trie

s.

12. R

elig

ions

: Pro

gram

s br

oadc

astin

g w

orsh

ip s

ervi

ces,

pre

ache

rs, a

nd g

ospe

l

mus

ic.

13. S

ituat

ion

Com

edy:

Reg

ular

ly s

ched

uled

com

edy

prog

ram

s w

ith a

dif

fere

nt

epis

ode

per

sche

dule

.

14. S

port

s: L

ive

and

reco

rded

spo

rts

even

ts, i

nclu

ding

com

men

tary

, int

ervi

ews

or

prev

iew

s of

upc

omin

g ev

ents

.

15. T

alk

Show

/Var

iety

Sho

w: S

oft a

nd e

nter

tain

ing

prog

ram

s w

ith a

hos

t tal

king

abou

t cur

rent

and

hum

an e

vent

s by

invi

ting

a fe

w g

uest

s, w

ho a

re m

ostly

cele

briti

es a

nd p

ublic

fig

ures

and

som

etim

es s

how

thei

r un

ique

per

form

ance

s,

such

as

sing

ing

and

danc

ing.

16. O

ther

s: A

ll th

e ot

her

prog

ram

s no

t inc

lude

d in

abo

ve c

ateg

orie

s.

Furt

herm

ore,

whi

le v

iew

ing

the

rela

tions

hip

amon

g po

licy,

com

petit

ion

and

prog

ram

div

ersi

ty; f

irst

, the

pol

icy

fact

or a

s an

inde

pend

ent v

aria

ble

was

divi

ded

into

two

time

peri

ods,

rep

rese

ntin

g di

ffer

ent d

egre

es o

f go

vern

men

tal p

olic

y su

ch a

s st

rong

(19

92-

1995

) an

d w

eak

regu

latio

ns (

1996

-199

9). T

his

vari

able

was

trea

ted

as a

n in

terv

al v

aria

ble

11`,

J12

0

BE

ST

CO

PY

AV

AIL

AB

LE

The

Impa

ct a

nd R

elat

ions

hip

of P

olic

y15

in r

egre

ssio

n an

alys

is o

f th

is s

tudy

and

as

a ca

tego

rica

l var

iabl

e in

a t-

test

. Sec

ond,

whi

le

mea

suri

ng c

ompe

titio

n le

vel,

the

num

ber

of o

ver-

the-

air

chan

nels

, bas

ic c

able

cha

nnel

s,

and

spec

ial c

able

cha

nnel

s (p

rem

ium

cha

nnel

s) w

ere

coun

ted.

The

se d

ata

wer

e al

so

gath

ered

fro

m T

V G

uide

Eva

nsvi

lle-P

aduc

ah E

ditio

n. T

his

vari

able

was

trea

ted

as a

rat

io

vari

able

in r

egre

ssio

n an

alys

is.

The

dat

a w

ere

anal

yzed

usi

ng in

depe

nden

t sam

ple

t-te

st to

com

pare

the

dive

rsity

betw

een

the

two

time

peri

ods.

Mul

tiple

reg

ress

ion

anal

yses

wer

e co

nduc

ted

to in

vest

igat

e

the

rela

tions

hip

betw

een

two

inde

pend

ent v

aria

bles

(re

gula

tion

and

com

petit

ion)

and

prog

ram

div

ersi

ty (

vert

ical

and

hor

izon

tal d

iver

sity

) A

.05

leve

l of

sign

ific

ance

was

set

.

Als

o, th

e av

erag

e of

ver

tical

and

hor

izon

tal d

iver

sity

was

cal

cula

ted.

One

-day

cod

ed it

ems

from

eac

h ye

ar w

ere

rand

omly

sel

ecte

d to

cal

cula

te

inte

rcod

er r

elia

bilit

y. T

en p

erce

nt o

f th

e sa

mpl

es w

ere

then

cod

ed b

y a

seco

nd tr

aine

d

code

r to

det

erm

ine

the

leve

l of

inte

rcod

er r

elia

bilit

y. T

he r

esul

t of

vert

ical

div

ersi

ty a

nd

hori

zont

al d

iver

sity

was

85%

and

84%

, res

pect

ivel

y.

Res

ults

Wha

t fol

low

s is

the

aver

age

of v

ertic

al a

nd h

oriz

onta

l div

ersi

ty e

ach

year

fro

m

1992

to 1

999.

Tab

le 1

det

ails

the

vert

ical

pro

gram

div

ersi

ty e

ach

year

. Alth

ough

ther

e is

no s

igni

fica

nt tr

end

with

in e

ach

of th

e tw

o pe

riod

s, a

ll th

e m

ean

scor

es o

f th

e re

gula

tory

peri

ods

(199

2-19

95)

are

low

er th

an th

ose

of th

e de

regu

lato

ry p

erio

d (1

996-

1999

). T

hat i

s,

mor

e di

vers

ity is

pre

sent

dur

ing

the

regu

lato

ry p

erio

d th

an th

e de

regu

lato

ry p

erio

d. I

t

show

s th

at th

ere

is li

ttle

diff

eren

ce d

urin

g th

e re

gula

tory

per

iod,

whi

ch m

eans

ran

ging

from

the

mea

ns o

f 0.

530

to 0

.582

, but

som

e in

crea

se e

xist

s du

ring

the

dere

gula

tory

121

The

Impa

ct a

nd R

elat

ions

hip

of P

olic

y16

peri

od. E

spec

ially

the

year

of

1998

indi

cate

s th

e hi

ghes

t mea

n ve

rtic

al p

rogr

am d

iver

sity

valu

e (0

.661

) an

d th

e se

cond

hig

hest

is th

e ye

ar o

f 19

99 (

0.65

2), w

hich

sho

ws

less

dive

rsity

than

the

othe

rs. T

he y

ear

of 1

994

has

the

low

est m

ean

vert

ical

pro

gram

div

ersi

ty

valu

e (0

.530

), w

hich

mea

ns th

is y

ear

has

mor

e ve

rtic

al p

rogr

am d

iver

sity

than

the

othe

rs.

The

yea

r of

199

5 ha

s th

e se

cond

low

est v

alue

(0.

539)

Tab

le I

. Mea

ns a

nd S

tand

ard

Dev

iatio

ns o

f V

ertic

al P

rogr

am D

iver

sity

By

Yea

r

Yea

rM

ean

Sta

ndar

d D

evia

tion

1992

0.58

20.

034

1993

0.55

60.

034

1994

0.53

00.

028

1995

0.53

90.

029

1996

0.62

00.

054

1997

0.59

60.

137

1998

0.66

10.

058

1999

0.65

20.

075

Tab

le 2

sho

ws

hori

zont

al p

rogr

am d

iver

sity

eac

h ye

ar. I

t sho

ws

that

ther

e is

no

real

tren

d w

ithin

eac

h of

the

two

peri

ods.

It a

ppea

rs th

at h

oriz

onta

l pro

gram

div

ersi

ty

rem

ains

rel

ativ

ely

mor

e co

nsis

tent

than

its

vert

ical

cou

nter

part

dur

ing

the

peri

od (

1992

-

1999

), r

angi

ng m

ean

scor

es f

rom

6.9

66 to

7.4

21. I

t is

note

wor

thy,

how

ever

, tha

t the

yea

r

of 1

999

has

the

low

est m

ean

hori

zont

al d

iver

sity

val

ue (

6.96

6), w

hich

mea

ns it

has

the

leas

t div

ersi

ty. O

n th

e ot

her

hand

, the

yea

r of

199

5, w

hich

was

the

year

bef

ore

the

BE

ST

CO

PY

AV

AIL

AB

LE

122

The

Im

pact

and

Rel

atio

nshi

p of

Pol

icy

17

Tel

ecom

mun

icat

ions

Act

, has

the

high

est m

ean

horiz

onta

l val

ue (

7.42

1). T

his

indi

cate

s a

grea

t div

ersi

ty.

Tab

le 2

. Mea

ns a

nd S

tand

ard

Dev

iatio

ns o

f Hor

izon

tal P

rogr

am D

iver

sity

By

Yea

r

Yea

rM

ean

Stan

dard

Dev

iatio

n

1992

7.29

60.

371

1993

7.13

60.

317

1994

7.28

30.

312

1995

7.42

10.

370

1996

7.27

00.

310

1997

7.28

90.

367

1998

7.20

00.

330

1999

6.96

60.

447

Tab

le 3

is a

sum

mar

y of

t -te

sts

for

findi

ng m

ean

diffe

renc

es in

the

vert

ical

pro

gram

dive

rsity

dur

ing

the

two

time

perio

ds. I

t ind

icat

es th

at s

core

s of

der

egul

ator

y pe

riod

are

high

er, w

hich

mea

ns le

ss p

rogr

am d

iver

sity

for

indi

vidu

al n

etw

orks

. The

t-va

lue

is

sign

ifica

ntly

hig

h at

the

leve

l of .

05. T

he [-

scor

e is

15.

493

(df =

318

, p <

.000

). It

indi

cate

s

that

ther

e is

a s

igni

fican

t mea

n di

ffere

nce

betw

een

the

regu

lato

ry p

erio

d an

d th

e

dere

gula

tory

per

iod.

The

ver

tical

pro

gram

div

ersi

ty o

f the

reg

ulat

ory

perio

d ha

s a

mea

n

scor

e of

0.5

51, w

hile

that

of d

ereg

ulat

ory

perio

d ha

s 0.

640.

1''3

The

Im

pact

and

Rel

atio

nshi

p of

Pol

icy

18

Tab

le 3

. Ind

epen

dent

Sam

ple

t-te

st fo

r V

ertic

al P

rogr

am D

iver

sity

Mea

ns a

nd P

aire

d S

ampl

e t-

scor

esV

ertic

al P

rogr

am D

iver

sity

Reg

ulat

ion

(199

2-19

95)

Der

egul

atio

n (1

995-

1996

)

N t-sc

ore

df p

0.55

1

0.64

0

320

15.4

93

318

0.00

0

Tab

le 4

is a

sum

mar

y of

t -te

sts

for

findi

ng m

ean

diffe

renc

es o

f the

hor

izon

tal

prog

ram

div

ersi

ty d

urin

g th

e tw

o tim

e pe

riods

. The

re w

ere

nosi

gnifi

cant

diff

eren

ces

betw

een

the

two

time

perio

ds. T

he t-

valu

e is

not

sig

nific

antly

hig

her

atth

e le

vel o

f .05

(t =

-1.2

60, d

f= 3

18, p

< 0

.208

). N

ever

thel

ess,

the

mea

n ho

rizon

tal p

rogr

am d

iver

sity

valu

e of

the

regu

lato

ry p

erio

d (7

.233

) is

slig

htly

hig

her

than

the

mea

n ho

rizon

tal p

rogr

amdi

vers

ity

valu

e of

the

dere

gula

tory

per

iod

(7.1

81).

Tab

le 4

. Ind

epen

dent

Sam

ple

t-te

st fo

r H

oriz

onta

l Pro

gram

Div

ersi

ty

Mea

ns a

nd P

aire

d S

ampl

e t-

scor

esH

oriz

onta

l Pro

gram

Div

ersi

ty

Reg

ulat

ion

(199

2-19

95)

Der

egul

atio

n (1

995-

1996

)

7.23

3

7.18

1

N31

8

t-sc

ore

-1.2

60

JES

T C

OP

Y A

VA

ILA

BLE

124

df

318

p0.

208

The

Impa

ct a

nd R

elat

ions

hip

of P

olic

y10

Tab

le 5

is th

e re

sult

of r

egre

ssio

n of

the

inde

pend

ent v

aria

bles

on

the

vert

ical

dive

rsity

. The

tota

l var

ianc

e ac

coun

ted

for

by tw

o in

depe

nden

t var

iabl

es w

as s

igni

fican

t (R

Squ

are

= .4

38; F

= 1

23.8

1; d

f = 2

/317

; p <

.001

). T

hat i

s, p

olic

y an

d co

mpe

titio

n

expl

ains

the

vert

ical

div

ersi

ty b

y ap

prox

imat

ely

44%

. It i

s co

nclu

ded

that

bet

wee

n th

e tw

o

varia

bles

, pol

icy

fact

or (

Bet

a =

-.4

9; t

= -

6.74

; p <

.001

). e

xpla

ins

mor

e th

an c

ompe

titio

n

fact

or (

Bet

a =

-.1

9; t

= 2

.72;

p <

.001

).

Tab

le 5

. Mul

tiple

Reg

ress

ion

on V

ertic

al D

iver

sity

Mul

tiple

R.6

62A

naly

sis

of V

aria

nce

R S

quar

e.4

38D

FS

um o

f Squ

ares

Adj

uste

d R

Squ

are

.435

Reg

ress

ion

2.6

38

Res

idua

l31

7.8

17

F =

123

.81

Sig

F =

.000

0

Var

iabl

es in

the

Equ

atio

n

Sig

T

.000

0

.006

8

Var

iabl

eB

SE

BB

eta

Par

t Cor

Par

tial

Reg

ulat

ion

-.06

61.0

098

-.49

06-.

2838

.354

3

Com

petit

ion

.004

1.0

015

.198

1.1

146

.151

3

Tab

le 6

is th

e re

sult

of r

egre

ssio

n of

the

inde

pend

ent v

aria

bles

on

the

horiz

onta

l

dive

rsity

. The

tota

l var

ianc

e ac

coun

ted

for

by tw

o in

depe

nden

t var

iabl

es w

as s

igni

fican

t (R

125

The

Impa

ct a

nd R

elat

ions

hip

of P

olic

y20

Squ

are

= .0

494;

F =

8.2

36; d

f = 2

/317

; p <

.001

).It

mea

ns th

at p

olic

y an

d co

mpe

titio

n

expl

ains

the

horiz

onta

l div

ersi

ty b

y 4%

. How

ever

, tw

o fa

ctor

s w

ere

muc

h le

ss a

ssoc

iate

d

with

hor

izon

tal d

iver

sity

com

pare

d to

ver

tical

div

ersi

ty. A

lso,

bet

wee

n th

e tw

o va

riabl

es,

only

com

petit

ion

fact

or w

as s

igni

fican

t, an

d co

mpe

titio

n fa

ctor

(B

eta

= -

.29;

t =

-3.

16; p

<

.001

) m

ore

expl

ains

than

pol

icy

fact

or (

Bet

a =

-.1

0; t

= -

1.1;

p <

.001

) in

this

cas

e.

Tab

le 6

. Mul

tiple

Reg

ress

ion

on H

oriz

onta

l Div

ersi

ty

Mul

tiple

R.2

22A

naly

sis

of V

aria

nce

R S

quar

e.0

49D

FS

um o

f Squ

ares

Adj

uste

dR

Squ

are

.043

Reg

ress

ion

Res

idua

l

F =

Var

iabl

es in

the

Equ

atio

n

2

317

8.23

6

2.15

7

41.5

2

Sig

F =

.000

3

Var

iabl

eB

SE

BB

eta

Par

t Cor

Par

tial

Sig

T

Reg

ulat

ion

-.07

74 .0

699

-.10

47-.

0606

.062

0.2

691

Com

petit

ion

-.03

43 .0

108

-.29

92.1

731

.174

8.0

017

Dis

cuss

ion

Thi

s st

udy

exam

ined

the

effe

cts

of g

over

nmen

tal p

olic

y an

d co

mpe

titio

n on

prog

ram

div

ersi

ty in

cab

le T

V b

etw

een

a st

rong

reg

ulat

ion

perio

d an

d a

dere

gula

tory

perio

d in

whi

ch g

over

nmen

tal p

olic

y ha

s su

bsta

ntia

lly a

ffect

ed th

e U

.S. c

able

TV

indu

stry

.

Thi

s st

udy

prov

ides

a m

ore

rece

nt e

xam

ple

than

the

prev

ious

inve

stig

atio

ns.

BE

ST

CO

PY

AV

AIL

AB

LE

The

Impa

ct a

nd R

elat

ions

hip

of P

olic

y21

The

re is

littl

e do

ubt v

iew

ers

toda

y ar

e en

joyi

ng m

ore

dive

rse

prog

ram

cho

ices

than

ever

, con

side

ring

incr

ease

d ch

anne

l cap

acity

and

oth

er m

edia

out

lets

. Ove

rall,

cabl

e T

V

appe

ars

to b

e pr

ovid

ing

a co

nsis

tent

leve

l of p

rogr

am d

iver

sity

vie

win

g fr

om th

ere

sults

.

The

res

ults

of t

his

stud

y, h

owev

er, s

ugge

st th

at d

ereg

ulat

ion

has

not i

ncre

ased

div

ersi

ty a

s

inte

nded

. Thi

s st

udy

furt

her

sugg

ests

that

div

ersi

ty h

as d

eclin

ed w

ithin

var

ious

cha

nnel

s

(ver

tical

pro

gram

div

ersi

ty)

as w

ell a

s ac

ross

cab

le n

etw

orks

(ho

rizon

tal d

iver

sity

),

alth

ough

onl

y ve

rtic

al p

rogr

am d

iver

sity

bet

wee

n th

e af

orem

entio

ned

two

perio

ds w

as

stat

istic

ally

sig

nific

ant.

With

res

pect

to th

e re

latio

nshi

p or

ass

ocia

tion

amon

g

gove

rnm

enta

l pol

icy,

com

petit

ion,

and

pro

gram

div

ersi

ty, i

t see

ms

to w

ork

diffe

rent

ly fo

r

vert

ical

and

hor

izon

tal d

iver

sity

.

The

res

ults

dem

onst

rate

that

it is

impo

rtan

t to

incl

ude

horiz

onta

l div

ersi

ty a

s w

ell

as v

ertic

al d

iver

sity

in m

easu

ring

prog

ram

div

ersi

ty b

ecau

se th

ey a

reco

ncep

tual

ly

diffe

rent

. In

this

sen

se, t

he fi

ndin

g su

ppor

ts th

at th

e pr

evio

us s

tudy

of G

rant

(19

94)

whi

ch

foun

d th

at th

ere

was

no

sign

ifica

nt r

elat

ions

hip

betw

een

horiz

onta

l div

ersi

ty a

nd a

vera

ge

vert

ical

div

ersi

ty. T

his

also

app

ears

con

sist

ent w

ith p

ast w

ork

(Dom

inic

k &

Pea

rce,

197

6)

that

foun

d pr

ogra

mm

ing

unde

rwen

t gra

dual

cyc

les

of c

hang

e, a

nd th

e do

min

ant p

rogr

am

genr

es w

as r

elat

ivel

y st

able

, alth

ough

thei

r st

udy

did

not d

eal w

ith c

able

TV

. In

addi

tion,

the

resu

lts p

artly

sup

port

the

findi

ng o

f Lee

(19

95)

whi

ch c

oncl

uded

that

mod

erat

e

regu

latio

n co

ntrib

uted

to p

rom

otin

g pr

ogra

m d

iver

sity

rat

her

than

wea

k re

gula

tion.

How

ever

, in

resp

ect t

o th

e re

latio

nshi

p am

ong

polic

y, c

ompe

titio

n, a

nd d

iver

sity

, thi

s

stud

y on

ly p

artly

sup

port

ed th

e pr

evio

us fi

ndin

g. T

hat i

s, a

pol

icy

fact

or tu

rned

out

to b

e a

mor

e po

wer

ful v

aria

ble

than

com

petit

ion

that

can

exp

lain

the

vert

ical

pro

gram

div

ersi

ty,

whi

le th

e co

mpe

titio

n fa

ctor

was

mor

e as

soci

ated

with

hor

izon

tal d

iver

sity

.

1`'7

The

Impa

ct a

nd R

elat

ions

hip

of P

olic

y22

Litm

an (

1992

) po

inte

d ou

t tha

t the

hor

izon

tal d

iver

sity

faci

litat

ed a

n as

sess

men

t of

how

a p

artic

ular

med

ium

or

all m

edia

are

sim

ulta

neou

sly

perf

orm

ing,

whi

le th

e ve

rtic

al

dive

rsity

cou

ld fa

cilit

ate

judg

emen

ts o

f eith

er in

divi

dual

org

aniz

atio

ns o

r gr

oups

of

orga

niza

tions

. Hor

izon

tal d

iver

sity

was

dev

elop

ed b

ased

on

the

notio

n of

giv

ing

view

ers

vario

us p

rogr

am c

hoic

es w

ithin

a g

iven

tim

e pe

riod.

Thu

s, if

eac

h ch

anne

l em

phas

izes

one

spec

ific

type

of p

rogr

am, h

oriz

onta

l div

ersi

ty c

an b

e de

velo

ped

desp

ite th

e fa

ct th

at th

ere

is n

o ve

rtic

al d

iver

sity

of p

rogr

ams

with

in o

ne c

hann

el. I

n th

is r

espe

ct, t

he r

esul

t of t

his

stud

y de

mon

stra

tes

that

a c

able

net

wor

k be

com

es m

ore

spec

ializ

ed, d

evel

opin

g on

e

spec

ific

type

of p

rogr

am, w

hile

vie

wer

s ha

ve b

een

enjo

ying

a w

ide

varie

ty o

f pro

gram

choi

ces

with

in a

giv

en ti

me

perio

d. T

his

tren

d ca

n us

ually

take

pla

ce e

spec

ially

whe

n

chan

nel c

apac

ity o

f cab

le s

yste

m is

incr

ease

d. T

he r

easo

n w

hy h

oriz

onta

l div

ersi

ty r

emai

ns

rela

tivel

y co

nsis

tent

and

less

fluc

tuat

ed c

an s

tem

from

ove

rall

prog

ram

rep

licat

ion,

cou

nter

prog

ram

min

g, a

nd a

tend

ency

to a

ppea

l with

the

man

y fo

rms

of th

e le

ast c

omm

on

deno

min

ator

pro

gram

min

g, s

imila

r to

con

vent

iona

l bro

adca

stin

g ne

twor

ks in

the

cabl

e T

V

indu

stry

. Ove

rall,

gov

ernm

enta

l pol

icy

and

com

petit

ion

mig

ht b

e on

e of

sev

eral

fact

ors

such

as m

arke

t str

uctu

re, f

inan

cial

sys

tem

of e

ach

cabl

e pr

ogra

m p

rovi

der,

owne

rshi

p, a

nd

audi

ence

fact

ors

like

ratin

gs th

at c

an a

ffect

the

prog

ram

div

ersi

ty. I

n th

is s

ense

, it w

ould

be d

iffic

ult t

o de

velo

p an

ove

rarc

hing

theo

ry to

pre

dict

the

mos

t crit

ical

fact

or a

ffect

ing

the

leve

l of p

rogr

am d

iver

sity

. How

ever

, the

res

ults

of t

his

stud

y su

gges

ts th

at th

e

dere

gula

tion

polic

y is

not

wor

king

in in

crea

sing

the

prog

ram

div

ersi

ty in

U.S

. cab

le T

V a

t

this

poi

nt, a

lthou

gh th

e ju

dgm

ent i

n de

cidi

ng th

e ou

tcom

e of

gov

ernm

enta

l pol

icy

may

take

mor

e tim

e.

TC

OP

Y A

VA

ILA

BLE

128

The

Im

pact

and

Rel

atio

nshi

p of

Pol

icy

23T

he I

mpa

ct a

nd R

elat

ions

hip

of P

olic

y24

Lim

itatio

ns a

nd S

ugge

stio

nsR

efer

ence

s

Bas

ical

ly, d

iver

sity

may

be a

n el

usiv

e co

ncep

t to

mea

sure

, alth

ough

this

stu

dyA

llard

, N. W

. (19

93).

The

199

2 C

able

Act

: Jus

t the

beg

inni

ng. H

astin

gs

atte

mpt

ed to

mea

sure

pro

gram

div

ersi

ty b

y us

ing

sixt

een

prog

ram

type

s w

hich

was

Com

mun

icat

ions

and

Ent

erta

inm

ent L

aw J

ourn

al, 1

5, 3

05-3

55.

empl

oyed

in s

ever

al p

revi

ous

stud

ies.

Fur

ther

, it m

ay b

e m

ore

cont

rove

rsia

l to

dete

rmin

eB

ates

, B. J

., &

Cha

mbe

rs L

. T. (

1999

). T

he e

cono

mic

bas

is fo

r ra

dio

dere

gula

tion.

how

muc

h pr

ogra

m d

iver

sity

wou

ld b

e su

ffici

ent.

Jour

nal o

f Med

ia E

cono

mic

s, 1

2(1)

, 19-

34.

The

tim

e sp

an o

f gov

ernm

enta

l pol

icy

that

was

com

pare

d be

twee

n th

e re

gula

tory

Bro

wn,

L. (

1992

). L

es B

row

n's

Enc

yclo

pedi

a of

Tel

evis

ion.

New

Yor

k: N

ew

perio

d an

d th

e de

regu

lato

ry p

erio

d in

this

stu

dy c

ould

be

exte

nded

by

incl

udin

g pe

riods

Yor

k Z

oetr

ope.

befo

re a

nd a

fter

the

Cab

le C

omm

unic

atio

ns P

olic

y A

ct o

f 198

4, in

ord

er to

ref

lect

mor

eC

ham

bers

, L. T

., &

Bat

es, B

. J. (

1992

, May

). E

ffect

ive

com

petit

ion

in r

adio

:

leve

ls o

f reg

ulat

ory

or d

ereg

ulat

ory

perio

ds. A

lso,

it is

app

aren

tly n

eces

sary

to fa

ctor

inT

estin

g th

e ba

sis

for

dere

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