Walter Gantz

Men, women, and sports: Audience experiences and effects

This study examined gender differences in the audience experience with televised sports. Men and women were expected to approach, observe, and respond to sports programming in different ways. Telephone interviews were conducted with 400 adults residing in Los Angeles and 307 adults residing in Indianapolis. Gender differences were tested using covariate analyses controlling for demographic attributes, favorite sport, and interest in viewing television sports. More than women, men responded like fans, even with initial levels of interest controlled. Social norms as well as varying household responsibilities may account for many of the differences uncovered.

An exploration of viewing motives and behaviors associated with television sports

Factor analysis suggests motivation dimensions that may be unique to sports programs. Viewing motivations were related to viewer sex, interest in sports and affective and behavioral reactions to sports programs.

Sports Versus All Comers: Comparing TV Sports Fans With Fans of Other Programming Genres

Using self-administered questionnaires, this study assessed ways in which the viewing experience for sports fans is similar to—and different from—the viewing experience for fans of other popular programming genres. Compared to fans of other genres, televised sports fans were likely to engage in a variety of pregame planning and information search activities. Their viewing was more likely to be purposive and content oriented. Sports fans were emotionally involved and cared about the outcomes. They also were more likely to check media sources for follow-up information. Fans of other genres were not as active or invested in their favorite programming genre.

Health Content in Local Television News

Local television news is an important source of health information for the public. Yet little is known about coverage of health issues on local television newscasts. This study examined 1,863 news stories that aired on 4 English-language channels and 1 Spanish channel in 7 U.S. markets during a composite week in 2000. About 10% of news stories focused on health topics. Specific illnesses/diseases and healthy living issues received the most frequent coverage. Health news stories generally were less than 1 min long. Most health news stories were neutral in tone. Few offered contrasting viewpoints or follow-up information. Many stories were likely to require a 10th grade education to be understood. Implications for health professionals, policy makers, and health communication researchers are discussed.

Assessing the Active Component of Information-Seeking

Unlike most diffusion studies that trace how audiences passively learn about major news—often catastrophic events—this study sought to find when and how individuals actively seek news information. In a telephone survey, most people claimed to engage in active information-seeking several times a week. This was greatest for local weather information. None of the remaining 12 topics assessed was sought, on average, more than every other day. Information-seeking behaviors generally were limited to the media normally used for information and surveillance functions.

Health Content in Local Television News: A Current Appraisal

While local television news remains an important channel for the dissemination of health information, there has been little systematic examination of health content on those newscasts. This study, designed to update and expand upon earlier efforts, examined 1,382.5 hours of newscasts that aired on seven channels in four markets between December 2004 and June 2005. The four markets were a major-, a large-, a medium-, and a small-size market in the Midwestern United States. In total, 40,112 news stories were coded. About 8.1% of the news stories were devoted to health content. Health stories covered a large array of topics. Physical illnesses/diseases and healthy living issues received the most frequent coverage, while mental health and aging-related content were covered least frequently. Most health stories were neutral in tone and rather brief, with an average duration of less than 1 minute. One in eight (12.4%) health stories provided follow-up options. This is primarily due to an increase in the number of health news stories presented with a website URL compared to previous findings. Market differences emerged, although, interestingly, stations in the larger markets were not the leaders in health coverage.

Online Privacy Issues Associated with Web Sites for Children

This study was designed to examine the collection of personal information from children online. The authors content analyzed 166 childrens Web sites in late May and early June 1998. Almost all (n= 1631 were revisited in July 1998 to assess possible changes due to the FTCs release of its online privacy report It appears that children are not well protected online. A majority of Web sites collect information from children without either disclosure or effort to elicit parental involvement.

Exploring the Role of Television in Married Life

This study assessed perceptions of televisions fit in married life and examined the influence of viewing pattern and program preference discrepancies on those perceptions. Telephone interviews were conducted with 416 married adults. Most respondents evaluated television positively in their married lives. Television viewing was seen as a shared and valued activity that typically did not disrupt activities with spouse or friends. Greater program preference discrepancies were related to television being evaluated as disruptive and to lower marital satisfaction scores.

The influence of researcher methods on television and newspaper news credibility evaluations

This study assessed responses to variations of several notable news credibility measures. TV news was evaluated as more credible than newspapers, although its margin of supremacy was a function of researcher operationalizations of the concept.

Assessing compliance with industry self‐regulation of television advertising to children

Abstract Young childrens limited ability to recognize and defend against commercial messages has led to numerous concerns about advertising that targets child‐viewers. Industry self‐regulation of child‐oriented advertising content is one response to those concerns. With the demise of the National Association of Broadcasters Code in 1982, guidelines maintained by the Childrens Advertising Review Unit (CARU) of the National Council of Better Business Bureaus comprise the only industry‐wide self‐regulation. This study evaluates the extent of compliance with the CARU standards across a sample of over 10,000 ads directed to children. The results indicate a high overall rate of adherence to the guidelines. Two problem areas emerged which accounted for most of the violations observed: ads that featured premium offers, and ads for recorded telephone message services. The findings are discussed in terms of their implications for the child audience.