Title: Television Network News: Re-Thinking the Iceberg Problem
Abstract: on television news that was apparently manifestation of calculated strategy on the part of the Nixon administration.' He referred to the TV news industry as a tiny and closed fraternity of privileged men and added darkly that no medium has more powerful influence over public opinion. Nowhere in our system are there fewer checks on vast power. He implied that TV news generates marches and demonstrations, and in effect erodes the political system.2 These attacks have set off controversy that has raged on unabated ever since. has scholarship backed by empirical research to say on the subject of TV news and its political effects? Precious little.3 However, the small but growing number of more impressionistic works have emphasized the uniqueness of the television medium, its power to alter perceptions of reality and influence behavior, and the presence of biases that shape the content of TV. For the most part these works have been about television in general and only incidentally about TV news. The authors' views, however, parallel the administration's in the efficacy they attribute to the medium. Presumably they would echo the managing editor of Newsweek who said of Agnew's opening volley, What disturbed me at first was that, though it was the wrong man saying the wrong things, he was partly right.4 Some of these works have been by members of the radio or television industry;5 others have been written by scholars; but none has been systematically rigorous and empirical, due either to the scope of the subject undertaken or to the difficulty of data collection. The many scholars in variety of disciplines, who might have done empirical research that could have contributed to discussion of TV news and its political effects, have remained silent. This silence grows out of two general conclusions
Publication Year: 1972
Publication Date: 1972-09-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 10
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