A field study of two newsrooms in the same city during 1971-1972 shows that
TV news reports reflect practical and organizational constraints, not the character
of the events themselves. Materials derived from participant observation,
interviews, and station documents illustrate how news content is influenced by
business and commercial concerns, scheduling, institutionalized news sources, and
predefined angles. One implication is that the quantum leap in news messages may
distort rather than clarify events, issues, and problems.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Altheide, D.L. (forthcoming a) "Newsworkers and newsmakers: a study in news use."
2.
——— (forthcoming b) Creating Reality: How TV News Distorts Events. Beverly Hills, Calif.: Sage.
3.
——— (1975) "Mental illness and the news: the Eagleton story ." Presented at the annual meeting of the Society for the Study of Social Problems, August, San Francisco, Calif.
4.
Boorstin, D. (1961) The Image. New York: Atheneum.
5.
Breed, W. (1955) "Social control in the newsroom." Social Forces33 (May): 326-335.
6.
Donohew, L. (1967) "Newspaper gatekeepers and forces in the news channel ." Public Opinion Q.31 (Spring): 61-68.
7.
Epstein, E.J. (1973) News from Nowhere. New York : Random House.
8.
Gieber, W. (1956) "Across the desk: a study of 16 telegraph editors ." Journalism Q.33: 423-432.
9.
Mayer, M. (1972) About Television. New York: Harper & Row.
10.
McLuhan, M. (1967) The Medium is the Message: An Inventory of Effects . New York: Random House.
11.
Molotch, H. and M. Lester (1974) "News as purposive behavior." Amer. Soc. Rev.39 (February): 101-112.
12.
The Roper Organization (1971) An Extended View of Public Attitudes Toward Television and Other Mass Media . New York: Television Information Office.
13.
Tuchman, G. (1972) "Objectivity as strategic ritual." Amer. J. of Sociology77 (January): 660-679.
14.
--- ( 1969) News, the Newsman's Reality. Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Sociology, Brandeis University. (unpublished)
15.
Warner, M. (1971) "Organizational context and control of policy in the television newsroom: a participant observation study." British J. of Sociology22 (September): 283-294.
16.
Weaver, P. (1972) "Is television news biased?" Public Interest26 (Winter): 57-74.
17.
White, D.M. (1950) "The gatekeeper: a case study in the selection of news." Journalism Q.27 (Fall): 383-390.
18.
Wolf, F. (1972) Television Programming for News and Public Affairs . New York: Praeger.
