Patricia F. Phalen

Revising the indexing hypothesis: Officials, media, and the Libya crisis

This study revises the indexing hypothesis by specifying its predictions and testing them on a single event, the U.S.‐Libya crisis of 1985–1986. We consider not only whether journalists use “official debate” to guide their coverage of important policy issues, but also how they might construct and interpret this debate. Detailed content analysis of the New York Times demonstrates that, while indexing is a valuable theory in assessing media treatment of foreign policy, it needs further refinement. Different interpretations of indexing, particularly a proportional versus a parametric standard, predict very different results. Journalism norms such as objectivity and event‐centered reporting may support or counteract indexing. Journalists appear to seek out foreign sources to provide opinions contrary to the dominant policy position, and they marginalize some U.S. elite voices while overemphasizing others. This may be a sign of media autonomy, or of the relative power of sources over both policy outcomes and p...

Using Substitutes for Full-Text News Stories in Content Analysis: Which Text Is Best?

tions of full-text media content. We analyze the effects of production decisions on content and categorization in the New York Times Index, based on interviews with its senior editor. We then compare the content of three proxies with that of full-text articles by conducting a parallel content analysis of New York Times stories covering the 1986 Libya crisis and their corresponding Index entries. The study suggests that proxy data can be used to roughly estimate the broad contours of Times coverage but do not reliably represent several key aspects of New York

Audience Behavior in the Multi-Screen “Video-Verse”

The traditional television viewing experience has given way to a multi-screen environment in which people, programs, and screens are mobile—viewers can consume video content wherever they have access to a computer, mobile phone, or television set. This emerging “video-verse” is bringing about new patterns of audience exposure, as well as new media business models. This study integrates “multi-screen viewing” research from academia and industry, summarizing current knowledge about this subject. Based on this synthesis, the authors propose avenues for further research to help media managers understand this changing media landscape.

(Ms)taking Context for Content: Framing the Fourth World Conference on Women

This article analyzes journalistic framing of the 1995 Fourth UN World Conference on Women in two mainstream American newspapers, The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times . The research identified recurrent themes used by the two newspapers to frame the event before, during, and after it took place. Content analysis of all conference-related stories in both papers showed that journalists focused on incidents and problems related to logistics rather than on the issues the conference was convened to consider. When substantive issues were mentioned, they were accompanied by little or no background analysis. Further, journalists often framed the conference by its geographical and ideological contexts, emphasizing the diplomatic relations between the U.S. and China. Stories tended to marginalize and stereotype certain institutions and political groups, and journalists were unlikely to cover the event by seeking a diversity of voices from among its participants. Results also suggest that the repeated association of themes with particular individuals and groups is an important contribution to the construction and ultimate salience of news frames.

Using the Vanderbilt Television Abstracts to Track Broadcast News Content: Possibilities and Pitfalls

The Vanderbilt Television News Archive supplies written abstracts for its video collection of news programs. Researchers from many disciplines use the abstracts to locate stories, track specific topics, and measure the evaluative tone of news. This study examines the validity of using abstracts as substitutes for full-text transcripts. Drawing on an analysis of the abstract writing process, we highlight potential sources of error and analyze the correspondence between transcripts and abstracts. Results of a quantitative content analysis suggest abstracts can reflect important elements of news when used at high levels of aggregation but may be unreliable as substitutes for news content.

Pioneers, Girlfriends and Wives: An Agenda for Research on Women and the Organizational Culture of Broadcasting

This article reports the results o f a qualitative study of women in television and radio broadcasting. Its purpose is to chronicle career experiences and to relate those experiences to the culture of mass media organizations. Fourteen women managers in a major metropolitan market were interviewed about their own career paths and the overall status of women in the industry. Based on these interviews, the article suggests questions for future research on women in broadcast management.

Who You Know in Hollywood: A Network Analysis of Television Writers

“It’s who you know, not what you know,” is a familiar phrase—often repeated by professionals in Hollywood. The present study focuses on “who knows who” among Hollywood television writers. Using network analysis, this exploratory study identifies the degree of centralization and types of connections found in this elite writers’ network. Results show a great deal of collaboration in the network, and while male writers are more connected overall in Hollywood, women are more likely to be brokers—a structurally advantageous position. The authors provide explanations for collaboration patterns, especially with regard to gender differences in network roles, and propose avenues for further research.

Global News Broadcasting in the Pre-Television Era: A Cross-National Comparative Analysis of World War II Newsreel Coverage

Although largely forgotten, the newsreel industry was the first news broadcasting system to convey visual news reports to a worldwide audience. This study presents the first systematic, cross-national comparison of the news content delivered through this broadcasting system. Our analysis confirms that similar news content was internationally distributed and editorially “glocalized” to fit local audience tastes. Contrary to their reputation for being light and frivolous, newsreels during World War II were usually descriptive and straightforward. We conclude that the global newsreel system should be seen as a rudimentary precursor to today’s satellite news channels.

Book Review: Bruce A. Williams and Michael X. Delli Carpini After Broadcast News: Media Regimes, Democracy and the New Information Environment

relevant and layman-friendly tour through key areas of free speech, from the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 to incitement to fighting words. Chapters seven, eight and nine are reminiscent of Woodward and Armstrong’s The Brethren, which is the most noted behind-the-scenes account of the Supreme Court in action where justices maneuver, compromise and politick as part of the process of reaching decisions. And in this case, the authors explore Times’ attorney Herbert Wechsler’s detailed briefings and the nowfamous argument that the First Amendment protects criticism of the conduct of elected or appointed government officials. This was quite a novel argument at the time since the high court typically left libel law under the purview of the states. For serious students of libel in general and the Sullivan case in particular, the use of a bibliographic essay rather than detailed footnotes might be a bit disappointing. But the editors of this series have been deliberate in their decision to make these volumes inexpensive and geared toward more general readers. And while the authors offer some new material on the four African-American ministers who were also named in companion suits after their signatures appeared at the bottom of the offending ‘Heed Their Rising Voices’ advertisement without their knowledge, detail on these men as civil rights leaders is lacking. According to the white establishment, they were troublemakers and rabblerousers. As such, this narrative might have benefited from a detailed look at the civil rights struggle through their eyes given that the thrust of the authors’ thesis is that Sullivan was a civil rights case as much as it was a libel case. Also beneficial would have been more detail on Sullivan’s role as a heavy-handed enforcer of the racial status quo. Most troubling, however, is a thin conclusion that is not representative of the book, where the authors argue that, among other things, there were vast differences between notions of reputation as honor (the South) and property (the North), and that the high court rejected ‘the South’s most enduring contribution to the body of law, the notion that habits and manners of civility should govern civic discourse’ (p. 206). It is unclear from this writing where such generalities originate and how they connect to Sullivan as a civil rights case.

Drama at 33,000 Feet: How Innovators, Risk-Takers and Policymakers Created A Market for In-Flight Entertainment

Abstract In-flight entertainment (IFE), a familiar amenity on long-haul flights, evolved from novel experiments in the early 20th century to a sophisticated 21st-century electronic media service. Its development was neither an economic inevitability nor, as some claim, an exercise in cultural imperialism. Rather, as the present study argues, stakeholders developed a market for in-flight entertainment by responding to economic opportunities and challenges; IFE survives because its socioeconomic benefits outweigh its costs.