Karl Erik Rosengren

Five traditions in search of the audience

This article presents a comparative analysis of the main research traditions examining the nexus between media and audiences: effects research, uses and gratifications research, literary criticism, cultural studies and reception analysis. First presenting short histories of each traditions roots in the humanities and/or social sciences, the authors then proceed to build a typology of audience studies in terms of theories and modes of enquiry characterizing each tradition. While identifying some controversies arising from different theoretical and political orientations, the analysis also suggests that the current confluence of traditions could be useful for further theoretical, methodological and empirical developments. In particular, cross-cultural, multi-method research would seem to represent a promising avenue for further studies of the mass-media audience.

Aspects of Quality in TV Programming Structural Diversity Compared over Time and Space

The quality of the output from various television channels and systems is often discussed but seldom rated or measured in any systematic way. However, due to a Japanese initiative undertaken some years ago, an international group of scholars met and decided to undertake comparative studies of television quality in terms of a characteristic often regarded as basic to overall channel quality: the diversity of a given television channel. An instrument of measurement was designed by a member of the international team and applied to television content from Canada, Great Britain, Japan, Sweden and the United States. This article presents a follow-up study, comparing diversity in Swedish television and radio channels during 1992 to 1995. The results show that Swedish Television increased its diversity during this period, while Swedish Radio decreased its diversity. At the end of the article, a short discussion of potential developments with regard to digitalized television is presented.

Conclusion: The Comparative Study of News Diffusion

By means of comparative studies, knowledge about news diffusion patterns may be generalized not only over events but also over different social and media systems. To that end, the diffusion of news about the assassination of Swedens Prime Minister, Olof Palme, was comparatively studied in twelve countries in Europe, Asia and America. The results show that media structure - previously somewhat neglected in diffusion studies - plays an important role in determining the predominant medium of diffusion. Across the media systems, on the other hand, differential significance of the event strongly affects the rate of diffusion as well as the role of personal communication in the news diffusion process. The influence of sheer geographical distance is weak.

Substantive Theories and Formal Models — Bourdieu Confronted

Cumulativity in communication science presupposes a systematic interplay between substantive theory, formal models and empirical data. Research on lifestyle and communication, for instance, has been going on for about a century, but only when substantive theory was systematically related to both formal models and empirical data did it really take off. Recent developments show that the notion of lifestyle is usefully defined as patterns of individual action determined by personal characteristics (primarily values and attitudes) as differentiated from patterns of action determined by structural characteristics of the surrounding society and by positional characteristics of the individual (forms of life and ways of life, respectively). Thus defined, lifestyle phenomena stand out as important components of individual communication patterns, especially mass media use. Confronting in terms of statistical and graphical models Bourdieus theory of lifestyle with these theoretical developments it becomes clear that Bourdieus conceptualization of lifestyle and its determinants is insensitive, clumsy and unnecessarily cumbersome. It is suggested, therefore, that Ockhams razor be applied.

Television Structures and Adolescent Viewing Patterns: A Swedish—American Comparison

The television systems of Sweden and the United States are different in very interesting ways, stemming from a combination of historical, economic, technical and cultural factors. This study investigated viewer behaviour in these two different systems, using variables constructed from television viewing diaries and questionnaire responses. Results showed five clusters of viewer behaviours for each country, with a general similarity in clusters between Sweden and the US. However, further analysis showed a surprising dissimilarity: while social class, gender and uses and gratifications all predicted viewer type in Sweden, none of these variables predicted viewer type in the US. The authors speculate that some of these differences may be structural, but others cultural.

Cinq traditions à la recherche du public

Cet article propose une analyse comparative de celles, parmi les principales traditions de la recherche sur les medias, qui explorent les relations entre les medias et leur public. Ce sont les etudes sur les effets, les etudes sur les usages et gratifications, la theorie litteraire, les etudes culturalistes, et enfin les etudes de reception. Apres avoir presente une breve histoire de chacune de ces traditions, et les paradigmes litteraires ou sociologiques auxquels renvoient leurs problematiques, les auteurs proposent une typologie des recherches sur le public, situant chacune des traditions theoriquement et methodologiquement.Tout en rendant compte de plusieurs debats lies aux divergences theoriques et politiques entre les differentes traditions, les auteurs concluent a la realite d’un rapprochement entre traditions, rapprochement salue pour les progres theoriques, methodologiques et empiriques qu’il semble autoriser. Au nombre de ceux-ci, un domaine semble particulierement prometteur : celui des recherches interculturelles combinant plusieurs types de methode.

News Diffusion in Sweden: The Role of the Media

The pattern of news diffusion in connection with the murder of Olof Palme, Swedens Prime Minister, was studied in Swedish surveys carried out among the population and the news media. The diffusion was delayed by the fact that the murder took place around midnight, when the broadcast media were closing down, and some morning newspapers were already being printed. Radio was the primary source of learning, and personal information came next. Diffusion curves are presented not only for the population but also for the news media themselves. The results of the study are discussed and interpreted in terms of media systems and media habits, which are held to be as important for the processes of learning and diffusion as are characteristics of the event itself.