Scheduled science: TV coverage of science,technology,medicine and social science and programming policies in Britain and Germany

Abstract

I present an analysis of the content, audience share and scheduling of TV coverage of science, technology, medicine and social science in Britain and Germany. The sample consists of all science-related programmes broadcast from October to December 1992 during broadly defined peak hours. Four British TV channels were compared with 16 German channels. Nine different content categories were defined, which exhibited some interesting differences. There were some differences in the programme makers' approach to different subjects such as medicine, environment and social sciences; and there were many differences in scheduling practices. The more competitive market in Germany leads to an even sharper separation between the public and the commercial sector, but a second distinction seems to be more important: the public sector, at least, tends to separate a more popular from a more specialist strand. Strategies for science broadcasting are discussed with comments from prominent science producers and editors in both Britain and Germany.

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References

see also Silverstone, R. , 1985, Framing Science (London: British Film Institute), pp. 2-3.

see also Willems, J. , and Hanssen, L. , 1993, Science and technology on TV: four European countries compared. Communications, 18, 215-221.

see also Hansen, A. , 1992, What if there are multiple intentions? Journalistic practices and science coverage in the British press. Paper presented in the session `Communicating scientific knowledge to the public: messages and agendas', Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Chicago, 6-11 February, p.3.

actual figures from the Financial Times, 6 October 1992, pp.31-32.

Hansen, A. , 1992, What if there are multiple intentions? Journalistic practices and science coverage in the British press. Paper presented in the session `Communicating scientific knowledge to the public: messages and agendas', Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Chicago, 6-11 February, pp.3-5.

This scheme was slightly revised and proposed for further comparative studies in a researcher's conference at Dublin in 1995. It now counts eight categories since the category space with its subgroup `space/technology' was included in the category `technology', whereas its subgroups `astronomy' and `cosmology' now fall into the category `pure science'.

For a critical review of the BBC's and ITV's reporting on health and medicine see Karpf, A. , 1988, Doctoring the Media: the Reporting of Health and Medicine (London: Routledge), pp. 9-71.

Willems, J. , and Hanssen, L. , 1993, Science and technology on TV: four European countries compared. Communications, 18, 215-221.

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10.

Hansen, A. , and Dickinson, R. , 1992, Science coverage in the British mass media: media output and source input. Communications, 17, 366-368.

11.

This was the experience of colleagues and myself as a science producer on German TV for more than 15 years: the same programme when presented in the so-called `third chain' got a smaller audience share than when it was broadcast in the so-called `main channel', in spite of being scheduled at the same time slot.

12.

For a detailed review of the German tradition of TV coverage of medicine see Merscheim, H., 1984, Medizin im Fernsehen, Probleme massenmedial vermittelter Gesundheitsberichterstattung (Bochum: Brockmeyer).

13.

Financial Times, 6 October 1992, p.31.

14.

Guardian, 4 January 1993, p.14.

15.

Blumler, J. G. , and Hoffmann-Riem, W. , 1992, New roles for public television in Western Europe: challenges and prospects. Journal of Communication, 42, 20-35.

16.

For how members of the US television industry cope with the television marketplace, see Blumler, J. G. , and Spicer, C. M. , 1990, Prospects for creativity in the new television marketplace: evidence from programme-makers. Journal of Communication, 40, 78-101.

17.

Interview conducted on 19 October 1992. Actually, it was Dallas' last day in his office before he left the company. Due to new regulations in 1993, Yorkshire Television had to close its science department.

18.

Programmes like Don't ask me! and Where There's Life; for more details on the latter see Karpf, A. , 1988, Doctoring the Media: the Reporting of Health and Medicine (London: Routledge), pp. 97-110.

19.

see also La Follette, M. C. , 1982, Science on television: influences and strategies. Daedalus, 111, 183-197.

20.

Interview conducted 3 November 1992.

21.

The US documentary channel Discovery is already available in the British cable network.

22.

Interview conducted 29 May 1995.