An electronically estimated form complexity variable, static complexity, is analyzed throughout the course of a network TV newscast. No support is found for the hypothesis that audiences prefer an optimal level of static complexity, but there is support for the hypothesis that longitudinal analysis accounts for more variance than a cross-sectional approach. This study has implications for research in TV news that confines itself to content-based variables and assumes only a cross-sectional relationship between newscast material and audience responses. Both form variables and time should be considered along with content in the study of reactions to TV news.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BARTLETT, F. C.
(1932) Remembering. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge Univ. Press.
2.
BECHTEL, R. B.
, C. ACHENPOL, and R. AKERS (1972) “Correlates between observed behavior and questionnaire responses on television viewing,” in Television and Social Behavior. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
3.
BERLYNE, D. E.
(1971) Aesthetics and Psychobiology. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
4.
BERRY, C.
(1983) “Learning from television news: a critique of the research.”J. of Broadcasting27: 359-370.
5.
BURNS, K.
and E. G. BEIER (1973) “Significance of vocal and visual channels in the decoding of emotional meaning.”J. of Communication23: 118-130.
6.
DONOHEW, L.
and L. TIPTON (1973) “A conceptual model of information seeking, avoiding and processing,” pp. 243-268 in P. Clarke (ed.) New Models For Mass Communication Research. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
7.
EDWARDSON, M.
, D. GROOMS, and S. PROUDLOVE (1981) “Television news information gain from interesting video vs. talking heads.”J. of Broadcasting25: 15-24.
8.
FINN, S.
and D. ROBERTS (1984) “Source, destination, and entropy: reassessing the role of information theory in communication research.”Communication Research11:453-476.
9.
HSIA, H. J.
(1971) “The information processing capacity of modality and channel performance.”AV Communication Rev. 19: 51-75.
10.
HSIA, H. J.
(1977) “Redundancy: is it the lost key to better communication?”AV Communication Rev. 25: 63-85.
11.
KATZ, E.
, H. ADONI, and P. PARNESS (1977) “Remembering the news: what the picture adds to recall.”Journalism Q. 54: 231-239.
12.
KRUGMAN, H. E.
(1971) “Brain wave measures of media involvement.”J. of Advertising Research11: 3-9.
13.
KRULL, R. K.
, W. G. HUSSON, and A. S. PAULSON (1978) “Cycles in children's attention to the TV screen,” pp. 125-140 in B. D. Ruben (ed.) Communication Yearbook II. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Books.
14.
KRULL, R. K.
and J. H. WATT (1975) “Television program complexity and ratings.” Presented at the American Association for Public Opinion Research Conference, Chicago, Illinois.
15.
LEVY, M. R.
(1978) “The audience experience with television news.”Journalism Monographs, No. 55.
16.
MANDELL, L. M.
and D. L. SHAW (1973) “Judging people in the news-unconsciously.”J. of Broadcasting17: 353-362.
17.
MATTES, J.
and J. CANTOR (1982) “Enhancing responses to television advertising via the transfer of residual arousal from prior programming.”J. of Broadcasting26:553-566.
18.
McCAIN, T. A.
and M. G. ROSS (1979) “Cognitive switching: a behavioral trace of human information processing for television newscasts.”Human Communication Research5: 121-129.
19.
McCAIN, T. A.
and S. WHITE (1980) “Channel effects and non-verbal properties of media messages: a state of the art review.” Presented at the Speech Communication Association Convention, New York, November.
20.
METALLINOS, N.
(1979) “Composition of the TV picture: some hypotheses to test forces operating within the television screen.”ECTJ27: 205-214.
21.
NIMMO, D.
(1970) The Political Persuaders. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
22.
OSGOOD, C. E.
, G. J. SUCI, and P. H. TANNENBAUM (1957) The Measurement of Meaning. Urbana: Univ. of Illinois Press.
23.
OSTROM, C. W.
(1978) Time Series Analysis: Regression Techniques. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
24.
PADDERUD, A. B. (1976) “A process analysis of the relationship between form complexity and viewer perceptions of a televised message.” Ph.D. dissertation, the Ohio State University.
25.
PENN, R.
(1971) “Effects of motion and cutting rate in motion pictures.”AV Communication Rev. 19: 29-50.
26.
PRIDE, R. A.
and G. L. WAMSLEY (1972) “Symbol analysis of network coverage of Laos incursion.”Journalism Q. 49: 635-640.
27.
PRYLUCK, C.
, C. TEDDLIE, and R. SANDS (1982) “Meaning in film/video: order, time and ambiguity.”J. of Broadcasting26: 685-695.
28.
SEVERIN, W. J.
(1967) “Pictures as relevant cues in multichannel communication.”Journalism Q. 44: 17-22.
29.
RIMMER, A. T. (1984) “Visual complexity in television news: a time series analysis of audience evaluations of an electronically estimated form complexity variable.” Ph.D. dissertation, the University of Texas at Austin.
30.
WATT, J. H.
(1979) “Television form, content attributes, and viewer behavior,” pp. 51-89 in M. J. Voight and G. J. Hanneman (eds.) Progress in Communication Sciences. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
31.
WATT, J. H.
and R. KRULL (1974) “An information theory measure for television programming.”Communication Research1: 44-68.
32.
WATT, J. H.
and R. KRULL and R. KRULL (1976) “An examination of three models of television viewing and aggression.”Human Communication Research3: 99-112.
33.
WATT, J. H.
and A. J. WELCH (1983) “Effects of static and dynamic complexity on children's attention and recall of televised instruction,” pp. 69-102 in J. Bryant and D. R. Anderson (eds.) Children's Understanding of Television: Research on Attention and Comprehension. New York: Academic Press.
34.
WELCH, A. J.
and J. H. WATT (1982) “Visual complexity and young children's learning from TV.”Human Communication Research8: 133-145.
