TV Drama Can Be More Persuasive Than News Program
A fictional television drama may be more effective in persuading young women to use birth control than a news-format program on the same issue, according to a new study.
Researchers found that college-age women who viewed a televised drama about a teen pregnancy felt more vulnerable two weeks after watching the show, and this led to more support for using birth control.
However, those who watched a news program detailing the difficulties caused by teen pregnancies were unmoved, and had no change in their intentions to use birth control.
The results show the power that narratives like TV shows can have in influencing people, said Emily Moyer-Gusé, co-author of the study and assistant professor of communication at Ohio State University.
“A message that is hidden inside of a story may overcome some of the resistance people have to being told how to behave,” Moyer-Gusé said.
“The impact that dramatized stories have on people’s beliefs and intentions depends a lot on the individual viewers, and not just the message – but our results suggest the effect can be there.” (more…)
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Children’s TV Has Questionable Political Themes, Study Shows
Most parents know to screen television shows for sex, violence or other negative messaging—but what about children’s shows themselves?
Research by the University of Alberta’s Augustana Campus contends that children’s programming can carry underlying political themes that may surprise parents. After analyzing 23 episodes of Thomas and Friends, a show about a train, his friends and their adventures on a fictional island, political scientist Shauna Wilton was able to identify themes that didn’t seem constructive for youngsters.
“While the show conveys a number of positive political values such as tolerance, listening, communicating with others and contributing to the community, it also represents a conservative political ideology that punishes individual initiative, opposes critique and change, and relegates females to supportive roles,” said Wilton, an assistant professor in the Department of Social Sciences at Augustana Campus.
The Thomas and Friends TV series is shown in 130 countries around the world. Wilton noted storylines in several episodes that divided the characters into different social classes and punished those who tried to gain individual power. “Any change is seen as disrupting the natural order of things.” As well, of 49 main characters listed in the show, only eight were female, reflecting a general trend among children’s programming, Wilton said. (more…)
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Television Has Less Effect on Education about Climate Change than Other Forms of Media
Worried about climate change and want to learn more? You probably aren’t watching television then. A new study by George Mason University Communication Professor Xiaoquan Zhao suggests that watching television has no significant impact on viewers’ knowledge about the issue of climate change. Reading newspapers and using the web, however, seem to contribute to people’s knowledge about this issue.
The study, “Media Use and Global Warming Perceptions: A Snapshot of the Reinforcing Spirals”, looked at the relationship between media use and people’s perceptions of global warming. The study asked participants how often they watch TV, surf the Web, and read newspapers. They were also asked about their concern and knowledge of global warming and specifically its impact on the polar regions.
“Unlike many other social issues with which the public may have first-hand experience, global warming is an issue that many come to learn about through the media,” says Zhao. “The primary source of mediated information about global warming is the news.” (more…)
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Book Reveals a Lost First Chapter in the History of Television News
In his new book, The Origins of Television News in America: The Visualizers of CBS in the 1940s (Peter Lang, 2009), Indiana University professor Mike Conway tells the stories of a mostly unknown group of CBS employees who worked in obscurity to develop a new way to deliver the news.
Contrary to popular belief, Edward R. Murrow and the “Murrow Boys” did not invent television news. Neither did Walter Cronkite, Fred Friendly or Don Hewitt for that matter.
While he doesn’t want to diminish the accomplishments of these pioneer journalists, an Indiana University professor has discovered and reconstructed a lost first chapter in the history of television.
In his new book, The Origins of Television News in America: The Visualizers of CBS in the 1940s (Peter Lang, 2009), Mike Conway tells the stories of a mostly unknown group of CBS employees who worked in obscurity above New York’s Grand Central Terminal to develop a new way to deliver the news.
Conway, an assistant professor of journalism at IU, argues that these people, during the period 1941-1948, developed the television newscast, the most popular format for news for the past 45 years. (more…)
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