Contesting the journalism frame as the basis for assessing US cable television news channels, this article argues instead for a focus on the branding and product differentiation practices that shape news content in the highly competitive cable marketplace. Politics, in particular, has become the central identifying brand marker, as cable news channels transform the raw material of public life into a variety of entertainment performances. The construction of politics is thoroughly informed by commercial strategy and brand appeal, as politics is brought to life through performances that constitute political reality for viewing audiences.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AndersonB.M.2004, News Flash: Journalism, Infotainment, and the Bottom-Line Business of Broadcast News, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.
2.
BaumM.2003, Soft News Goes to War: Public Opinion and American Foreign Policy in the New Media Age, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ.
3.
BaumM.2008, ‘New Media and the Polarization of American Political Discourse’, Political Communication, vol. 25, no. 4, pp. 345–65.
4.
BaumM.2011, ‘Preaching to the Choir or Converting the Flock: Presidential Communication Strategies in the Age of Three Medias’, in FoxR.L.RamosJ.M. (eds), iPolitics: Citizens, Elections, and Governing in the New Media Era, Cambridge University Press, New York.
BellE.2008, Theories of Performance, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA.
7.
Ben-PorathE.N.2007, ‘Internal Fragmentation of the News: Television News in Dialogical Format and Its Consequences for Journalism’, Journalism Studies, vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 414–31.
8.
BurkeK.1966, Language as Symbolic Action: Essays on Life, Literature, and Method, University of California Press, Berkeley, CA.
Chan-OlmstedS.M.ChaJiyoung2007, ‘Branding Television News in a Multichannel Environment: An Exploratory Study of Network News Brand Personality’, International Journal of Media Management, vol. 9, no. 4, pp. 135–50.
11.
Chan-OlmstedS.M.ChaJiyoung2008, ‘Exploring the Antecedents and Effects of Brand Images for Television News: An Application of Brand Personality Construct in a Multichannel News Environment’, International Journal of Media Management, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 32–45.
ComptonJ.R.2004, The Integrated News Spectacle: A Political Economy of Cultural Performance, Peter Lang, New York.
16.
CosgroveK.M.2007, Branded Conservatives: How the Brand Brought the Right from the Fringes to the Center of American Politics, Peter Lang, New York.
17.
CushionS.LewisJ.2009, ‘Towards a “Foxification” of 24-hour News Channels in Britain? An Analysis of Market-driven and Publicly Funded News Coverage’, Journalism, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 131–53.
18.
CushionS.LewisJ. (eds) 2010, The Rise of 24-Hour News Television: Global Perspectives, Peter Lang, New York.
19.
DickinsonT.2011, ‘How Roger Ailes Built the Fox News Fear Factory’, Rolling Stone, 25 May.
20.
EdelmanM.1988, Constructing the Political Spectacle, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
21.
‘Fox News Channel’2011, Advertising Age, vol. 82, no. 18, 2 May, p. C26.
22.
FranklinB.1997, Newszak and News Media, Arnold, London.
23.
GraberD.A.1994, ‘The Infotainment Quotient in Routine Television News: A Director's Perspective’, Discourse and Society, vol. 5, no. 4, pp. 483–508.
24.
JamesM.2007, ‘For CBS the Web, Not Imus, is the News’, Los Angeles Times, 16 April, p. C1.
JonesJ.P.2009a, ‘I. Want My Talk TV: Network Talk Shows in a Digital Universe’, in LotzA.D. (ed.), Beyond Prime Time: Television Programming in the Post-Network Era, Routledge, New York, pp. 14–35.
27.
JonesJ.P.2009b, ‘Believable Fictions: Redactional Culture and the Will to Truthiness’, in ZelizerB. (ed.), The Changing Faces of Journalism: Tabloidization, Technology and Truthiness, Routledge, New York, pp. 127–43.
28.
JonesJ.P.2010, Entertaining Politics: Satiric Television and Political Engagement, 2nd ed., Rowman and Littlefield, Lanham, MD.
29.
JonesJ.P.2012, ‘Fox News and the Performance of Ideology’, Cinema Journal, vol. 51, no. 4, pp. 178–85.
30.
JonesJ.P. forthcoming, ‘Fox & Friends: Political Talk’, in ThompsonE.MittellJ. (eds), How to Watch Television: Media Criticism in Practice, Routledge, New York.
31.
JonesJ.P.BaymG.DayA.2012, ‘Mr Stewart and Mr Colbert Go to Washington: Television Satirists Outside the Box’, Social Research, vol. 79, no. 1, pp. 33–60.
32.
KovachB.RosenstielT.1999, Warp Speed: America in the Age of Mixed Media, Century Foundation Press, New York.
33.
LangerJ.1997, Tabloid Television: Popular Journalism and the ‘Other News’, Routledge, London.
34.
LoxelyJ.2007, Performativity, Routledge, London.
35.
McNairB.2000, Journalism and Democracy: An Evaluation of the Political Public Sphere, Routledge, London.
PetersC.2010, ‘No-Spin Zones: The Rise of the American Cable News Magazine and Bill O'Reilly’, Journalism Studies, vol. 11, no. 6, pp. 832–51.
38.
PetersC.2011, ‘Emotion Aside or Emotional Side? Crafting an ‘Experience of Involvement’ in the News’, Journalism, vol. 12, no. 3, pp. 297–316.
39.
PriorM.2007, Post-Broadcast Democracy: How Media Choice Increases Inequality in Political Involvement and Polarizes Elections, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
40.
RosenbergH.FeldmanC.S.2008, No Time to Think: The Menace of Media Speed and the 24-hour News Cycle, Continuum, New York.
