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J. 3'. 1% -. -r 1 . " ‘ ' . » 1. ,3,’ ;,'«'.' , k'i‘w 4 ‘ . V , f. r 30;! ‘- 1 L ' _ 1 ‘I u m.“ flvw,‘ '.'I‘ u: :.‘*‘p‘: - 1 ’ ‘ . ‘nl'v' - "f ‘1’ -~ . IL‘.‘ ‘ .JFT‘J :2?" fifo’l «‘24.: 1,” ,1 1 . . 'v .u .nnw ~ -1 8w 13,1 3'97 ,. 4. r‘ 42:15:? . «W my” 1 IllllllllllllllllllllIlllllllllllllllllllllllllll 3 1293 00790 6930 .4. This is to certify that the thesis entitled A CONTENT ANALYSIS OF U.S. TELEVISION NETWORK NEWS IMAGES OF THE SOVIET UNION: J98h AND l985 presented by Rachel Elizabeth Engler ‘ has been accepted towards fulfillment of the requirements for 1 Masters Telecommunications degree in Major professor Date 11/6/19? 0-7639 MSU is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Institution LIBRARY Michigan State University PLACE IN RETURN BOX to remove this checkout from your record. TO AVOID FINES return on or before date due. DATE DUE DATE DUE DATE DUE 3 Aid 1 2 199‘ 37" 2 sir-7"" . A.“ ' ’ 7‘“ ‘ FEB 1 {2 1-92 ' iJJN Z G 1.7;, ' ALT"? .‘a 0 j: L3![3<4l991 ’19! . “V, ' I (‘7 . (but; '7 t "I“ ~ . ,1 , . «'3‘ ‘J “-11." '-" _ "I g! I ZIHIE VHF. Q. 3 L} i " | ‘11" .. e, mow W MSU In An Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Institution cm ”39.1 .-;h.t A CONTENT ANALYSIS OF U.S. TELEVISION NETWORK NEWS IMAGES OF THE SOVIET UNION: 1984 AND 1985 By Rachel Elizabeth Engler A THESIS Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS Department of Telecommunications 1990 (045- ”7058 ABSTRACT A CONTENT ANALYSIS OF U.S. TELEVISION NETWORK NEWS IMAGES OF THE SOVIET UNION: 1984 AND 1985 By Rachel Elizabeth Engler This paper examines U.S. television network news images of the Soviet Union in 1984 and 1985. Specifically, I examine whether negative news items about the U.S.S.R. will be reported with more salience than their more positive counterparts. I also cross—examine each year to determine if the news about the U.S.S.R. during 1984, a period of intense political rhetoric, would be more salient than the more politically positive rhetoric of 1985. Using story length and story order as measures of salience, I undertook a con- tent analysis of CBS evening news for the two time periods. I found that, overall, negative images of the U.S.S.R. were longer than their more positive counterparts; however news stories were not found to be more salient in 1984. Finally, using my results, I question whether definitions of news bias which rely on message content are accurate measures of bias, and attempt to broaden this definition. Table of Contents List of Tables Introduction Chapter 1 Part 1 Events as News Perspectives on News Selection and Bias Methods of Presentation Part 2 Sensational Aspects of News Attributes of Drama Negative News—Factors of Negativity Negativism in U.S. Media Part 3 Effect of News on Foreign Policy N egativism in Foreign Affairs News Chapter 2 Overview of U.S. and Soviet Relations Media Coverage of the U.S.S.R. History of Media Coverage of the U.S.S.R. Chapter 3 Goals and Hypotheses Methods Chapter 4 Results iii 12 26 33 45 55 72 Chapter 5 89 Discussion Appendices 112 Appendix 1: Partial Coding Form Used by Greenberg, Straubhaar and Heeter (1986) 112 Appendix 2: Coding Instructions 114 Appendix 3: Coding Form 117 Appendix 4: Sample Dates Used 123 Bibliography 141 iv Tables 1 (COOKIQCHAODN b—‘D—‘D—‘b—‘I—‘I—‘I—‘l—l NQUrD-OONHO List of Tables Intercoder Reliabilities Frequency of Topic and Topic Themes Frequency of Modes Frequency of Focus Hypothesis 1B and Hypothesis 1D Hypothesis 1A Hypothesis 1C Hypothesis 2 Hypothesis 3 Hypothesis 4 Hypothesis 5 Hypothesis 6 Hypothesis 7 Hypothesis 8 Hypothesis 9 Hypothesis 10 Conflict vs. Cooperation 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 1 Introduction. This paper examines the U.S. television network news images of the U.S.S.R.. Specifically it examines images presented on CBS for two time periods, one in 1984 and the other in 1985. In Chapter One, Part One I examine why newsmakers have come to rely on a certain type of event to be newsworthy, and how this reliance has led researchers to postulate various theories of news selection and bias. Whatever the underlying rationale used for news selection, the method in which news is presented seems to rely on the negative. Part Two examines sensational news, in part focusing on the dramatic action necessary to make news appeal to an audience. I then examine how dramatic action places emphasis on the sensational and the sensational places emphasis on the negative. Finally, I examine the factors of negative news and negativism in the U.S. media. Part Three narrows down the look at negativism in the U.S. media by focusing on the effect of news on foreign policy and negativism in foreign affairs news. In Chapter Two a brief history of relations between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. in 1984 and 1985 is given. Then I examine how the U.S. media have portrayed the U.S.S.R. presently and in the past. The remaining parts of this paper are devoted to the research. In Chapter 2 Three the hypotheses are given, and the methods used to undertake the study are described. Finally, in Chapters Four and Five, the results and discussion are given, where I find some support for my general claim that U.S. television news images of the Soviet Union emphasize the negative. Chapter 1. Part 1 . Events as News: “Historian Daniel Boorstin coined the term ‘pseudo-event’ to describe an event which would not occur if not for the media, an event created because the media will cover it.” (Fang, 1985, p. 375) Gitlin furthers this idea by stating “events become newsworthy only by submitting to the implicit rules of newsmaking, by conforming to journalistic notions.” (Gitlin, 1980, p. 3) Stevenson and Shaw (1984) point to two factors which make an event newsworthy: intrinsic factors and extrinsic factors. Intrinsic factors are those factors which are unique to each event and pertain directly to what happened, how, and when. Conversely, extrinsic factors come from outside an event. Such factors include the overall political, social, economic climate of a given country or countries. What these statements of Boorstin, Gitlin and Stevenson and Shaw illustrate is the reliance on a certain type of story, the event, to be newsworthy. But what factors influence newsmakers to select or even create? Perspectives on News Selection and Bias. Many researchers, including Graber (1984, p. 97) and Altheide (1976, pp. 176— 177) maintain that bias is inherent in news (due to either the newsmaking process or the social function of news). Also researchers (for examples see Altheide, 1976, Tuchman, 1978, Gitlin, 1980, and Larson, 1984.) believe that news selection is 3 4 determined by either journalistic processes or organizational features inherent in society. Researchers such as Altheide believe that the process of news production itself influences news selection. In Creating Reality Altheide focuses on “the or- ganizational, practical, and other mundane features of news work that promote a way of looking at events which fundamentally distorts them.” (Altheide, 1976, p. 24) Instead of ideological approaches broached by Galbraith (1983) and Gramsci (1971, Hoare and Smith, eds.) and organizational theories of news selection, which Altheide claims aren’t productive, he focuses on the components of news which transcend particular issues and tOpics. These components are actor, action, and access to visuals, or the basic elements of television production. (See Altheide, in The Focused Screen, 1987, p. 178). Shoemaker also refutes ideological and organi- zational approaches to news selection. However, unlike Altheide, Shoemaker asserts that news selection results from the economic imperatives of the funding source (See Shoemaker, 1987)1 and only briefly touches on the fact that the funding source might have imperatives (political or social) other than purely economic. Other researchers recognize the intrinsic tie between society and newsmaking processes. Stevenson and Shaw’s “Logistic Perspective to News Flow and Selection” illustrates how national variables such as political, economic and social events func- 1 Shoemaker illustrates how other theoretical approaches to news selection can be integrated into J. Herbert Altschull’s assertion that the overriding determiner of media content is the ideology of those who finance the media. However, Shoemaker tells us little of the ideology behind these financers. 5 tion as selection criteria for news both inside and outside the gatekeeping process. (See Stevenson and Shaw, 1984, p 223)2 The bond between society and newsmaking processes is also illustrated by Gans (1979), who also adds ideology as a factor in news selection. Gans claims news reflects, what he terms, “lasting values”. These values, which are held by newsmakers, reflect the political and social thought of the country: the status-quo if you will. Gans also explains how news events are selected (and distorted) by a “para-ideology” of newsmakers. As Altheide focuses on the organizational and practical processes of newswork as distorting elements of news, Gans’ distorting elements are the belief systems of the newsworkers. He uses the term para-ideology instead of ideology in order to distinguish between the consistent and the changing. Gans describes a para-ideology as, “an aggregate of only partly thought out values. It is not entirely consistent or well thought out, and it changes over time.” (Gans, 1979, p.45)3 Researchers such as Tuchman and Gitlin see television news selection as a form 2 In their book, Stevenson and Shaw use this theory primarily to explain a western emphasis found in news from countries outside the United States. However, this theory is applicable to U.S. news. 3 See Gans, Herbert. ”The Message Behind The News.” in Columbia Journalism Review Jan. / Feb., 1979. Eight clusters of values are explained: ethnocentrism, altruistic democracy, responsible capitalism, small town pastoralism, individualism, moderatism, order and national leadership. For the purposes of this paper the individual definition of each cluster is not important. What is important to note, is that these eight clusters combine to influence newsmakers’ perceptions. 6 of ideology compatible with the interests of the politically dominant class. (See Altheide, Pg. 142 in The Focused Screen) Gitlin recognizes the importance of the political powers in the news selection process. He states, “Every media message is a choice, the product of a long line of political, economic, administrative, professional decisions.” (Gitlin, 1977, p. 792) Tuchman also maintains that news selection is influenced by more than organizational or journalistic processes. Tuchman asserts that “the act of making news is the act of constructing reality itself rather than a picture of reality.” (see Tuchman, 1978, p. 12, also quoted in Larson, 1984, p 23.) Therefore news does not mirror society, but ‘creates’ society.4 News, according to Tuchman, is a ‘shared social phenomenon,’ a ‘product of cultural resources and negotiations’ which take place in society. Because news is a part of society, when news describes an event it is also defining and shaping it. This process becomes cyclical, as news reports in turn influence the information gathered for the next news report. (Tuchman, 1978.) All theories of news selection, whether they be journalistic, organizational, or ideologically centered assume that newsmakers already have a general focus for a 4 As a sociologist, Tuchman goes beyond the idea that news is a distorted picture of events (events which have become distorted through newsmaking processes). Instead she concentrated on the organizational function of news. She reasons that newsmaking organizations do not stand outside of society, but are a part of society. One could say that what is considered “events” and what is considered “news” converge into a symbiotic relationship. See pp. 183—184. 7 news story before they have all the knowledge of the event. It is the effect of this general focus which causes disagreement among researchers. According to Altheide (1976, p. 176—177) “Asking questions, eliciting information and reconstructing a series of events requires a general focus to begin with... recognition of a fact requires a great deal of prior knowledge.” In her book, Tuchman describes how newsmakers come to rely on prior knowledge to explain events, “Stories are not presented in their ongoing situational contexts... [the] way to do things [is to] justify present actions by invoking past elements.” (Tuchman, 1978, p. 192, and Berger and Lickman quoted in Tuchman, pp. 195—196). The result is a reproduction-reinforcement of 5 However, Wamsley and already existing political and institutional processes. Pride (1972, pg. 449-50) suggest that it is not safe to assume that the total effect of news on the political system is supportive. Even if we can’t pin down ideological and structural theories, news selection can result in news bias. Methods of Presentation Not only is news selection and bias influenced by (or caused by) society and / or the process of journalism, but so is the method newsmakers choose to present their material. 5 Essentially, the result is the maintenance of the status-quo. Because news is a social institution, it will follow what society deems acceptable. Also, reproduction- reinforcement need not be limited to politics and institutions. 8 One method of presentation, the media frame, merges the influence of soci- ety and journalistic processes and illustrates how these forces combine to influence journalistic choices. Gitlin says of media frames, “What makes the world beyond direct experience look natural is a ‘media frame’. Principles of selection, emphasis, and presentation composed of little tacit theories about what exists, what happens, and what matters... frames enable journalists to process large amounts of informa- tion quickly and routinely: to recognize it as information, to assign it to cognitive categories, and to pack it for efficient relay to their audience.” (Gitlin, 1980., p 6-7).6 Another method of presentation similar to a media frame is called a format or media format. The major difference between a media frame and a media format is the degree to which individual newsmakers ideology is made explicit. The theory that ideology plays a major role in forming a mode of presentation is more explicit in the concept of a media frame than a media format, whereas the concept of a media format concentrates on the need newsmakers have to make news fit a dramatic narrative. Altheide (1985., p. 346-347) outlines the characteristics which he claims are inherent in the news format. These characteristics include drama and action, vi- 6 Tuchman also explains media frames. The concept of media frames described by Gitlin and Tuchman originates from Irving Goffman’s book Frame Analysis. To Goffman a frame is, in part, a schemata of event(s). See Goffman’s Frame Analysis (1974) for further explanation. 9 sual quality, accessibility, encapsulation, thematic unity, and relevance.7 He has extensively examined the nature and impact of formats as a mode of presentation. A format, states Altheide, “provides the essential framework through which news content is selected, interpreted, and presented.” (Altheide, 1985., p 348) In his study on U.S. Television news coverage of Iran, Altheide (1985) found that frames did influence what was reported as news.8 In this study, Altheide questioned whether events with certain characteristics are more likely to be selected for cov- erage because they can be readily shaped according to the news format. What he found, upon examining the U.S. network television news coverage of the Iran hostage crisis (all 444 days), was that coverage of the event consistently fit into his formula of a media format. (see Altheide, 1985, p 346—348.) Media frames and formats accomplish the task of imposing ideology and / or dra- matic narrative through the use of themes and what Gitlin refers to as a grammar of television. Altheide and Snow (1979) explain how viewer attention is attracted and retained by the use of themes. (Thematic unity is part of Altheide’s media 7 Accessibility is defined as ‘how easy it is to learn about an event. Encapsulation and thematic unity refer to how the event can be summarized and easily understood. For this paper, what is important to note is the characteristic of drama and action and how the other characteristics can enhance drama and action. Altheide’s defini- tion of a format as a “short narrative with a beginning, middle, and end” (see pg. 346-347) illustrates the fictive nature of formats. 8 See David L. Altheide—“Impact of Format and Ideology on TV News Coverage of Iran.” Journalism Quarterly, 62, p 346-351. 10 format — see footnote 6.) Stories considered by newsmakers to have exciting topics are lumped together into their appropriate thematic group, thereby creating a more concentrated area of excitement on the newscast. One side effect of lumping stories into thematic groups is the simplification such technique has on the news making process. This simplification occurs in the information gathering stage of news- making, as only information fitting a certain theme need be gathered. The term Grammar of Television, which Gitlin uses to describe how a message is conveyed, consists of tone, cadence, choice of language, symbol, story, facial expressions, cam— era angles and visuals. Like themes, Gitlin believes the purpose of this grammar is to keep the attention of as many viewers as possible through the most exciting combination of grammar elements. (see Gitlin in College English, 38, 798-802.) However, using exciting events often means eliminating portions of the news which are not exciting. Galtung and Ruge (1965, p 66.) and Bennett (1988) propose that if an event takes place over a longer time span it goes unrecorded unless it reaches some kind of dramatic climax. Rarely will chronic conditions become news. This suggests that what is chosen as news will be one period of an event, the ‘dramatic climax,’ instead of the whole event.9 What does this say about the quality of TV news? “A mid-1970’s study at the State University of New York at Albany found that 9 By whole event I mean the background leading up to the event, the event, and possible conclusions. 11 fewer than one viewer in ten watched a news program because of ‘news quality.’ More than half of the people surveyed said they like to watch news because it helped them relax. Many just thought of news as entertainment or diversion. Seeing the trouble of others made people feel better about their own lives.” (Quote of Dr. Mark Levy in Fang, 1985., p 384) The use of news as entertainment and diversion suggests that instead of being informative, news might be supplying messages which reflect dramatic entertaining modes of presentation. Graber also suggests that format is affected by the need to keep an audience watching a particular station. If audiences wish to watch entertaining news it is given to them. Graber explains how newsmakers use informal banter and trivial stories to keep news entertaining. (see Graber, 1984.) She also points to the physical attractiveness of newscasters, and explains the importance physical attractiveness has over other qualifications (background, education, etc.) used as selection criteria for newscasters. Regardless of the theories underlying the process of news selection and produc- tion, it has become apparent that the resulting method of presentation emphasizes the entertaining and dramatic. Part 2 examines the components which make up an entertaining and dramatic image. 12 Part 2. Sensational aspects of news. Graber describes American news as news which “stresses novel occurrences and entertaining events, familiar people and situations, and conflict and violence”. (Graber,1984, p.89) In their study of western, socialist, and third world newscasts, Straubhaar et a1. seem to share Graber’s description of American news. In par- ticular, they ask whether “western news values emphasize sensational topics over others which might better reflect either social progress or real social problems in other countries.” (see Straubhaar et al., 1986, p. 4) The perceived impact that sensational news has on an audience leads re- searchers to critically examine the nature of such news. Ostgaard hypothesized that sensational events would be chosen as news because they can be reported in a shorter amount of time, and therefore, according to newsmakers, be more comprehensible to viewers. He explains the “barrier” that newsmakers erect which prevented cer- tain types of events from becoming news. Particularly important qualities are time and sensationalism considerations. Because a sensational event can happen quickly, similar events will pass the “barrier” more often than events which require extended narrative. (See Ostgaard, 1965, p 51)10 He suggests that, when applied to any 1° Ostgaard’s concept of the news barrier is similar to Altheide’s concept of the- matic unity because both concepts recognize the importance of theme continuity as a selection criterion. Larson (1984) also remarks on the tendency of news stories to 13 type of communication, the term “sensational” implies that the communication will affect the mind of someone. However, in his study, Ostgaard (1965) could not find evidence that large agencies reported sensational news; yet, he does suggest that 11 Ostgaard, unable to define sensationalism is inherent to some types of news. the sensational, remarks that even though there are a vast number of definitions of sensationalism, researchers are unable to determine why people prefer the sensa- tional. This “illusive quality” of sensationalism might suggest that sensational news is so pervasive that an audience is unable to distinguish it from the non-sensational. Attempting to define sensationalism by claiming that “sensationalism is a judgemental phenomenon, not inherent in the news,” Tannenbaum and Lynch (1960) considered sensationalism to be primarily a sensory response by the audience. Attempting to define this physiological reaction, Tannenbaum and Lynch devel~ oped their Sendex (Sensationalism Index) measure. Later, Tannenbaum and Lynch (1962) also developed an index to determine message information12 However, out- side of their application of the Sendex measure on news stories created specifically for their study, this researcher knows of no other applications of the Sendex. be “clustered around a topic” (see p. 46.) 11 Ostgaard explains how sensationalism is an “obvious” aspect of some news. See Ostgaard, 1965, p 48-49. 12 For their Sendex measure Tannenbaum and Lynch used three factors— an evaluative factor, an excitement factor and an activity factor. For their objective measure, readability, punctuation usage, and degree of modification (adverbs and adjectives) were used. See in Journalism Quarterly, Tannenbaum and Lynch (1960) and Tannenbaum and Lynch (1962). 14 Sensationalism seems undefinable; however, many researchers think excitement and entertainment seem to be two aspects of sensationalism (see for example Tan— nenbaum and Lynch, 1960, Graber 1984), particularly of television (see Fang 1985). Possibly, the lower amount of sensationalism Ostgaard found in his study was due to sampling newspapers alone, without sampling television news. It is thought that television provides a greater amount of sensational news. As Fang informs us, “We do not watch television because we want to get all the news: local, national and international. The newspaper does a fuller job. We do not prefer television for depth of coverage or penetrating analysis... We, as television viewers, benefit from our newscasts because they take us to the scenes of the action and show us what is happening and what has recently happened. People watch television news, in large measure, because it brings events in action into their homes. Television takes us to the action and involves us.” (Fang, 1985, p 87) Television reporters are taught early to emphasize exciting news. In 1985, Sam Zelman of CBS news remarked, “A television reporter, especially in a stand- up, should communicate the importance and excitement of the event. The biggest weakness of the beginner, it seems to me, is a lack of urgency in his delivery. News is urgent and exciting.” (Quoted in Fang, 1985, p 135.) “Emphasis on entertainment,” states Graber, “also leads to the emphasis on trivial aspects of serious stories. Complex issues are presented as simple human 15 interest drama. Search for novelty and entertainment leads to a focus on the here and now, which leads news to be fragmented and discontinuous.” (Graber, 1984, p 90) This “breaking down” of complex issues is supported by Fang. In his book Writing for Television and Radio Fang tells his readers, “the first concept to be aware of [in TV news writing] is: do not cram a story full of details.” (Fang, 1985, p 89.) Depth of coverage is replaced by entertaining presentations. Altheide and Snow describe how, in order to assure entertaining programs, newsmakers have come to rely on formulaic approaches to structuring news. How- ever, such approaches to news structuring have led to a greater emphasis on develop- ing a style of news presentation. Eventually, the style of presentation develops such importance that newsmakers no longer distinguish between presentation style and content, hence the form of presentation ‘becomes’ the significant content. (Altheide and Snow, 1979.)13 The Attributes of Drama. Entertainment value can depend on the dramatic content of a news story. One method of news writing which enhances a story’s dramatic potential is the fictive form, or the writing of news stories as fiction would be written. Use of this form is widely accepted by newsmakers. Reuvan Frank14 agrees, “Every news story 13 For example, one dimension of form known to enhance entertainment value is length of report; therefore, newsmakers keep reports short. Doing longer reports becomes expendable. See Altheide and Snow, 1979, p 75—76.) 14 Reuvan Frank was the president of the news division at NBC during the writing 16 should, without any sacrifice of probity or responsibility, display the ‘attributes of fiction’ of drama.” He further details the use of the fictive form, “The fictive form is to be accomplished by reconstructing all stories in a very definite order... all seg- ments are to be organized around the triad of ‘conflict, problem, and denouement.’ ” (Reuvan Frank quoted in Epstein, 1973, p 241.) The result is that major news stories are chosen for their dramatic potential over their information potential. (Bennett, 1988, and Altheide and Snow, 1979.) Bennett explains how the emphasis of crisis over continuity, the present over the past or future, the impact of scandal and the development and use of “actors” has led to the development of a news melodrama. (See Bennett, 1988, p 23) Bennett seems to suggest that the dramatized form has led to an absence of “probity and responsibility” in reporting. He states, “Even when the chosen cast of characters fails to provide a suitable dramatic script, the journalist can choose from a stock of plot formulas.” (See pg 36-37.) Paletz and Entman support Bennett’s suggestion by explaining how stories lacking in “high drama” may have “drama grafted on.” This is done by journalists either highlighting an event or actually “concocting” conflict and “finding” appropriate characters to symbolize the different sides of the conflict. (Paletz and Entman in Bennett, 1988, p 36-37.) Finding appropriate characters results in a hierarchical selection mechanism for stories. The selection of events become influenced by a delineation between people of Epstein’s book. 17 classified as “stars” or those who always make the news, and “walk-ons” or those not “dramatic” enough. In the news, major political figures become “stars” and are treated and perceived as actors. These “actors” are taken out of their political contexts and put into a fictive form. (see Bennett, 1988, p 44—51.)15 The result is that these stories are much higher on the hierarchy of selection (will be selected earlier) than stories which do not have appropriate star characters. Eventually, to enhance the dramatic potential of an event, newsmakers give preference to individual “stars” and human-interest angles, (Bennett, 1988, and Parenti 1986) thus reinforcing the status quo and exaggerating the importance of big power leaders. (Ostgaard, 1965.) The resulting news, while capable of moving an audience emotionally, is devoid of content.16 Other researchers also comment on the content value of news. Larson explains how newsmakers rank order news stories, not in order of informative content, but in an order which enhances program and audience flow and story line. (Larson, 1984.) Epstein informs us that the desire to develop more entertaining television news has led to the selective editing out of dull scenes, thus leaving only concentrated exciting scenes. This process, states Epstein, reinforces the use of stereotypes and negative 15 Also stars can easily be typecast. For example, President Reagan was typecast as a “father figure” or a “staunch defender of freedom.” (Bennett, 1988, p 35) 16 One should remember that certain “stars” are cast into human interest stories only if these stars exhibit an ideology consistent with the media’s. See Gans earlier in this paper. 18 aspects. (Epstein, 1973, p 176-177)17 Negative News. “A film editor who cut much of the gore from Vietnam coverage said that he left some in because ‘violence was news.’ Another observed that demonstrations were ‘rather cliché’ these days—not much of an interest unless they were violent. An executive producer spoke of the need to give the illusion of speed, ‘last night we were very peppy each item under two and one half minutes.’ ” (Warner, 1970, p 165) Of the news media, Ostgaard once said “it [the news media] tends to present the world as being more conflict-laden than it is. To emphasize the use of force over peace, and the preparing for force as a means of conflict.” (Ostgaard, 1965, p. 55) But why has negative news become an important selection criterion? The use of negative content seems to be the easiest way to make news dramatic, therefore entertaining. Unlike sensationalism, negativity is a less abstract concept. More research has focused on defining the guidelines of negativity, and most of this research has been consensual. The Factors of Negativity. In 1965, Galtung and Ruge examined the nature of negative news. They pro- 17 This reinforcement occurs due to the repetition of news stories which relay stereotypes or negative aspects. Such devices are used in news because relying on stereotypes and negative aspects eliminates the need for in-depth research. 19 posed that “the more negative the event in its consequences, the more probable that it will become a news item.” (Galtung and Ruge, 1965, p. 68—70) To study this proposal, Galtung and Ruge outlined several characteristics of negative news not found in positive news: A) B) C) D) Negative news will enter the news channel more easily because it satisfies the frequency criterion better. The positive in life takes longer than the negative; therefore, a negative event is easier to unfold. Negative news will more easily be consensual and unambiguous. There will be agreement about the interpretation of the event as negative. Negative news is more consonant. It meets the latent and manifest needs of people. Cognitive dissonance theory states, in part, that news which is not related (to subject being observed) tends to be more negative and not more positive. Negative news is more unexpected, thus it is reported in a manner which, in part, reflects urgency. This leads to the perception that negative news shows more “progress” than positive news. This is also due to the trivializing of positive news. From their study, Galtung and Ruge were able to conclude, in order to be news- worthy, more distant nations must have events which fit a pattern of expectation and capture attention. Nations closer in proximity (geographical and cultural) will find 20 it easier to make the news. People and nations of prominence will also, with high probability, find it easier to make the news than people of lower prominence. How- ever, negativity seems to have an overwhelming importance as a determining factor of newsworthiness. 13 Galtung and Ruge suggest that negative will be longer in duration and less personal than positive news. But their most revealing suggestion about the nature of negativity is its ability to make an event newsworthy even if the event does not include elite nations or people. (Galtung and Ruge, 1965, p 81-83.)19 Similar to Galtung and Ruge, Graber (1984) and Bohle (1986) both found that an event is considered newsworthy when it contains proximity, timeliness, prominence, significance, human interest, novelty and conflict. In particular, Graber sees negativism as a prime factor in determining newswor- thiness. She states, “Social problems are only reported when a dramatic negative event occurs to the social system.” (Graber, 1984, p 93, 326.) Proximity and time- “ The sample of Galtung and Ruge’s study was crisis coverage in four Norwegian newspapers. Does this finding suggest that newspapers are not less sensational than Television? The newspapers showed overwhelming negativity because the type of coverage chosen was inherently negative. One of Galtung and Ruge’s goals was to study negative news in general, not negative news differences between the media. It might follow that negative news reported in newspapers will be reported with more negativity. This will be discussed later. ’9 Galtung and Ruge hypothesized that “the more the event concerns elite na- tions, the more probable that it will become a news item.” The same becomes true if the event concerns elite people, and / or can be seen in personal terms, and / or the more negative the event. 21 liness are also prime factors newsmakers consider when picking news stories. She also reminds us of the lack of “significance” as a criterion. The use of violent and negative events have been a consistent factor used by news makers to ensure more dramatic news. The ‘casting’ of stories into ‘conflict stories’ assures universal appeal which in turn assures a maximum audience. (Ep- stein, 1973) This leads newsmakers to select events which are filled with drama, conflict, and violence. It also leads them to develop stories which reflect these characteristics while maintaining a fast pace. (Altheide and Snow, 1979)20 Negativism in U.S. media. The media, particularly the U.S. media, have a history of choosing conflictual, negative stories in order to enhance dramatic effect. Robert Desmond once stated, “The tendency of the U.S. press usually is to see situations, where possible, in terms of controversy, struggle and fight, on the theory that conflict makes the most interesting news.” (Robert Desmond quoted in Ostgaard, 1965., p 49) More than twenty years later, Greenberg, Straubhaar and Heeter were to find that the “U.S. portrayed itself in conflict more often than any other country.” (Greenberg, Straubhaar, and Heeter, 1986, p 47) Graber reports that “approximately 1/3 of the editorial content in American Mass Media is negative news and it gets preferential display treatment.” Weinberger 2° Pacing stories quickly also enhances dramatic effect. 22 et al (1984) examined the impact of editorial decisions to include or delete negative components of messages. In particular, they were interested in assessing the impact of overt negative news versus negative innuendo in news. They found that the “more dramatic negative” (overt) had a higher effect on subjects than the “less dramatic negative” (innuendo); however,’as seen earlier, the preponderance of “high drama” in Television news assures a high quantity of “more dramatic negative news.” (Weinberger, et a1, 1984) Negativism in news is not limited to editorial content. The daily action stories on the news also mostly contain negative news. (see Epstein, 1973) This preponderance of negative news led Bohle (1986) to test whether negative news images will be selected by journalists over positive news images. He hypothe- sized that a negative version of a story will be selected more and be considered more important than a positive version of the same story. The preponderance of negative stories on the news is due to, according to Bohle, “the belief that negative news is more significant than positive news.” He remarks on the conscious choices made by newsmakers to use negative stories. He continues... “it is arguable whether ‘good’ news has little news value. Negative news may well contain more information of value than good news. Because negative news is displayed more prominently than positive news, this shows that an active decision has been made regarding its rela- tive value.... Conflict is a valuable news value—negative news is less ambiguous, it 23 seems more objective.” (Bohle, 1986, pp 790-791.) If prominence is a measure of value, what is a measure of prominence, particu- larly for televised news? (Bohle’s study used newspapers.) Stone and Grusin report that for bad news to have heavy emphasis not only must it (news) be more frequent, but it also must be in longer stories and earlier stories and be visual. Using this criterion they were able to conclude that all three networks have heavy emphasis on bad news.” (see Stone and Grusin, 1964, p 523.) Using roughly the same criterion Clark and Blankenberg studied violent items in TV and newspapers. They conclude that 63.1% of violent items appeared among the first half of all items presented on TV news; and these items tended to run longer than non-violent items. Also, they found that TV news tended to give higher placement and/ or more illustration to violent news. (see Clark and Blankenberg, 1972, p 233—235.) The use of negative—violent formats also influences the story “actors.” Not only are star-like qualities enhanced, but the actors also are cast into sharply drawn roles of good or bad. This is done in order to clearly define the positive and negative and to enhance dramatic conflict. (Epstein, 1973, and Bennett, 1988.) Why has the U.S. media used negative images as a measure of sensational- ism? Bohle suggests that journalists’ attraction to negative news may be due to an ‘adversary relationship between the press and the government.’ (see Bohle, 1986, 24 p 790—791.) However, others see TV news as a prime-time imitator. “Greenberg speculated that violence in entertainment feeds into the news department. Tele- vision executives know what sells in entertainment programming, and the desire exists to get it into the news, to ‘spice up’ the news.” (Clark and Blankenberg, p 230) Clark and Blankenberg suggest that news shows are ‘consistently more violent than the general run of TV entertainment.’ (Clark and Blankenberg, 1972, p. 234.) However, Comstock was unsure whether television news should be characterized as more violent or about as violent as prime time drama. (Comstock and Rubenstein, 1972) If television is considered more sensational than newspapers, is it also more negative? Comstock and Rubenstein compared 27 network evening news casts with corresponding front page stories from newspapers. They concluded there was no statistically significant difference in violent content for Television and newspapers. (Comstock and Rubenstein, 1972, p 15.) In 1973, Bower was able to conclude that over 1 / 2 of the participants in his study named television as the bearer of bad news compared with only 32% who said newspapers. (see in Stone and Grusin, 1984, p 517).21 However, Stone and Grusin were able to conclude that the relationship between news gathering for television 2’ Stone and Grusin hypothesized that “Early evening newscasts on television’s three major commercial networks place heavier emphasis on bad news than do newspapers.” (Stone and Grusin, 1984, p 523) 25 and newspapers was not symbiotic.22 They reasoned that television may be responsible for more bad news because it is the major source of news, and because it (TV) uses entertaining formats. (Stone and Grusin, 1984) In 1985, Stempel was able to confirm that TV newscasts are highly similar, in regards to content, between themselves, and that news selection was different for newspapers and television. (Stempel, 1985) 22 Bohle suggests this might be due to the sample in which journalists get their news. Locales such as courts and police stations may be biased towards bad news. (Bohle, 1986.) 26 Part 3 The Effect on News and Foreign Policy Doris Graber in her book Mass Media and American Politics (1984) quotes political scientist Harold Lasswell’s three functions of the mass media: 1) The surveillance of the world to report ongoing events. 2) The interpretation of the meaning of events, and 3) the socialization of individuals into their cultural set- tings. Graber takes Lasswell’s functions to their logical conclusion and claims the mass media also deliberately manipulate the political process. In the relationship between television news and foreign policy, Larson (1978) sees the function of news in a similar manner to Lasswell and Graber.23 His three roles that news plays in foreign policy includes the roles of observer and participant in public diplomacy, and the role of news as a catalyst for making policy decisions. This role occurs due to the large pervasive source of information news imparts to political leaders. The participatory role of the press in foreign policy is further evidenced by Storey’s examination of Presidential News Conferences (see in Larson, 1984, p. 136—137)24 Storey found a positive relationship between presidential emphasis on 23 Larson seems to differ, in the conceptual sense, from Graber on the manipulat- ing process of political leaders by news. Larson seems to suggest that manipulation is a byproduct which results from the sheer amount of news and the inability of political leaders to get information elsewhere, whereas Graber suggests a more over manipulation by newsmakers. 24 Storey compared international issues as treated in the press conferences and on network Television’s early evening newscasts. 27 international issues in news conferences and their coverage on network television. This finding also suggested a more collaborative role between the press and the president than was once thought. However, this role might not be one of collab- oration but of dependence. Graber points out that the media can be subject to manipulation by political leaders because the media depend on these leaders for in- formation. (see Graber, 1984., and, to an extent, Larson p. 136, 1978.) However, in their study, Greenberg, Straubhaar, and Heeter predicted, “Within political topic stories, criticism of government and problems will predominate in western news.” (see Greenberg, Straubhaar, and Heeter; 1986, p 3-4.) Therefore, the media will also choose to present stories in a way contrary to how political leaders would have liked them presented. As Fang mentions, “The networks followed Nixon’s ‘Vietnam Address’ of 1969 with comment and criticism by reporters and opposing politicians. A week later, Vice President Agnew delivered his speech in Des Moines, Iowa attacking what he called the networks ‘instant analyses and querulous criticism’ following the Nixon speech.” (Fang, 1985., p 323) However, whether the media support or does not support a given political leader, as Lasswell, Graber and Larson point out, the news media at least par- ticipate in the foreign policy process by having the greatest source of information disseminated to society, including political leaders. Furthermore, political infor- mation is changed by distorting and/ or dramatizing this information to fit a news 28 format. By change, we mean certain aspects of such stories will be selected for presentation. Besides selecting news which will fit a format of drama and action, are there other considerations newsmakers take into account when selecting international news stories? According to Stevenson and Shaw (1984) a country must meet certain criteria if it is to be considered a news source for the U.S. These criteria are: the level of political dialogue a nation has with the U.S., the level of national elitism ex- pressed in economic terms, and a degree of cultural and / or geographical proximity. So therefore, in choosing foreign events for U.S. news, how similar a foreign society is, or can be, to American society is a prime selection criterion. As Graber explains, “stories must reflect American values and also conform to American stereotypes.” (Graber, 1984., p 314). This similarity is probably important in order to eliminate dissonance, or con- flicting and unfamiliar information, ethics, morals, etc. Use of familiar images are used to show “normalcy”. As Bennett (1988) explains, “the use of familiar images are used to explain puzzling situations.” (see Bennett, 1988. p 44—51). Gans points to two enduring values of news, “ethnocentrism” and “altruistic democracy,” which influence newsmakers to select news which reflect U.S. values. Ethnocentrism, Gans explains, is most explicit in foreign news. It is the value whereby the media judge others by the way they (the others) live up to or imitate American practices or 29 values. The value of Altruistic Democracy shown by the news media suggest explic- itly that democracy is superior to dictatorship. Ultimately, news respects “rugged individualism” and is uneasy about any “collective solutions.” (see Gans, 1979., p 40—41.) These values are shown in the presentation of news from countries which have systems dissimilar to the U.S. As Greenberg, Straubhaar, and Heeter and Straub- haar et al point out, Western news will often depict socialist and many third world country governments as “wrong” or “incapable.” (see Greenberg, Straub- haar, Heeter, 1986., p 4—5, and Straubhaar et al., 1986., p.4). Also, socialist and third world countries rarely make the concluding human interest stories. These light, positive stories are generally reserved for other Western European countries (if not Japan or the U.S.) (Larson, 1984.) Of course, as Greenberg, Straubhaar and Heeter point out, this criterion for selection is not limited to American news media?5 However, Graber mentions that “overt political considerations rarely play a part in news selection, instead a profit motive does,” (Graber, 1984., p. 98) but one could argue that profit motive is a democratic ideal. So, even if overt po- litical considerations have a small role in news selection the overall political and social ideology, or what society deems significant, seems to have a great influence 25 Note the hypothesis by Greenberg, Straubhaar, and Heeter that “countries will be treated in a more positive way by countries within their own economic and political orientation.” (see Greenberg, Straubhaar, Heeter, 1986., p. 5) 30 on selection. (see Graber, 1984. and Bennett, 1988.)26 Negativity in Foreign Affairs News: Larson mentions how international events may receive atypical treatment by news organizations. One example of atypical treatment is the saturation coverage that an international event may receive (see Larson, 1984., p 49—50). Larson found that the U.S. news was saturated with coverage about the U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam, the assassination of Anwar Sadat and the Iran hostage crisis. This satu- ration coverage had the effect of making these events appear more important than other events. Often the theme of these events was negative. On U.S. network television, foreign affairs news, like domestic news, contains an overwhelming amount of negative content. As Larson informs us, “most of the topics or subjects of network TV’s international news coverage dealt with war, violent crime, natural disasters,...” (Larson, 1984, p 49-50.) This can also be said of domestic news. However, as Graber (1984) and Gans (1979) suggest, the criteria newsmakers use to select news must be intensified for foreign affairs news. This includes criterion of negativity. (see Bohle, 1986) Gans tells us, “foreign news displays the same interest in political conflict as domestic news, foreign conflicts must be more dramatic and usually more violent than their domestic equivalents in order to break into the news.” (Gans, 1979, p 35.) 2" This is consistent with the ideas of Tuchman and Gans expressed earlier in this paper. 31 Why must the criteria used to select stories he more intensified for foreign sto- ries? Epstein speculates that the need to make news which is relevant to the public makes news producers select (use) foreign stories which include demonstrations, conflicts, and disasters. This is because news producers assume that TV audience is not familiar with foreign news. (Epstein, 1973, p 247—248) This assumption has led newsmakers to assume a foreign country only becomes newsworthy when it af- fects Americans or American interest. (Gans, 1979) Gans speculates, “probably the most time and space is given to what Americans do to, for, and in other countries.” (Gans, 1979, p 32) Foreign affairs news is seen as secondary to domestic news unless it can be treated as a domestic story. (Warner, 1970.) Newsmakers attempt to “make do- mestic” foreign affairs news stories by making these stories appealing to the majority of American tastes. However, foreign affairs news is generally treated with less ob- jectivity than domestic news. (Gans, 1979)27 How newsmakers define “American taste” might cause such subjective treatment of foreign affairs news. Newsmak- ers assume Americans are not that concerned with various facets of foreign issues; therefore, these issues are not presented. Exclusion of pieces from the news also oc- curs if newsmakers feel the piece might insult a significant segment of the American 27 Gans believes this is particularly true for American treatment of communist countries. Epstein suggests that a lack of objectivity is due, in part, to the inability to apply the fairness doctrine overseas; therefore, controls over correspondents are greatly relaxed. 32 audience. (Epstein, 1973.) Lent speculates that the U.S. media enhance negative aspects of foreign sto- ries because western news is inherently oriented towards the dramatic. “Such an orientation makes it difficult to report the incremental and casual,” Lent suggests. “These two factors are often necessary to fully understand why and how a foreign event occurs.” (see Lent, 1977, p 47-48.)28 Lent reminds us that newsmakers face discriminatory selection of foreign stories due to the political, social, and economic contexts of the countries involved. Such aspects as national and military policies, cultural heritage, and censorship influence choices available to newsmakers. (Lent, 1977) We have seen how the news plays a participatory role in foreign policy. This role becomes even more important when we consider that the selection criteria for foreign stories is more intensified than the selection criteria for domestic stories. Are policy makers being subject to information which is overly sensational? As this study is concerned with U.S. Television News images of the U.S.S.R., we will now focus more closely on the U.S.S.R. in foreign affairs news. 28 Lent implies that news only reports certain parts of an event. This is, of course, the same concept by Ostgaard, and Galtung and Ruge which was outlined earlier in this paper and which is widely accepted by most researchers. Chapter 2 Historical Contexts. Overview of U.S. and Soviet Relations. This section briefly outlines the relationship between the U.S. and the Soviet Union by examining the main events which occurred between the superpowers in 1984 and 1985. In particular we examine the change in U.S. and Soviet relations which occurred over these years. It goes without saying that in contemporary history, the relationship between the superpowers has consisted largely of negative rhetoric and competitive behavior. Caldwell (1981) suggests that competition between the superpowers stems from two fundamental sources: one, the size and power of the U.S. and U.S.S.R. creates a power rivalry, and two, the fundamental differences between the two societies. How the U.S. and U.S.S.R. have exhibited this competitive behavior has pri- marily depended on the ideology of the party in power. For example, the Carter administration sought to use trade as a foreign policy tool, and in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan imposed a series of economic sanctions. Conversely, the Reagan administration lifted some of Carter’s sanctions but tightened controls on more ‘commercial products’ in order to lower the commercial relationship be- tween the two countries. (see Bertsch, 1985) When Reagan took office in 1981 he inherited some anti-Soviet ideals from the 33 34 the conservative-Democratic Carter administration, but Reagan’s new conservative- Republican administration was more anti-Soviet. (Bertsch, 1985.) According to Parenti, “In Reagan’s first press conference he declared U.S.S.R.’s goal was to im- pose ‘a one world socialist or communist state’ over the entire globe. The only morality they recognize is what will further their cause: meaning they commit any crime; to lie, to cheat, in order to obtain that.” (Parenti, 1986, p 132.) The Reagan administration’s View of the U.S.S.R. as a vast military-industrial complex, equal to, or stronger than, the U.S., led to the policy of compromise through strength. For example, in his nomination acceptance speech, Reagan said “Not one inch of soil has fallen to the communists.” (Facts on File, 1984, Sept. 17th, Pg. 609) and this policy extended past military endeavors. For example, in 1981, the Reagan administration lifted the grain embargo; however, the level of dialogue with the U.S.S.R. was about the same as it was in 1978. (Tatu, 1983) Also, the Reagan administration imposed tougher standards on the exportation of technical goods to the U.S.S.R. and implemented a pipeline embargo as a response to the Polish crisis. (Tatu, 1983, and Bertsch, 1985) The Reagan administration’s anti-Soviet ideology seemed to reach its peak in 1983 and 1984. In March of 1983, at a convention for the National Association of Evangelicals, President Reagan described the U.S.S.R. as an “Evil Empire.” Bassow suggests that this negative description of the U.S.S.R “stamped attitudes toward the 35 Kremlin far more firmly than Russia’s sacrifices in World War II.” (Bassow, 1988, p 349.) For Horelick, the key event which set the tone for superpower relations in 1984 was the KAL 747 air disaster. He explains how “callous mismanagement” by the Soviet leadership turned this tragic disaster into a political catastrophe. (Horelick, 1985) For some, including the U.S. administration, this event gave evidence that the U.S.S.R. was indeed the evil empire. Conciliatory rhetoric did occur in 1984. For example, in January, President Reagan, in a major address, softened his criticism of the U.S.S.R. However, the U.S.S.R. did not receive this speech warmly, (see Foreign Affairs, Chronology, King, ed., 1985, 645—674) because they assumed it was U.S. propaganda. Conversely, Andropov condemned the Reagan administration’s military program but urged U.S. and U.S.S.R. dialogue. Generally though, conciliatory rhetoric was underplayed by various accusations by both superpowers accusing the other of violating existing arms agreements. (see Foreign A flairs, Chronology, King, ed., 1985, 645—674.)29 When, in March, the U.S. denied a visa to an U.S.S.R. olympic official amidst accusations of KGB connections, the U.S.S.R. eventually responded by boycotting 29 These accusations were particularly volatile in January. On January 11th, NATO accused the U.S.S.R. of IRBM (inter-range ballistic missile) buildup since the collapse of INF (intermediate forces) talks. On January 23, President Reagan submitted a report to Congress alleging seven Soviet violations of existing arms control agreements. In a “counterattack,” on January 29th the U.S.S.R. formally protested U.S. violations of nuclear arms accords. (see Foreign A flairs, 1985, p 645—674) 36 the Summer Olympics. (Foreign A flairs, Chronology, King, ed., 1985, p 645—674) This event helped to maintain the negative rhetoric for the spring and summer of 1984. One result was that, from June through August many arms and space weapons proposals and counterproposals were created and subsequently rejected.30 In August, while testing a microphone, President Reagan joked about bombing the U.S.S.R. Like the “Evil Empire” speech of 1983, this joke reflects the anti-Soviet rhetoric that has been consistent throughout 1984. Toward the end of 1984, a change in superpower relations started to occur. In September of 1984, President Reagan’s meeting with Soviet Foreign Minister Gromyko marked the President’s first meeting with a ranking U.S.S.R. official. After his reelection, President Reagan suggested the possibility of informal talks with the U.S.S.R. in order to speed up arms negotiations. On November 22nd, the U.S. and U.S.S.R. announced a new round of proposals for arms control meetings which seemed unlikely to be rejected. As 1985 began, the softer tone in U.S.-U.S.S.R. relations increased. It was clear that arms control had resumed its place as the “centerpiece” of superpower relations, (Horelick, 1985, and Azrael and Sestanovich, 1986.) illustrated by the Schultz— Gromyko meeting in Geneva, Winter 1985, and the agreement to resume arms talks. 3° The U.S. and U.S.S.R. made 3 proposals from the end of June through the be- ginning of August. The U.S. made 2 proposals, the U.S.S.R. one. Each superpower rejected the other. See Foreign A fiairs, 1985, p. 645—674. 37 (Foreign A flairs, Chronology, Robertson, ed., 1986, 653—696) Accusations of arms— control violations were fewer, and had less negative overtones than in 1984.31 When Gorbachev succeeded Chernenko in early March, a new shift in U.S. attitude toward the U.S.S.R. was reported. (New York Times Index, March 17, 1985). At the Gorbachev succession, Vice—President Bush, unprecedently, delivered an invitation from President Reagan, calling for a summit. (Facts on File, 3 / 13, 1985, pg. 178E1) However, as Hyland explains, “the shift in superpower relations cannot be attributed to a change in Soviet leadership. The clash between the U.S.S.R. and the U.S. has deep roots.” (Hyland, 1985, p 808). This was evident from U.S. press reports which complained of bugged typewriters at the Moscow embassy, and on the Soviet side, Gorbachev’s Time interview in August, where he accused the U.S. of waging a “campaign of hatred” against the U.S.S.R. (Foreign A ffairs, Chronology, Robertson, ed., 1986, 653—696) As the summer of 1984 saw the olympic boycott, the summer of 1985 saw members of the American Walker family go to trial for espionage; however, this event seemed to lack the influence over the U.S.’s opinion of the U.S.S.R. which the Olympic boycott had, most likely because this event, unlike the Olympic boycott, had an American protagonist. 31 On February First, President Reagan charged the U.S.S.R. with arms agree- ment violations. Disagreements also occurred over SDI (strategic defense initiative). However, the negative rhetoric was lessened on both sides. (see Foreign A flairs, 1986, 653-696) 38 Gorbachev may not, at the time, have had a significant influence on the shift in superpower relations as Hyland states, but almost certainly his ability to present a more “western” image to the news media enabled him to relate to President Reagan on Reagan’s terms. Negative rhetoric over arms control existed.32 However, all in all, the disman- tling of the Poseidon submarine in order to comply to agreements, and the upcoming summit between President Reagan and Gorbachev (Foreign A flairs, Chronology, Robertson, ed., 1986, 653—696) showed that 1985 created promising prospects for improved relations. Media Coverage of the U.S.S.R. Larson reports that the “U.S.S.R. is the most frequently mentioned nation on U.S. network TV news because of its superpower role and the tendency of U.S. TV to report international affairs within a framework of east-west conflict.” (Larson, 1984, p. 82—83.) Greenberg, Straubhaar, and Heeter (1986) and Straubhaar et a1, (1986) not only found that the U.S.S.R. was the most frequently mentioned in the U.S., but that political and military topics dominated.33 32 Reagan called the U.S.S.R.’s moratorium on nuclear testing and deployment of IRM’s (inter-range missiles) unverifiable. Conversely, the U.S.S.R. condemned the U.S. announcements of SDI tests. 33 Greenberg, Straubhaar, and Heeter found that stories about the Soviet Union emphasized political topics 78% of the time and military topics 22% of the time. See Greenberg, Straubhaar, and Heeter, 1986, pg 37—38. 39 These studies suggest that the selection criteria of newsmakers are a reflection of the two fundamental sources of competition between the U.S. and U.S.S.R.. Su- perpower rivalry influences the amount of stories which reflect East-West conflict. Further, the ideological differences seem to manifest themselves, not only in stories about East-West conflict, but also in the number of stories with political and mili- tary topics as it is these topic areas where the main ideological differences lie (if we consider that political systems influence social systems as well). Consequently, as many researchers have found, this results in a negative approach to news. Parenti concluded that “ideological bias by newsmakers has caused stories about socialist countries to be more negative than “other” news stories. (see Par- enti, 1986, p. 216-217). This conclusion is supported by Dorman, who comments, “there is a tendency of the media to accept a worst possible case interpretation of all things Soviet. The media have helped make “crisis” a permanent aspect of the American consciousness.” (Dorman, 1983, p. 68-69). Also, Gans suggests “U.S. network news stories about the U.S.S.R. are reported with “such urgency, that al- most anything that happens in the communist block is thought to affect Americans or American policy.” He further suggests that story topics illustrate, “...[Soviet] ac— tivities perceived to involve a relationship to the US or show internal problems or difficulties in the U.S.S.R. which reduce their military, economic, or political power vis a vis the U.S.” He concludes, “News from Russia or China is almost entirely 40 concerned with those government’s problems or failures. Changes in top leader- ship are interpreted either in terms of what they might mean for future relations with the U.S. or as power struggles indicating internal political weakness.” (Gans, 1979, p 33—34.) Parenti suggests that news stories not only illustrate how weak the U.S.S.R. political system is, but also how weak and failing their economy is as well. Conversely, he points out that many U.S. news stories about the U.S.S.R. portray the U.S.S.R. military as strong and powerful. (i.e., threatening to the U.S. way of life. See Parenti, 1986, pp. 137——138)34 History of Media Coverage of the U.S.S.R. How long has such an approach to news about the U.S.S.R. existed? His- torically, there is evidence that for the media, the cold war began in 1917 rather than 1948. Following the armistice the theme of “Red Peril” dominated the news. (Dorman, 1983. p.44-45)35 One expected the cold war to influence the media coverage of the Soviet Union. However, the negative bias by newsmakers toward the U.S.S.R. did not end with the cold war. As evidenced by a 1982 study concentrating in the areas of Brezhnev’s death, Andropov, and the MX was undertaken using five American daily newspa— pers, Time and Newsweek, selected stories from UPI and AP, and the Evening News 34 For example, Parenti points to the media’s fondness for reporting Soviet mili- tary parades juxtaposed with long food lines. 35 See Lippmann and Merz (1920) study of New York Times coverage of the Russian Revolution. .41 of the three networks. What researchers found, upon comparing this study with one conducted by Lippmann and Merz in 1920, was a lack of substantive change from how the U.S.S.R. was presented in 1982 compared to 1920. (see Dorman, 1983, p 46-47). Change in emphasis and interpretation of individual events occurred, but overall negative aspects of stories were highlighted. Original cold war interpreta- tions showed the U.S.S.R. as a powerful “hulking bully.” Years later, after the cold war, the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan kept this image alive, mostly due to how this event was reported. Dorman (1983) suggests that without complete knowledge, journalists unanimously agreed that the U.S.S.R. killed both detente and SALT II by invading Afghanistan. Parenti states the invasion also led newscasters to “specu- late” on the air “which country would be next.” These speculations, without factual knowledge, were called “News Analysis.” (Parenti, 1986.) Eventually, the depiction of the U.S.S.R. as the “hulking bully” gave way to the depiction of the U.S.S.R. as a menacing failure. This approach emphasized the “danger” which can come from weakness. (Dorman 1983, p 53—54).36 However, this depiction was not a lessening in Cold War rhetoric. Dorman found that the media’s interpretation of Soviet history, behavior, and 36 Dorman believes this change in emphasis and interpretation by the press re- sulted from a change in administrations, and the election of President Reagan who, as an attack point, stressed the weakness of the Soviet economy. President Carter and his predecessors, however, chose not to emphasize the failures of the Soviet Union. 42 intentions was unrelentingly negative from Brezhnev’s death through the MX con- troversy. “There was little attempt to open the question of Soviet motive.” (Dor- man, 1983. p. 67). News of Brezhnev’s death and Andropov’s succession almost mimicked the White House views of the Situation.” However, Hertsgaard (1988) noted a change in U.S. coverage of the U.S.S.R. after 1983. He suggests that the “tenor and reporting” of all three networks were about the same through the deployment of the Pershing and cruise missiles in 1983. At this time, Hertsgaard concludes, “U.S. journalists were quick to recognize the propaganda quotient of U.S.S.R. moratoriums, not U.S. ones.” (see Pg. 275). The change in reporting (to what, Hertsgaard doesn’t quite state) may have been caused by the failure of Grenada, which changed public opinion, hence the media, toward more questioning of the U.S. government. (Hertsgaard, 1988) However, later, the Soviet responses to the Chernobyl incident were taken by the U.S. news media as “U.S.S.R. rhetoric.” Or, more fitting, the lack of immediate Soviet response to the crisis was criticized, when the “official silence” which occurred during the Three Mile Island incident was considered justified. (see Bennett, 1988, [)41—42) The peace movements in the U.S.S.R. and Eastern Europe may have gone 37 For example, the news reported directly from a State Department report, un- flattering observations (e.g. “He’s no closet liberal”) about Andropov. (see pg 54-55) 43 unreported, but dissident groups received a lot of media attention (see Dorman, 1983, and Parenti, 1986). As Gans states, “The reportage from Soviet Russia was much less affected [than China] by the official American shift from Cold War to Detente [in the 1970’s], even when Washington and Moscow were proclaiming their friendship for each other, the news continued to report in great detail Soviet violations of civil liberties, the ill treatment of Jews and intellectuals, and the protest activities of dissidents.” (Gans, 1979 p. 33-34.) News about the U.S.S.R. was also “spotty and lopsided” when it came to re- porting essential facts for understanding defense and military issues. (Graber, 1984, pp. 328-329, Lefever, 1975, Pg. 182) Until the SALT negotiations in 1977, stories about the military strength of the U.S. and U.S.S.R. did not receive prominent coverage. (Graber, p. 328—329). Early spotty coverage of the U.S.S.R. might also be due to the emphasis on covering Vietnam over other news items, rather than ideological differences, but spotty coverage doesn’t decrease the amount of negative news about the U.S.S.R. over more positive news. This conclusion about “spotty coverage” on the news extends to the eighties as well. As Parenti found, many arms control issues of the eighties were either incom- pletely reported or not reported at all. Examples include the Soviet rejection of the Reagan administration’s “Zero Option” proposal. This rejection was reported in the press for fifteen months and reported without a Soviet reason for rejection. (see 44 Parenti, 1986. p 133—134). And the Soviet Communist Party’s Nuclear Weapons Freeze in 1982, which was unreported by the major network news. When such events are reported, according to Parenti, the news analysis either reports or gives the impression that the event was “only U.S.S.R. rhetoric.” (Parenti, 1985) Chapter 3. Goals and Hypotheses. Rationale: Researchers have postulated on why newsmakers have come to rely on negative events to make news, and why such news keeps audience attention over other more positive news. Galtung and Ruge (1965) attempted to tackle the nature of negative information and why newsmakers have become dependent on negative information. Other researchers (see Tuchman for example) have claimed that the political climate influences what news is to be reported. In this case news items which do not fit the “dominant ideology” will be reported negatively. Conversely, newsmakers have been accused of influencing and shaping government policies. (see Hermann and Chomsky, in The Manufacturing of Consent, 1988) These theories are important in order to understand why newsmakers depend on negative events as news; however, this study does not directly examine the causes which lead newsmakers to choose negative events as news, but rather concentrates on examining the negative content of the news itself. Television news is probably influenced by politics and politics is probably influenced by televised news, but the method of presentation (the arrangement of formats, choice of words, etc.) is the end result which the viewer is exposed to, and makes his / her decisions from. We have found that the method of presentation as it is arranged in formats, 45 46 or as Gitlin would term a ‘grammar’, leans toward reporting the sensational, par- ticularly negative news which is sensational. Because the reliance on such methods have led to their consistent use, television news will not just give information, but consistently present it in an exciting, dramatic way. As we learned from Epstein and Graber earlier, by presenting news in an exciting way, dull scenes will be edited out and exciting scenes will consist of conflictual and violent events. Negative news, then, becomes the “standard” for selection and presentation, particularly when we consider the following: 1) Negative news is great for ratings. It has a high excitement and entertainment value, thus keeping the audience “glued to the TV.” 2) The use of “thematic grouping” and “rank ordering” (as Altheide and Larson suggest) of stories enables the newsmakers to keep the audience’s attention throughout the entire “theme show,” and further enhance the excitement value through concentration into clumps of negative stories. 3) Since negative events easily fit into format considerations and have high audi- ence appeal, such events will not only be prevalent as news items in one news Show, but will easily pass Ostgaard’s “news barrier” and become a standard for news reporting. These three factors should be especially true for international news stories. As we learned from Larson’s study, most of the international subjects on Network TV 47 news dealt with natural disaster, violent crime, and war. Since newsmakers have come to the conclusion that citizens don’t care as much about international events as they do about domestic ones, the impetus to explain the social and political processes behind an event is less than it is. for domestic news; therefore such subjects, as Larson pointed out, fulfill the requirements for exciting news. As far as reporting events from the U.S.S.R. is concerned, not only are they subject to the conditions of other international stories, but most of the events which are newsworthy do not reflect, what Gans considered to be, the newsmaker’s idea of “altruistic democracy” or “rugged individualism.” Therefore, newsmakers might even be less likely to spend their time trying to fit significant content into the presentation, in the sense that they won’t present a positive story which doesn’t fit their democratic ideals. Taking these factors into account, we conclude that since, as shown, the U.S. and U.S.S.R. relations were quite poor in 1984, news about the U.S.S.R. will be reported very negatively. But since the reliance on a dramatic form of presentation supercedes the reporting of information, news about the U.S.S.R. in 1985 will still be negative, though perhaps a little less 30.38 Since positive events did occur more frequently in 1985, and in the attempt to be objective, these events will have, to a degree, to be reported. 38 Altheide pointed out that journalists try for objectivity but within the frame- work of the format. Therefore, in the interest of presenting “the facts”, news will reflect the less negative rhetoric of 1985; however, this news will still be presented within the framework of sensationalism. 48 This Study: This study will examine U.S. Television News images of the Soviet Union; how~ ever, essentially the method used in this study is a ‘system’ for analysing negative news content, rather than a device which analyses news about the U.S.S.R. The method employed here can be arranged to analyse any country as this researcher has arranged it to analyse the U.S.S.R. Several aspects of the U.S. network news images of the U.S.S.R. have been found which makes undertaking a content analysis of negative news images of the U.S.S.R. feasible and necessary: 1) The amount of U.S. network news devoted to the U.S.S.R. has been consider- able, (see Larson, 1984, Greenberg, Straubhaar and Heeter, 1986) particularly in political and military topics (see Greenberg, Straubhaar, and Heeter, 1986; Straubhaar et a1, 1986). 2) The east-west conflict has been a primary source of information for nega- tive news, (see Larson, 1984, Dorman, 1983) mostly in the important areas of diplomatic relations, U.S.S.R. military strength and U.S.S.R. domestic pol- icy. (Straubhaar et a1, 1986; Greenberg, Straubhaar, and Heeter, 1986; Lefever, 1974) This leads to the following research questions: RQ 1: Do the negative aspects of U.S. network television news influence what is re- 49 ported about the U.S.S.R? RQ 2: Do the negative aspects of U.S. network television news receive greater priority in respect to length, story order, and story format than positive news? This study examined the length, story order, and degree of negativity of various categories, most of which are based on the “USIA Comparative News Coding Coun- try Analysis” as used by Greenberg, Straubhaar and Heeter (1986), and Straubhaar et al (1986). Primarily this researcher analysed whether the length of stories on U.S. television network news varied with the stories portrayal of the U.S.S.R. Story order and degree of negativity were analysed for the same reason. What distinguished a “negative portrayal” from a “positive portrayal” was the various themes and modes which the coders could choose from, some giving a negative impression, some a positive one. This is discussed in more detail later. This researcher proposes that because the television network news has come to rely on the use of negative images, (see Galtung and Ruge, 1965; Altheide and Snow, 1979; Bohle, 1986; Stone and Grusin, 1984; Greenberg, Straubhaar and Heeter, 1986) the positive portrayals of the U.S.S.R. coming from the Reagan shift period should be reported in shorter stories than the reporting of the negative portrayals occurring in both periods. Though they will be generally shorter, positive portrayals of the U.S.S.R. should be reported with slightly longer story length during the Reagan shift period, than the positive portrayals during the Reagan pre—shift 50 period. This will most likely be true in some areas of the political arena. (see Lefever, 1974). But generally, news which gives a negative portrayal of the U.S.S.R. should be reported in longer stories for both periods. (see Bohle, 1986). The same should hold true for story order, and degree of negativity. Stories will be perceived to be more negative in the Reagan pre-shift period than the Reagan shift period. Also, stories with negative portrayals will occur earlier than those with positive portrayals. This reflects the reverse of the old adage, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say it at all.” Hypotheses. The use of length and story order are used frequently by researchers to deter- mine the priority of news coverage. (see Krippendorf 1980) Researchers have found that news is made more salient by newsmakers through the process of selection and emphasis. (For examples, see Galtung and Ruge, 1965; Altheide, 1985; and Mickiewicz, 1988). If a story or group of stories is noticeably longer or appears early in the newscast it will stand out from the rest. (For example, see Stone and Grusin, 1984) It stands to reason then that if negative stories are selected and em- phasized more than positive ones, then, possibly, the newsmakers feel they must make negative images more salient. This is supported by Bohle, (1986) and Clark and Blankenburg, (1972). Yet, is it enough to assume that simply because a negative image is more salient 51 than a positive one, that that story will be perceived to be negative by the audience? Perhaps a story which shows the Soviet political system as impaired will actually be perceived positively, for example, if this impairedness is contrasted with a greater impairedness in the U.S. political system. This is why this study used length, story order, and the Negative-Positive index to examine U.S. television news images of the U.S.S.R. The two measures of salience used in this study will be length and story order. Most of the research summarized in this paper used these two variables to infer the priority of negative news images over positive ones.39 Many of these studies have also examined the visual content of news stories; however, this study does not use visual content as a variable but rather concentrates on the spoken content of the news story. It was reasoned that viewers do not have to be “actively watching” the television—as Gans states (1979, pg 159) “Television news can be criticised for accompanying important text with unimportant film, but the significant question is do viewers pay closer attention to the text of the film... they [viewers] may pay as much attention to the text as to the films particularly since many are eating dinner or engaged in other activities while they are watching the news.” 39 For example, Stone and Grusin’s claim that for “bad news to have heavy empha- sis it must be frequent, in earlier stories, and be visual,” illustrates how researchers have used these variables to infer priority. 52 This is why in the following hypotheses both length and story order, including degree of negativity, are examined. Length 1. On the average, negative images of the U.S.S.R. will be longer in length over both periods. A. The mean length of stories illustrating U.S.S.R. political incapability will be longer than the mean length of stories illustrating political capability. B. The mean length of stories illustrating U.S.S.R. agricultural/ industrial/ economic weakness will be longer than the mean length of stories illustrat- ing U.S.S.R. agricultural/ industrial/ economic strength. C. The mean length of stories illustrating U.S.S.R. military strength will be longer than the mean length of stories illustrating Soviet military weakness. D. The mean length of stories illustrating negative images of Soviet social/ cultural welfare will be longer than the mean length of stories illustrating positive images of U.S.S.R. social/ cultural welfare. 2. For both periods, the mean length of stories showing the U.S. and U.S.S.R. in conflict will be longer than the mean length of stories which show the U.S. and U.S.S.R. in cooperation. 3. Because U.S. news about the U.S.S.R. was overall more negative during the Reagan pre-shift period than the Reagan shift period, in general, news about 53 the U.S.S.R. reported during the Reagan pre-shift period will be longer than the news reported during the Reagan shift period. . Stories about the U.S.S.R. with political and military topics will be longer during both periods than stories with agriculture/ industrial/ economic and social/ cultural welfare topics of both periods. . News stories which portray the U.S.S.R. as conflictual-impaired will be longer over both periods, and news stories which portray the U.S.S.R. as consonant- improving will be shorter over both periods. Negativity: . Political topics will be more negative during the Reagan pre—shift period than the Reagan shift period. . All military topics will be more negative than positive for both periods. . Agricultural/ industrial/ economic topics and social/ cultural welfare topics will be more negative during the Reagan pre-shift period than the Reagan shift period. Story order: . Overall, news stories which portray the U.S.S.R. as conflictual—impaired will occur earlier in the newscast for both periods, and news stories which portray the U.S.S.R. as consonant-improving will occur later in the newscast for both periods. 54 10. News stories about the U.S.S.R. with political and military topics will occur earlier in the newscast for both periods, and news stories about the U.S.S.R. with social/ cultural Welfare and agricultural/ industrial/ economic topics will occur later in the newscast for both periods. 55 Methods. As Ostgaard (1965) pointed out, researchers have been unable to define “sensa- tional news.” Most researchers have chosen to use negative news items for variables representing sensational news.40 So what is a negative news item? Researchers such as Galtung and Ruge (1965), Ostgaard (1965), and Larson (1984) have used crisis coverage (e.g. assas- sinations, earthquakes, war) to represent negative news. However, such coverage only represents one dimension of negative news. Another dimension of negative news is to develop topics and themes which examine various contextual elements of news stories that can reflect negatively or positively on the country(ies) in ques- tion. Essentially, such tOpics and themes ask how a country(ies) is portrayed by a news story. This technique was used by Greenberg, Straubhaar, and Heeter (1986) and Straubhaar et al (1986) to examine images in television news, and thus will also be used in this study. Though both ’Greenberg and Straubhaar also used crisis coverage, this study will not for two reasons. One, such coverage might influence some of the results, and we are not interested in examining crises as much as we are interested in examining other issues, and two, there probably won’t be enough crisis coverage to analyze. As Mickiewicz (1988, pg. 114-116) found, “Disasters and accidents are popular, but mostly in connection with domestic news and NATO 4" This technique is widespread in media research. For examples, see Galtung and Ruge (1965), Larson (1984) and Greenberg, Straubhaar and Heeter (1986). ‘56 countries.” The Categories. Topics and Subtopics. This study uses categories developed by Greenberg, Straubhaar, and Heeter. 41 This form consists of various coder topics, subtopics and corresponding themes, all of which coders use to categorize news stories and determine how the country in question was portrayed by the news. This form is given in Appendix 1. Because the MSU form is geared more toward examining the news content of various countries simultaneously and, in particular, the news content in third world countries, the form had to be reduced and simplified in order to meet the needs of this study. Also it was anticipated that there would be a lack of stories in topic areas other than politics and military (see Greenberg, Straubhaar, and Heeter, 1986, and Straubhaar, et al, 1986). The topic of “accidents” was eliminated because this researcher wished to con- centrate more on other negative news items than on crisis oriented items. The ’9 6‘ topics of “science/ technology, culture” and “judicial crime” were included under other topics. Thus, the original nine topic areas were reduced to the following four: Politics: Due to the nature of the Soviet system in 1984-1985, the subtopics of “electoral process” and “criticism of this country’s government (internal)” were 41 See Greenberg, Straubhaar, and Heeter (1986). This study bases its categories on their usage. The form used by Greenberg, Straubhaar et al is Appendix 1. 57 eliminated. “domestic” and “international” meetings and relations were combined into one subtopic. Also, “political prisoner issues” was added as a subtopic. Industry/ Agriculture / Economics: The subtopics of “industry” and “agri- culture” were combined into one topic. “Science/ technology” was made a subtopic of this category rather than keeping it a topic as the MSU form does. “Debt / loans” was added as a subtopic. Also, considering the Soviet system in 1984-1985, “Labor union activities” was eliminated as a subtopic. Social / Cultural Welfare: This topic area is a combination of the Greenberg, ” “sports,” and “judicial Straubhaar and Heeter topics “culture”, “social welfare, crime.” “Art / religion/ health” was collapsed into one subtopic, and the coders were instructed to code “education, population and health issues” under the subtopic “health services / issues.” “Judicial crime” also became a subtopic of this topic area. Finally, “transportation and communication” was eliminated. This topic area was collapsed more than any other because this researcher anticipated very few news stories concerning social or cultural related topics. Military: “War” was eliminated as a subtopic because the U.S.S.R. was not involved in what is typically considered a war. As a replacement “military inter- vention” was chosen because this phrase more accurately describes the U.S.S.R.’s involvement in countries such as Afghanistan. Also added was a small list of coun- tries in which the U.S.S.R. is known, by the U.S., to have intervened. The subtopic 58 of “guerrilla activities” was eliminated and the subtopic “terrorism” was included with “military intervention.” The guerrilla and terrorist activities of third world countries are often reported; however, this is generally not the case with first world and advanced socialist coun- tries, perhaps because in these countries such activities are too subtle to be reported. The suthpic of “nuclear arms” was eliminated due to confusion which resulted during preliminary testing. There was ambiguity about which topic should include nuclear arms related issues because many of these issues involved political meetings as well. It was decided that all arms control issues were to be coded under politics. In order to sort out news stories which might report the issues behind nuclear arms from the news stories which might report about the make and model of a particular weapon, the subtopic “weaponry/ new weaponry/ readiness” was created. The previous changes resulted in the following topics and subtopics: 1) Politics. — executive actions — meetings / relations, any arms control issues — protests / political prisoner issues 2) Industry / A griculture / Economics -— industry/ agriculture — trade and commerce 59 — debt / loans —— science/ technology 3) Social/ Cultural Welfare — social / welfare heath services / issues — crime, non-political — arts / religion/ sports 4) Military —— defense/ intelligence — weaponry / new weapons / readiness — terrorism/ military intervention — cuba — afghanistan — nicaragua — middle east The Themes Each topic was given a group of corresponding themes which the coders could choose from. These themes were used in order to determine how the news por— trayed the U.S.S.R. Some themes gave a negative portrayal of the U.S.S.R., others a positive one. It was up to the coders to decide which portrayal was an accurate 60 reflection of the news story. The terminology for the themes was also taken from the MSU form. Like the topics and subtopics, the themes were also simplified in order to meet the needs of this study, particularly each topic area was given a corresponding group of topic themes suitable to that topic area. The coders were asked to code:‘12 — Whether the communist party, or its leader in power, or a political organ was shown as capable, incapable, or neither/ none. —— Whether the economic, or industrial, or agricultural systems of the U.S.S.R. seemed strong, weak, or neither/ none. — Whether social services, health services, or sportsmanship were given a positive image, a negative image, or neither/ none. —-— Whether the U.S.S.R. military organ was seen as strong, or weak, or nei- ther / none. The Modes In addition to the topic themes, a Mode section and an Intercountry Interaction section were created. Because the coders were asked to code only one topic area and topic theme, the mode section was created in order to determine how the entire story, not just one major topic area, portrayed the U.S.S.R. Originally, the terms 42 More detail is giving in the Coding Instructions and Coding Form; see Appen- dices II and III. 61 Conflict and Cooperation were chosen to be the modes. This researcher wanted to determine how much “internal conflict” or “internal cooperation” was depicted in the U.S.S.R. However, during preliminary testing it was found that the terms had limited definitions. According to the Oxford English Dictionary (1989), “Conflict” was defined by terms such as “to strike, clash, and fight,” and “cooperation” by such terms as “joint operation” and “act in conjunction.” These definitions seemed to represent polar extremes, leaving no place for our coders to code information which might not fit these extreme definitions. This problem was solved by chosing two words which represent a negative por- trayal of the U.S.S.R. and two words which represent a positive one. These words were chosen from Funk and Wagnall’s Standard Handbook of Synonyms, Antonyms and Prepositions (1947) in order to ensure equality of meaning. By combining a semantically more powerful negative word (conflictual) with a less powerful negative word (impaired), definitions of the Mode can reflect a “range” of negative portray- als. The same is true of the more powerful positive word (consonant) and the less powerful positive word (improving). This gave the following two modes which the coders could use. Each Mode was also defined for the coders.43 43 For detail see Appendices II and III. The definitions for the two modes were also chosen from Funk and Wagnall’s Standard Handbook of Synonyms, Antonyms and Prepositions. (1947) 62 Conflictual-Impaired: If the overall theme of the story showed the U.S.S.R. as impaired, or stagnant, or weak, or conflictual. Consonant-Improving: If the overall theme of the story showed the U.S.S.R. as improving, or bettering themselves, or strong, or consonant. The coders were also given an option not to choose a mode by the inclusion of a N either/ None category. The Intercountry Interaction section was designed to determine an overall mode for stories about U.S. and U.S.S.R. interaction. Basically, this researcher wanted to determine how the interaction between the two countries was portrayed by the news . This section was based on the Comparative News Coding Analysis, used by Greenberg, Straubhaar, and Heeter, (1986); however, unlike that form the coders for this study were asked to only code this section if the interaction was with a specific country—the U.S. This was done because, from prior research, it was anticipated that there would be an abundance of stories about U.S.-U.S.S.R. interaction and few stories about the U.S.S.R.’s interaction with another country which did not, in any way, involve the U.S. The two themes of “cooperation” and “conflict” developed by Greenberg, Straubhaar and Heeter were used for this study. During preliminary testing little ambiguity was found with the definitions of these words; therefore any change was unnecessary. The coders were asked to chose from the following themes. 63 They were also given the option not to choose a theme. Conflict: If one or both countries is not getting what it wants from the other. Cooperation: If both countries are working together on a relatively even keep and / or both are trying to work together well. The Dependent Variables. This study analyses the length, story order, and degree of negativity of the various categories described earlier. Length: Length was a continuous measure using the absolute story length. The time given, in minutes and seconds, for each story, by the Vanderbilt Television News Index and Abstracts was converted to minutes for this study. Story Order: Like length, story order was a continuous measure. As a continuous variable, story order was measured by using the absolute num- ber the story appears in the newscast (for example, lst, 2nd, 5th, etc...) Negativity. Deciding to use a measure of negativity departs from most research probably due to the validity and reliability problems associated with such measures. However, this researcher felt such a measure would not only provide information on negative 64 news content, but would also be useful in conjunction with the other measures. (For example, what possible conclusions would be drawn from a topic area given a significantly longer length, but where the topic was given a low score on the negativity scale.) The negativity scale used was based on “Reliability of the News Direction Scale for Analysis of the Good-Bad News Dimension,” by Haskins, Miller, and Quarles (1984). They tested the reliability of a 7 point Likert scale for good-bad news, and found an intracoder reliability of +.93 to +.94 (median) and +.883 (mean) and an intercoder reliability of +90 (mean for college student coders). The words “bad” and “good” used in the Haskin, Miller, and Quarles scale was changed to “negative” and “positive” for this study. The terms “bad” and “good” suffered the same limited definitions as the terms “conflict” and “cooperation” did when this researcher was developing the modes. For defining “negative” and “pos- itive,” the same definitions used by Haskins, Miller and Quarles were used. (1984. see pg. 525. Also see Appendix II). Finally, the name was changed from the “Negativity scale” to the “Negative/ Positive scale” in order not to bias the coders toward choosing the negative scores. The resulting scale is: 1. Extremely negative news. 2. Very negative news. 65 3. Slightly negative news. 4. Neutral news. 5. Slightly positive news. 6. Very positive news. 7. Extremely positive news. Sampling. The sample used in this study is the daily CBS evening newscasts for the periods of J une-August 1984 and J une-J uly 1985. The sample includes all evening newscasts including Saturday and Sunday. Some random newscasts are missing because they either were not recorded in the Vanderbilt Television News Index and Abstracts or the CBS News Transcripts. See Appendix 4 for the days used. “Intervening stories” (by intervening we mean major events which were given a lot of news coverage at the expense of other events — including those about the U.S.S.R.) were found to often cause stories about the U.S.S.R. to appear in “chunks”, rather than scattered randomly across the years. Three major intervening news items had to be worked around: the 1984 election, the 1985 TWA hijacking, and the late 1985 summit.44 Taking these events into consideration and the fact 4“ Though, obviously, the summit did involve stories about the U.S.S.R., if these stories would have been included a much larger sample from 1984 would have to have been used. In fact, three months worth of “summit stories” (September— November) was approximately equal to all the stories reported about the U.S.S.R. 66 that, basically, it was desirable that the two sample periods be one year apart, two “chunks” of time were found in which the number of stories about the U.S.S.R. was approximately equal. Using the Vanderbilt Television News Index and Abstracts each newscast for 1984 and 1985 was analysed for the presence or absence of stories about the U.S.S.R. This meant tallying every story where the U.S.S.R. or a related issue was dis- cussed, including stories where the U.S.S.R. was barely mentioned to those where the U.S.S.R. was the main subject of discussion. Finally, the Vanderbilt Television News Index and Abstracts for the sample periods were cross-referenced with the CBS News Transcripts. This enabled photo- copies to be gotten of the entire news stories which were mentioned in the abstracts. Why CBS? Mickiewicz (1988) found that ABC reported the news about the U.S.S.R. with more interest than the other networks. However, most studies which compared the news of the three major networks— ABC, CBS, and NBC have, with few excep- tions, found little difference in the amount and content of news stories between the networks. (see, for example, Larson, 1984; Stone and Grusin, 1984; Weaver, Porter and Evans, 1984; Gans 1979; and Stempel, 1985.)45 in 1984! 45 Stone and Grusin (1984) found that the method of presentation by ABC was somewhat different than that of CBS. However, CBS and NBC were similar. '67 The CBS evening news was also chosen out of practicality. Of the three net- works, only CBS offered transcripts which were easily accessible and affordable. Coding. Preliminary test: As a preliminary test, in order to determine adequate phrasings and definitions for the coding form, two graduate students from Michigan State University were each given five “rough drafts” of the coding form. They were to fill out these forms given the information available in the Vanderbilt Television News Index and Abstracts.46 Afterwards, these students were to give the researcher feedback on the coding form and instruction sheet, such as, what they thought of the definitions given, the wording, etc. Neither of these students were the coders, nor were they given transcripts to analyse; however, the preliminary test was valuable because it made the researcher aware of gross inconsistencies in the skeleton of the coding form and instructions which could be rectified before the actual coding would begin. Also, by “ironing out” inconsistencies early, the preliminary test gave the researcher extra time to spend explaining pertinent information to the actual coders. Coding. Weaver, Porter and Evans (1984) found little difference in the total time devoted to foreign stories on the three networks. 46 At the time, only the Vanderbilt Television News Index and Abstracts were available to the researcher. A source for transcripts was yet to be found. 68 Originally, three unrelated students at UC Berkeley were chosen to be paid coders. These students were chosen at random from a group of students who re- sponded to a classified ad. Each student met with the researcher to go over the coding instructions and coding form and to clarify any questions he or she might have. At this time, the researcher went over the coding process, the definitions for the the topics and themes, and gave each coder coding forms to fill out in the presence of the researcher. The researcher did not tell the coders what to write on the form; rather, when the coders were unsure about the instructions or definitions the researcher clarified them. This process occurred twice with each coder. Each time changes were made in both the coding form and coding instruction sheet. Realising that the coders’ prior knowledge of an event and their political ideology could influence how they approached a news story,47 an attempt was made to eliminate as much ambiguity as possible by developing precise definitions for the terms used.48 47 Sometimes the coders would extrapolate situations from a given story. For example, a story in which one coder would classify as military in nature, might be classified as political by another coder. This coder might also think the story is military in nature but, being aware of certain facts, realises the story has political ramifications as well; therefore, this coder chooses to pick a different topic. 48 for example, for the coders to decide that the U.S.S.R. was only mentioned in a story rather than a primary focus, the story had to contain two lines or less of information about the U.S.S.R.. See appendix 3. 69 Initially, the interreliability among the three coders was only 54%. Problems with one coder led to that person being dropped from the study. With the two coders an Intercoder Reliability of 84% was attained (using the Holsti method, see Table 1. See Holsti p. 135—142).49 By having each coder redo fifteen forms several weeks later, and comparing the results, a 89% Intracoder Reliability was also obtained. The Coding Form: The original coding form gave sparse instructions and definitions, leaving this area to be explained either orally, or in the coding instructions sheets. However, the coding form was revised to include both instructions and definitions on the form it- self. In this way, the coders did not have to constantly refer to the coding instruction sheets, which caused some coders to ignore the instructions and definitions. Also having this information on the coding form as well as the coding instructions sheets enabled the coders to quickly learn the definitions and instructions. Appendix II and III show the coding instructions and coding forms respectively. 49 This reliability figure is the total amount of agreement between the coders. The table shows the amount of intercoder reliability for each category. 70 The Coding Instructions Sheets: The coding instructions sheets are based on the relevant areas of the MSU Coding Instructions, (see Greenberg, Straubhaar, and Heeter, 1986, and Straubhaar et a1 1986)50 and often duplicates the information on the Coding Form. The coding instructions sheets focused primarily on defining the topics, top- ic themes, and modes, as this was the most important information in this study. Other instructions and definitions were given verbally and on the coding form. The instructions and definitions for the Negative/ Positive index were given, in part, verbally and on the Coding Form and Coding Instructions Sheets. The Coding Process. Each coder was given every other day with a story in it to code, as this was thought to be better than giving each coder a “lump” of consecutive days to code. Each coder was to fill out one form per story. Each story was delineated from the rest by the researcher, who also wrote the length and story order beside each story; (the Vanderbilt Television News Index and Abstracts were used to obtain this information, then the researchers transferred this information onto the transcripts) therefore, the coders had only to copy this information onto the coding form. 50 For example, unlike Greenberg, Straubhaar, and Heeter, and Straubhaar et al, for this study there was no need for instructions to code “visuals” or the speaker’s role in relation to the story. (i.e. anchor person, president, etc.) Recording the amount and names of foreign countries mentioned was also not necessary. 71 The coders were asked to choose one best answer for all parts of the coding form and to leave the other choices blank. First, the coders were to determine if the U.S.S.R. was the sole focus, a major focus, or just mentioned in the story, and whether the news was domestic or foreign. (See Appendix II) Determining whether a story was domestic or foreign also determined whether the Intercountry Section would be filled out. The coders were then asked to record one best Primary Topic, Subtopic, and Topic Theme from the four groupings given (politics, social/ cultural welfare, indus- try / agriculture/ economics and military —see Appendix II). The coders were then asked to choose one best answer to the Mode section, the Negative/ Positive Index, and, if applicable, the Intercountry Interaction section.51 All areas were filled out for each story except the intercountry section which was left blank if a story was coded “domestic.” The coders were discouraged from leaving any section blank (other than the intercountry section) or from using the neither/ none categories, but of course they did have the option to do this. 51 See the section on Variables in this paper and Appendix I for more information. Chapter 4. Results. Frequencies: In this chapter the results are given for each hypothesis in the order that they were presented in Chapter Three. But first, an analysis of the frequency of occurrences of the topics and themes is given. A preliminary analysis was conducted to compare the frequencies of the cate- gories betweens years and within each year. The results are shown on Tables 2, 3 and 4. A great disparity was found between the overall number of stories with polit- ical and military topics compared to those with social/ cultural welfare and agri- culture/ industry/ economic topics. In fact, the number of political topics was quite a bit greater than any other topic, including military topics. To reiterate, some difference in frequency between the topics was expected; however, the difference was much greater than expected. Table 2 shows that not only were political and military topics, and especially political topics, predominant across both years but within each year as well. 59% of all the stories (in 1984 and 1985) had political topics. Of this 59%, 55% occurred in 1984 and 45% in 1985. Overall, there were slightly more political topics where the U.S.S.R. was shown as incapable rather than capable (37% and 32% respectively, the 72 73 remainder were neutral). Of the 32% which were capable portrayals, 60% occurred in 1985. The remaining 40% occurred in 1984. For the 37% which were incapable portrayals, 57% occurred in 1984 while 43% occurred in 1985. Within 1984, 63% of all the stories had political topics; of this 63%, 24% were capable portrayals and 38% were incapable portrayals. political topics were also predominant within 1985 as well. For this year 55% of all the stories had political topics. Unlike 1984, in 1985 there were more political topics with capable portrayals than incapable ones (43% and 35% respectively). Generally, there was not a great difference in the percentages of political topics either across the two years, or within each year (about 10% overall). However, the topic portrayals showed a greater variation (from about 8% to 20%). Unfortunately, when all the data are considered, not just the difference between the portrayals, it is found that this variation is tempered by the general similarity in the percentages of stories with both portrayals. There were very few stories with social / cultural welfare topics, only 6% overall, and of this 6%, the stories were split evenly across both years. Also split evenly were the portrayals. Of all the social/ cultural welfare stories in 1984 and 1985, 33% portrayed a positive image, and 33% portrayed a negative one. (The remainder were neutral.) However, the entire 33% of the negative images were from stories from 1984. 74 Only 5% of all the stories in 1984 had social/ cultural welfare topics. Of this 5%, the majority, 66%, had a negative image compared to only 33% which had a positive image (the rest are neutral). In 1985, 6% of all the stories had social / cultural welfare topics and none of these had a negative image, while only 33% had a positive image (leaving the majority as neutral). The second smallest topic area was agriculture/industry/economics with only 8% of the stories overall. Of this 8%, 75% occurred in 1984 and 25% in 1985. Also, out of the 8%, the majority showed portrayals of weakness rather than strength (63% to 25% respectively). Interestingly, those with portrayals of weakness all occurred in 1984 while all those with portrayals of strength occurred in 1985. Within 1984, 11% of the stories had agriculture/ industry/ economic topics with 83% of these portraying images of weakness (the rest were neutral portrayals, there- fore there were no images of strength.) agriculture/ industry/ economic topics, with only 2% were the least reported of any topic in 1985, and all of these were images of strength. Overall, 28% of the stories had military topics. This was the second largest topic area, which illustrates the dominance of political topics. More stories por- trayed U.S.S.R. military strength than weakness (38% to 21% respectively). Also of this 28%, 45% of them occurred in 1984 while 55% occurred in 1985; 45% of the stories which portrayed U.S.S.R. military strength occurred in 1984, while 55% _ I l V :‘t‘ 75 occurred in 1985. There was a more distinct difference in the number of stories which portrayed U.S.S.R. military weakness, with 83% occurring in 1984 and only 17% occurring in 1985. Within 1984 only 24% of all the stories had military topics, of these there were an even split between the portrayals (38% for each, the remainder being neutral). In 1985, 31% of the total number of stories were military topics. Of these there were more strength portrayals (38%) than weak ones (6%). Table 3 shows that out of all the stories in 1984 and 1985 42% portrayed the U.S.S.R. as conflictual-impaired while only 27% portrayed the U.S.S.R. as consonant-improving. Out of the 42% of conflictual—impaired portrayals the ma- jority occurred in 1984 (73% to 27% respectively) while the reverse was true for the 27% of consonant-improving portrayals. (38-62% respectively.) Out of all the stories in 1984, 59% of them portrayed the U.S.S.R. as conflictual- impaired and 20% as consonant-improving. In 1985, only 24% of the stories por- trayed the U.S.S.R. as conflictual-impaired while 51% portrayed the U.S.S.R. as consonant-improving. The remaining percentages were neutral portrayals. These figures seem to reveal a turn-around in the overall portrayal of TV news about the U.S.S.R.. It was determined that a story was portrayed negatively if it was coded with any number 1—3; therefore a story was a positive portrayal if it was coded with 76 any number 5—7, and neutral with 4. Over half of all the stories in 1984 and 1985 portrayed the U.S.S.R. negatively (59%), while only 23% were positive portrayals and 18% were neutral ones. Of the 59% which were negative portrayals slightly more occurred in 1984 than 1985 (53% to 47%). The opposite was true for neutral portrayals. There were more neutral portrayals in 1985 (47-53% respectively) and the 23% of positive portrayals were evenly split. Within 1984, 61% of the stories were negative portrayals, compared to 17% which were neutral portrayals and 22% positive portrayals. In 1985 there were also more negative portrayals than neutral or positive ones (57-20-24% respectively). The frequency of negative portrayals seems to reflect the trend toward reporting negative news. Looking briefly at Table 4, it can be seen that a majority of stories were not solely about the U.S.S.R., but were stories in which the U.S.S.R. was a major focus (76%—only 12% of all the stories were about the U.S.S.R. alone, and only 13% were stories where the U.S.S.R. was just mentioned.) Also 74% of all the stories about the U.S.S.R. also involved the U.S. Of these, more occurred in 1985 than 1984 (55% and 45% respectively). This was expected as events which involve the U.S. and U.S.S.R. are considered very newsworthy. Of all the stories in 1984, stories where the U.S.S.R. is a major focus and stories which involve the U.S. and U.S.S.R. received higher percentages (72 and 65 77 respectively) then stories which focused only on the U.S.S.R.. The same was also true for 1985, with 80% of the stories having the U.S.S.R. as a major focus and 84% of all the stories involved the U.S. and U.S.S.R.. It should also be remembered that stories where the U.S.S.R. was a major focus or mentioned can also be stories which involve the U.S. Going back briefly to table 3, out of all the stories where the Intercountry Interaction section was coded, 70% portrayed the U.S. and U.S.S.R. in conflict compared to only 23% which portrayed the U.S. and U.S.S.R. in cooperation. Both portrayals had more stories in 1985. Of the 70% of conflict portrayals, 46% occurred in 1984 and 54% in 1985. Cooperation portrayals had roughly the same percentages. (44% and 55% respectively.) Of the total number of stories in 1984 where the Intercountry Interaction sec- tion was coded, 71% of them were conflict portrayals compared to 23% where were cooperation portrayals. Conflict portrayals also outnumbered cooperation portray- als in 1985. Of the total number of stories in 1985 where the intercountry section was coded, 69% were conflict portrayals and only 24% were cooperation ones. Results The content analysis included 105 stories split between the years 1984 and 1985. ANOVAs were used to analyze the data from these stories. On several hypotheses, where the data were available, two way ANOVAs were used to investigate any 78 influence the years (1984 or 1985) and the interactions between the categories might have on story length. The lack of data on some topic areas made statistical analysis impossible. Therefore, some hypotheses were untestable. This researcher generated false data points to determine if an increase in sample size would solve the problem of sparse data, and to determine if additional data would effect the outcomes. It was found that an increase in the amount of data available did neither.52 Essentially, net- work television news rarely reports stories in topic areas other than political and military. Because of the lack of data, hypothesis 1b and 1d were dropped from further analysis. Table 5 show the distribution of the raw scores for these hypotheses. Table 5 shows that of the 7 stories (there were 8 stories total, one being a “neutral” portrayal) coded under the agriculture/ industry/ economic topic, two of them were given “strong” portrayals and the remaining five, “weak” portrayals (each year contained only one type of portrayal). Both of the strong portrayals occurred in 1985, while all of the weak portrayals occurred in 1984. 52 Generating false data points involves duplicating the existing data. If, after using false data, significant differences ( p < .05) are found, one could conclude that an increase in sample size significantly affects the results obtained. In this case, not only were the results not significantly effected by the additional data, but the increase in data did not relieve the problem of sparse data. Additional data only increased the data proportionally. 79 Also from table 5 we see that 2 stories showed positive portrayals of Soviet social/ cultural welfare, one in 1984 and one in 1985. There were also two stories with negative portrayals, but they both occurred in 1984. Only 6 stories in all had social/ cultural welfare topics, with the portrayals of these stories split evenly among negative, positive, and neutral. Unfortunately, the lack of data makes further observation of Table 5 impossible. Research designs: Results for hypotheses 1a, 2, 4, and 5 were obtained by using the Least Squares Solution described by Winer in “Statistical Principles in Experimental Design.” (1971, p. 404—422, 498—505.) Unlike traditional ANOVA designs and methods for unequal cell frequencies, the Least Squares solution does not assume cell frequencies are meant to be even, but rather takes into account cell frequencies which are uneven by design. In other words, the Least Squares solution accounts for unequal cell frequencies which result not from missing data, but from possibly inherent disparities in the variable. In this case the researcher did not expect the frequency of stories for each category (i.e. each topic, theme, mode, etc.) to be reported evenly. Results for hypotheses 1c, 3, 6, 7 and 8 were obtained by using the One-way ANOVA developed by Fisher (see Ferguson, pp. 223~233, 1976). This type of ANOVA was used either because of a lack of data or because the years were already 80 an integral part of the hypothesis. The use of any “two-way” design was, therefore, unuseful or unnecessary. Results for hypothesis 9 and 10 were obtained by using the Kruskal—Wallis Rank test ANOVA (see Ferguson, pp. 392—394, 1976). This procedure was used to determine if any significant differences existed in how the news rank ordered its stories. The analysis revealed two major trends: 1) Though some hypotheses may have been supported through examining the ‘ frequency of occurrence, the length, degree of negativity, and story order may have been insignificant. More stories did not necessarily mean these stories were also longer. There could be a lot of short stories. 2) There was a great disparity in the amount of stories with Political topics compared to the other topics. In some cases, this disparity was probably great enough to influence the results. This researcher accepts as significant results of p < .10, keeping in mind some results might be questionable due to small samples. Results: In this section, results are given for each testable hypothesis. Hypothesis 1a. 1A. The mean length of stories illustrating U.S.S.R. political incapability will 81 be longer than the mean length of stories illustrating political capability. For this hypothesis, a somewhat significant difference was found in the average length of stories which illustrated U.S.S.R. political capability (i: = 1.54), from those that illustrated U.S.S.R. political incapability. (:E = 2.40.) (F = 3.54,p = .07, df : 1, 39). Since the mean length of incapable portrayals was longer than those with capable portrayals, the result gives support for the hypothesis. It should also be noted that the year also made a significant difference in the average length of the stories. (F = 3.35,}? = .07,df : 1,39). It was found that, overall, the stories were longer in 1985 (55 = 2.40) than 1984 (.17: = 1.58). Therefore, not only was the length of a story influenced by the portrayal (incapable or capable), but it is also true that the length was influenced by whether the story appeared during the Reagan pre-shift or shift period. The interaction between the categories was insignificant (F = .2177, p = .79, df : 1, 39), even though, in 1984, politically capable portrayals seemed to be shorter overall. Possibly this is an aberration due to the distribution of the data between the groups. Table 6 gives the details of the above results. Hypothesis 1c: 1C. The mean length of stories illustrating U.S.S.R. military strength will be longer than the mean length of stories illustrating Soviet military weakness. 82 Table 7 show an insignificant difference between the average length of stories with weak U.S.S.R. military portrayals (:7: = 2.08) and strong ones (:5 = 1.47). (F = .83, p = .37, df : 1, 14). Though the average length of the “weak portrayals” was longer than the strong ones, this difference was too insignificant to suggest any trend towards weak portrayals (which happens to be the opposite of the hypothesis). Hypothesis 2: 2. For both periods, the mean length of stories showing the U.S. and U.S.S.R. in conflict will be longer than the mean length of stories which show the U.S. and U.S.S.R. in cooperation. Table 8 shows a significant difference in the average length of stories which reflected U.S. and U.S.S.R. conflict (:5 = 2.16) from U.S. and U.S.S.R. cooperation (5: = 1.38). (F = 3.25,p = .07,df : 1,68). As conflict portrayals were, overall, longer, the result lends support for the hypothesis. Neither the difference in year (F = .0018, p = .66, df : 1, 68) nor the interaction between the categories (F = 1.42, p = .45,df : 1,68) was significant. Looking at the Table we can see that, essentially, how the news story portrayed the interaction between the U.S. and U.S.S.R. had an influence on the average length of the story, while the year was of little influence. Hypothesis 3: 3. Because U.S. news about the U.S.S.R. was overall more negative during the 83 Reagan pre-shift period than the Reagan shift period, in general, news about the U.S.S.R. reported during the Reagan pre-shift period will be longer than the news reported during the Reagan shift period. The average length of stories in 1984 (:5 = 1.64) did not significantly differ from those in 1985. (:7: = 1.99) (F = 1.33,p = .25,df : 1,103). According to the hypothesis, overall stories from the Reagan pre-shift period should have been longer; however, the data showed that stories from the Reagan shift period were longer, though insignificantly so. Basically, the Reagan pre-shift or Reagan shift periods were not a factor which influenced story length. See Table 9 for more details. Hypothesis 4: 4. Stories about the U. S.S.R. with political and military topics will be longer during both periods than stories with agriculture/ industrial/ economic and social/ cultural welfare topics of both periods. A significant result could be interpreted from the data of Table 10. We see that the combined stories with political and military topics (:5 = 1.94) were, on the average, longer than the combination of stories with social/ cultural welfare and agriculture/industry/economic topics. (5: = 1.13) (F = 2.84,p = .09,df : 1, 101). As the political and military topics were longer, there was support for the hypothesis. 84 Both the difference of year (F = 1.00, p = .32, df : 1, 101) and the interaction between the categories (F = .655,p = .42,df : 1,101) were insignificant; even though, when looking at the Table it can be found that, in 1985, social/ cultural welfare and agriculture / industry / economic topics seemed to be shorter overall. Like Hypothesis 1a, this result could be from an aberration due to the distribution of data between the groups. Hypothesis 5: 5. News stories which portray the U.S.S.R. as conflictual-impaired will be longer over both periods and news stories which portray the U.S.S.R. as consonant- improving will be shorter over both periods. There was a significant difference between the average length of stories which portrayed the U.S.S.R. as conflictual-impaired (if: = 2.04) and consonant-improving (:7: = 1.69) (F = 3.32,p = .07,df : 1,69). Since the average length of conflictual- impaired portrayals was longer, the result lends support for the hypothesis. Also, the difference in year made a significant difference in the average length of the stories. Overall, stories in 1984 (:5 = 1.58) were shorter than 1985 (:E = 2.37) (F = 7.01,p = .01,df : 1,69). Even though there were more stories from 1984, those in 1985 were longer regardless of mode. This result seems to refute that of Hypothesis 3; but unlike that hypothesis, this data set did not include any data from stories given neutral portrayals. Perhaps, 85 once neutral portrayals are included, the average length between the years becomes less significant. The interaction between the categories did not have any significant effect on the results (F = .16,p = .08,df : 1,69), though, from the chart, it seemed that in 1984 stories with consonant-improving modes were shorter overall. So, not only was the mode of the story a significant influence on the story length, whether the story occurred during the Reagan pre~shift or shift period was also significant. Overall stories which portrayed the U.S.S.R. as consonant-improving or conflictual-impaired in 1985 were longer than their counterparts in 1984. Table 11 show these results in greater detail. Hypothesis 6. 6. Political topics will be more negative during the Reagan pre-shift period than the Reagan shift period. Table 12 shows an insignificant difference in the degree of negativity for stories with political topics in the Reagan pre-shift period (5: = 3.85) from that of the Reagan shift period (5: = 3.51) (F = .58,p = .45,df : 1,52). This result does not support the hypothesis. From the average length of the two periods, it can be seen that, overall, political topics were slightly negative over both the Reagan pre-shift period and Reagan shift periods. Therefore, the difference in years did not really influence how negative a 86 story might be. Hypothesis 7. 7. All military topics will be more negative than positive for both periods. Table 13 shows that there was an insignificant difference between the average degree of negativity for stories reported with military topics in 1984 (5’: = 1.82) from those reported in 1985 (:5 = 2.28) (F = 1.05,p = .31,df : 1,27) Since the average degree of negativity for both periods was high, this result supports the hypothesis because military topics remained negative regardless of year. Hypothesis 8. 8. Agricultural/ industrial/ economic topics and social/ cultural welfare topics will be more negative during the Reagan pre-shift period than the Reagan shift period. A significant difference was found between the average degree of negativity of the combination of stories with social/ cultural welfare and agriculture/indus- try/ economic topics reported in 1984 (:E = 2.66), from those in the same topic areas reported in 1985 (a = 4.6). (F = 10.92,p = .01,df : 1, 12). Overall, in 1984, stories reported with these topics tended to be negative, while in 1985, stories reported with the same topics tended to be neutral to somewhat positive. See Table 14 for further detail. 87 Hypothesis 9. 9. Overall, news stories which portray the U.S.S.R. as conflictual-impaired will occur earlier in the newscast for both periods, and news stories which portray the U.S.S.R. as consonant-improving will occur later in the newscast for both periods. From Table 15 it can be seen that there was an insignificant difference between the rank story order of stories which portrayed the U.S.S.R. as conflictual—impaired (:5 =2 4.93) from those which portrayed the U.S.S.R. as consonant-improving. (:5 = 5.55) (H = .449, p = .50, df = 1). As this researcher expected conflictual-impaired portrayals to occur earlier, this result does not support the hypothesis. Though there were more stories with conflictual—impaired portrayals than con- sonant-improving ones, overall this did not seem to create any significant difference in the overall story order, because, generally, the stories were broadcast at the same time regardless of portrayal. Hypothesis 10. 10. News stories about the U.S.S.R. with political and military topics will occur earlier in the newscast for both periods, and news stories about the U.S.S.R. with social/ cultural welfare and agricultural/ industrial/ economic topics will occur later in the newscast for both periods. From Table 16, it can be seen that there was a great disparity between the 88 number of stories for the two topic areas. However, taking the data as they are, we see that there is a significant difference between the rank story order of the combined political and military topics (55 = 5.0) from those of the com- bined social/ cultural welfare and agriculture/ industry/ economic topics. (:5 = 8.93) (H = 9.66, p = .001, df = 1). On the average the combination of political and mili- tary topics occurred earlier (about the fifth story in the newscast) while the combi- nation of social / cultural welfare and agriculture / industry / economic topics occurred later (roughly ninth). This researcher also compared the rank story order of stories which portrayed the U.S. and U.S.S.R. in conflict from those which portrayed the U.S. and Soviet Union in cooperation. Little difference was found between the portrayals with reference to story order (H = .165, p = .68, (If : 1) Table 17 shows that both conflict and cooperation portrayals appeared about fourth in the newscast. Also, stories with either portrayal occurred earlier (about fourth) in the newscast in 1984 than their 1985 counterparts (roughly fifth) though not much earlier. Chapter 5. Discussion In this chapter the effects on length, negativity, and story order of U.S. tele- vision news images of the Soviet Union are discussed. In the discussion of length I will look at the relationship between negative images and length, particularly im- ages that are political in nature. The number of stories which the coders consider political far outweighs any other topic area; yet, as a whole, the stories that portray the U.S.S.R. as conflictual-impaired are longer than those that portray the U.S.S.R. as consonant-improving. Support wasn’t found for the rationale that news about the U.S.S.R. would be longer in 1984 than 1985. It was found that, in some areas, the news was longer in 1985. Perhaps this is due to the general ‘newsworthiness’ of Gorbachev. Next I will discuss negativity, particularly the problems resulting in low reli- ability of the negative-positive index. However, the coders did find the stories to be slightly negative overall, which does make sense, regardless of the reliability of the measure, because most of the stories were critical of the Soviet political system. At the same time, the coders did not find anything overwhelmingly negative. This could be a result of the measure or the type of news they were dealing with. Perhaps news which is only negative by innuendo has less of a direct effect on the audience than overtly negative crisis coverage. 89 90 Next I discuss story order. Story order did not seem to be influenced by image. Political topics did seem to occur earlier, but this is most likely due to the frequency of such topics rather than the image presented. Most stories seemed to occur relatively early, perhaps because the U.S.S.R. is an important subject overall. Finally, the limitations of this study are discussed, and some future research is suggested. From this point on I discuss, more specifically, the results. Length: Generally I found that negative images rather than positive images of the U.S.S.R. were longer in length over both time periods, which lends supports to such research as that of Graber (1984), Dorman (1983), Greenberg, Straubhaar, and Heeter (1986) and Straubhaar et a1 (1986), among others. Negative images showed themselves to be longer when the news about the U.S.S.R. was political in nature. Also, the political stories were generally longer if they showed an incapable political system instead of a capable one. However, similar results were not found with the other topic areas. The length of stories with military topics showed no discernible difference between weak portrayals or strong portrayals of the U.S.S.R. military. Parenti (1986) had claimed that the U.S. news would emphasize the U.S.S.R.’s military strength as a part of the continuing cold war rhetoric. However, I didn’t find evidence of this. It’s more probable 91 that either image of the U.S.S.R. military (weak or strong) could be used as a negative image. Finally, the lack of data for social / cultural welfare and agriculture / industry/ economic topic areas didn’t allow for any statistical analysis. I also found that overall a story was more likely to be longer if the story was given a negative mode. Stories where the U.S.S.R. was portrayed as conflictual- impaired were longer than those which portrayed the U.S.S.R. as consonant-im- proving (regardless of topic). Also there were far more stories (in terms of number of stories) with conflictual-impaired portrayals. The same was true for stories which involved both the U.S. and U.S.S.R.. The news framework of “east-west” conflict which Larson (1984) pointed out was evident in this study as well. These stories were far more likely to show conflict than cooperation, and the stories which portrayed the two superpowers in conflict were longer than their counterparts. The “one- upmanship” relationship which Gans (1979) seemed to find, was a dominant theme. I did not find support for the rationale that news during the Reagan pre- shift period would be somewhat longer than the news during the Reagan shift period. The average length of stories was about the same for both periods and where significant differences in length did occur, the stories were generally longer during the Reagan shift period! Therefore, it seems that the more negative rhetoric of the Reagan administration in 1984 wasn’t a factor in determining story length, even though in some cases, it was found to be a factor in the overall frequency of 92 stories. Perhaps the rhetoric of the Reagan pre-shift period was responsible for a larger number of stories about the U.S.S.R., but it was the shift period where these stories were more salient (more emphasis placed on them in terms of length). I did find, however, that stories with either political themes (capable or inca- pable) seemed to be longer in 1985 than 1984. I also found that a given story about the U.S.S.R. was likely to be longer in 1985 regardless if it portrayed the U.S.S.R. as conflictual-impaired or consonant-improving. But remember for both of these categories (politics and mode) it was also found that length was influenced by story image; therefore, story image and year were equally likely to influence length for these two categories. Perhaps the influence of the Reagan shift period on story length resulted from the Gorbachev succession and his new policy of glasnost. But if this is true why wasn’t story length longer for the topic areas in general, instead of select topic portrayals? Perhaps presenting “images” of the U.S.S.R. regardless of the type of image became important in 1985. This makes sense, as Gorbachev started to become “legitimized” by the U.S. media, he began to attain star status. Interesting “items” about stars has always been popular with the news media and its audiences. These items often highlight sensational themes. For this study, this was evident in the fact that stories with both political themes were longer in 1985 than 1984, but stories with political topics (not considering thematic content, so this includes neutral and 93 objective stories) weren’t influenced by year. It seemed that if the story didn’t have an interesting theme, it wasn’t given the time. Another trend was towards reporting political news. It seemed that stories which weren’t political in nature weren’t given the time. “News is politics” as Stevenson and Cole found (1984, see pg 44—47). This was also true for Mickiewicz (1988) who found that one quarter of ABC news stories about the U.S.S.R. dealt with “formal international politics.” (see pg. 114—116) Other political categories were important as well.53 Greenberg, Straubhaar and Heeter (1986) and Straub- haar et al (1986) also found that international news was overwhelmingly political. Considering this prior research, it wasn’t surprising to find that stories with political and military topics were longer than those with social/ cultural welfare and agriculture/industry/ economic topics, nor that political and military topics occurred somewhat earlier than the others. By sample size alone, one could infer what topic areas were considered “more important” to newsmakers. Unfortunately, by combining topics in order to have larger samples it was pos- sible that important information may have been overlooked. For example, since I combined topic areas, it was highly probable that stories with military topics weren’t any longer or reported any earlier than the “soft news” topics. Since in these cases 53 Mickiewicz studied the daily weekday, prime time ABC news images of the U.S.S.R., for the months of October—December 1984 and September-October 1985. Her sample, unlike ours, would have included more news about the U.S. presidential election and the summit. 94 I had to combine military with political topics, the military topics might have taken on exaggerated importance. It is highly likely that only stories with political topics had any influence on length or story order. International news may “be politics” and this was certainly true for news about the U.S.S.R.. It was also true that news about the U.S.S.R., political or no, wasn’t allotted very much time. I found that the average length of stories was 1.84 minutes with 83% not exceeding three minutes. When you consider the amount of informa- tion that needed to be disseminated this wasn’t a lot of time. Not only was this found in CBS news reporting, but Mickiewicz (1988) found the average length of ABC news stories about the U.S.S.R. was 1.39 minutes, with 90% not exceeding 2.45 minutes per story. Negativity: I found that some of the negative topic areas were longer than their more positive counterparts, but I was also interested in whether the coders perceived a story to be negative or not regardless of main topic image. Bohle’s (1986) hypothesis that newsmakers will tend to select the negative image over the positive one, was supported by this study. But negative images are only one aspect of negative news. When I examined how negative or positive a story might be in terms of perception instead of story attributes or images,54 it was 54 By attribute I mean examining negative images through the use of the cat— egories, i.e., politically incapable, conflictual-impaired, etc. Examining negativity 95 found that the stories were perceived by the coders to be slightly negative overall, regardless of year and topic. Not only was the difference in length basically insignificant across the two time periods, also these periods didn’t seem to have any influence on how negative stories were perceived to be, except in the combined topic areas of social/ cultural welfare and agriculture/industry/ economics, where it was found that stories were perceived to be more negative during the Reagan pre-shift period than the shift period. Perhaps the negative rhetoric during the Reagan pre-shift period manifested itself, in terms of perceived negativity, on such “soft news” areas, while during the Reagan shift period a “relaxing” toward Gorbachev and Glasnost had a somewhat reverse effect. However, the only thing we can conclude is that these “soft news” topics have very low priority in the news selection process. Of those topic areas with greater priority (essentially political topics but including military) I found no trend towards reporting more negative news in 1984 or 1985. This was expected for military topics, and is also consistent with the previous findings overall. I found that stories with political topics tended to illustrate the political incapability of the U.S.S.R., and that these stories were longer overall than their counterparts. So, it is consistent that Political topics which were found to illustrate political incapability would be perceived to be somewhat negative. However when examining negativity I by perception uses the negative/ positive index. In other words, regardless of given images, how did the coders perceive the story to be. 96 included all political topic areas, including more positive categories such as “political capability” or “objectivity”. Perhaps the inclusion of these areas influenced the overall degree of negativity obtained, particularly between the years, or perhaps even positive categories can be perceived to be negative. But what is perceived negativity? Dorman (1983) theorized that even with a change in emphasis and interpretation, news about the U.S.S.R. will be nega- tive overall. I found this to be generally the case. However, Mickiewicz, (1988, and Mickiewicz, Personal communication, 1989), after finding “very few instances of overt use of polemic words, concluded that ABC coverage of the U.S.S.R. used ‘little emotion’ when presenting stories.” I found more use of emotion on CBS than Mickiewicz did on ABC, but it seems it wasn’t much more. I can’t accept Dorman’s assertion that U.S. news gives the “worst possible interpretation of all things Soviet,” because many of the stories that the coders perceived to be neg- ative did border on the neutral—they were only slightly negative. So my results are not that inconsistent with Mickiewicz. What all these results show is the mu- tability of perception, in this case the perception of negative news. As Stevenson (personal communication, 1989) suggests, “while news tends to focus on unusual events, coverage can be positive as well as negative.” On a story by story basis, this was found to be generally true, in as much as “unusual events” occurred. Generally, news about the U.S.S.R. consistently dealt 97 with political issues. “Unusual events” either perceived to be positive or negative were scarce, and it is the lack of unusual stories about the U.S.S.R. which, most likely, influenced the degrees of negativity obtained. Unusual stories can be positive, such as the Olympics (unusual in that it occurs only every four years), or negative, such as earthquakes. Of course, the perceptions of negative and positive can switch (a story about the Olympics can be perceived to be negative, an earthquake positive). ’ But what unusual events seem to have in common is the relative ease in which one can develop a perception, due, possibly, because unusual events receive saturation coverage, or generally the event is of short duration, less complex, etc. It is far more difficult to perceive negativity in complex issues. Everyone will generally agree that a large accident is a negative event. On the contrary, dialogue between the East and the West is complex and continual. Any negativity will have to be discerned from innuendo. From their study, Weinberger et al (1984) found that “more dramatic-negative news had a higher effect on subjects than innuendo.” Possibly if I had included “accidents, disasters and crises” in this study the stories would have been perceived to be more negative, even longer and occurring earlier overall. But then, news of “accidents, disasters and crises” were sometimes censored by the U.S.S.R. during the time frame of our study. Also such analysis overlooks the influence of innuendo. 98 Perhaps, one must analyze very large samples———say daily news for several years——in order to determine the effect of innuendo, bias, trends, etc.... Individual experience also influences perceptions of negativity. Television is most likely to influence opinions when the audience has no predisposition toward the subject. (see Robinson, 1978) However, most people, including the coders, have some opinion toward international affairs, particularly where the U.S.S.R. is concerned, and these opinions influence perception. Personal opinion as an influence on selective perception is taken even further by Stevenson and Cole (1984 , Pg. 48- 49) who conclude that news is essentially “neutral until it is interpreted by the audience.” Of course, this isn’t one mass interpretation: an audience is made up of individuals, each with differing perceptions, and this is where measures of negativity can fail. The low intercoder reliability of the negative/ positive index reflects the inability of our coders to develop a consensual perception of negativity. Galtung and Ruge (1965) claimed negative news is “consensual and unambiguous.” However, this was found not to be the case. Of course like many other researchers, Galtung and Ruge only examined crisis coverage. 99 Story Order: Like length, I also was interested in finding out if news images of the Soviet Union had an influence on the placement of news stories. What I found was that story order wasn’t overall influenced by how negative a story’s image was. I did find that political and military topic areas tended to occur earlier in the newscast than the other soft news topic areas. However, this probably didn’t result as an influence of story image, but rather reflects what topic items newsmakers considered more important. Of course, many of the political stories which occurred early were also slightly negative and generally portrayed the U.S.S.R. as incapable; so negative images and perceptions were often characteristics of the early stories. Most stories about the U.S.S.R. occurred somewhat early, due to the importance of such news as a whole. When a story about the U.S.S.R. did not occur early it was most likely due to another “more important” event, than to any positive image represented in the story. This was evident in the fact that conflictual-impaired images of the U.S.S.R. did not occur any earlier overall than consonant-improving images, even though conflictual-impaired images were more important with respect to length. This same trend can be seen with stories about U.S. and U.S.S.R. relations. The subject matter was often important enough for such stories to be reported early regardless of story image (U.S. and U.S.S.R. in conflict or cooperation). A negative correlation was found between length and story order for the sample stories (1' = —.24). It appeared 100 that if a story was long it was not likely to occur early. Therefore whatever subject matter the early stories had it might not have been much considering the time constraints. Stone and Grusin’s (1984) claim that an effective measure of negative news must include both story order and length may be true if one is examining news content of all news items regardless of subject. But when one is examining the content of only one subject (as in our case— the U.S.S.R.) story order doesn’t seem to be an CIICCthC measure. Overall, the results were as expected. Story length does seem to be related to story image. However, this researcher believes that a larger sample size would have resulted in statistically stronger outcomes for several of the hypotheses. Also, I believe that ‘soft news’ topics should be studied independently of other topic areas since it was found that the data increase proportionately. Perhaps a study (trend analysis?) of several years worth of soft news topics would be in order. Besides a larger sample size, more coders would also be desirable in the fu- ture. Agreement between two people can hardly be considered representative of the population. Including visuals would also be advantageous for future research. Possibly visual content might have a greater influence on the perception of negativity (the negative—positive index) than auditory content. More work needs to be done on the 101 negative—positive index. Perhaps I did not spend enough time making the index clear to the coders. I think the low reliability of the measure found in this study should not cause the measure to be eliminated. I believe more hypotheses could have been studied and should be studied in the future. There are so many possible combinations of variables, that possible hypotheses seem endless. In the future, it would be interesting to see the methods employed here applied to other countries or combinations of countries. It would be useful to study the news content of the U.S. and the U.S.S.R.. If the U.S. reports itself just as negatively, what does this say about the bias of U.S. news towards reporting negative stories about the U.S.S.R.? 102 A new definition of bias. How did the method of presentation influence this study? What is the media frame for news about the U.S.S.R.? News about the U.S.S.R. is recognised as important information; the fact that most of the stories in the sample occurred early in the newscast reflects this. Yet at the same time it didn’t seem to matter whether the story was negative or positive. This was evident in the fact that both conflictual-impaired and consonant-improving images occurred, roughly, fifth in the newscasts overall. What is interesting is the implied message that news about the U.S.S.R. is important regardless of image. Still, at the same time certain images were allotted some more time than others and these images were generally negative. The concept of media format implies that there are certain production values in which information must fit in order to make news. I found this to be generally the case; however, it was also found that other values seemed important. The frame— work of news images of the U.S.S.R. seems to be held up by political information. This type of information was selected and emphasized more than any other. It was the theme of news about the U.S.S.R. Over half of all stories were political in nature, and it was found that political topics occurred earlier than their ‘soft news’ counter- parts. Also, generally, these stories were longer if they showed the U.S.S.R. political System as impaired. The average length of stories that illustrated U.S.S.R. political incapability were about a minute longer than those that illustrated U.S.S.R. politi- 103 cal capability. It is possible that negative depictions of socialist politics reflect how journalists are influenced by American society and American love for democratic values . Gitlin said that the media frame makes the world beyond direct experience look natural (Gitlin, 1980). But perhaps the reverse is true as well. Are we getting a natural depiction of the U.S.S.R. if we are only presented with stories about political problems? Perhaps news about the U.S.S.R. is framed in such a way as to look unnatural and foreign. This seems to be the complaint of many third world countries about the gate- keeping function of the large western news organisations (A.P., Reuters, U.P.I., and A.F.P.). Proponents of the new world information order, though including second world countries, have not usually included the U.S.S.R. in their complaint. (See for example, Righter, 1978, p. 86) In fact, the U.S.S.R. has long been considered one of the first world countries whose news is considered more important than third world concerns. In this study it was certainly found that the U.S.S.R. is an overwhelm- ingly important source of news for the U.S. media, possibly blocking access by third world countries. Still, the complaints lodged by third world countries against the large western news agencies seem valid with respect to the U.S.S.R. as well. Not only does the gatekeeping function of the western news organisations result in the elimination of certain content from non-western news items, but perhaps these 104 large organisations do not place much emphasis on foreign news. Batscha (1975, p. 178—179) concluded that “Foreign affairs is not a special category of news warranting more attention than others, it is how a particular story stands up in competition to the day’s other stories.” This is no less true for stories about the U.S.S.R.. Mickiewicz (1988) found that stories about the U.S.S.R. must compete with domestic news [and other international news]. As a result, on ABC, viewers saw the U.S.S.R. as a primary or secondary country in only 10% of the newscast. (see Mickiewicz, 1988, pg. 98—9955 ) The limited number of international news stories necessarily places constraints on the subject matter reported. Mickiewicz (Personal communication, 1989) found that the “range of stories about the U.S.S.R. was very narrow in 1984 and 1985.” This study also found a very narrow range of stories (particularly in soft-news topic areas). From their study Stevenson and Cole (1984, Pg. 4849) found that interna- tional news stories didn’t have any discernible themes.56 Perhaps this reflects an “objectivity” on the part of newsmakers (as Stevenson suggests— personal commu- nication, 1989) or international news may be so spurious that coders find it difficult to discern existing themes. After all how easy can it be to analyse a story which is 55 ABC reasoned that language and censorship barriers, in a large part, limited coverage of the U.S.S.R.. Interestingly, the U.S.S.R. devoted more time broadcast- ing news about the U.S. than we broadcast about them. See Mickiewicz, (1988). 56 Their coders coded 48% of U.S. foreign news with no themes. The remainder were split amongst their themes, with human rights (8%) and political independence (9%) receiving the highest percentages. See Stevenson and Cole, pg 50. 105 roughly a minute and a half long? Why is there such a narrow range of stories? Earlier I mentioned that news makers will select stories which are consistent with democratic ideals (Gans’ theory of newsmaker’s ideals which emphasize “rugged individualism” etc.) I assumed that if a story didn’t fit these ideals there would be less impetus, on the part of newsmakers, to present the story with a positive image. However, perhaps such stories aren’t presented at all. Galtung and Ruge (1965) thought that countries which were not in geographical or cultural proximity to the country presenting the news, would find it harder to make the news. The inverse relationship between story length and story order also suggests that even though a lot of stories were reported about the U.S.S.R., they weren’t necessarily salient. Though the U.S.S.R. was allotted much news time, the majority of the stories were not about the U.S.S.R. itself, but how it relates to the U.S. (77 out of 105 stories). So ‘soft news’ topics, topics which usually are internal to a country, did find it hard to make the news. This suggests a rethinking of what “negative news” bias is. One aspect is not an abundance of stories with negative content which is made salient through length and / or story order, but rather the presence or absence of the subject as a whole on 57 the newscast. Another aspect is discerning if news selection is news bias or 57 Lefever attempted such a measure with his “Missing News Analysis” (See Lefever, Journal of Communication, 1975, pg. 181—185) However, the validity of his measure has been questioned. (See Frank, Journal of Communication, 1975 pg 186-189) 106 does selection result from the production values of TV? In “The Focused Screen” Altheide (1987, pg. 159) found that for all TV news items, “little variation occurred in length of item by issue, locale, actor.... Story length was invariant and emerged as a dominant factor in itself.” He found that regardless of issue or topic, what is news depends on what can be shown and this depends on the amount of action the news story can present. Epstein’s (1973) speculation that newsmakers choose foreign stories which are primarily demonstra- tions, conflicts and disasters supports Altheide’s view of the news selection process, as these are the international events which are active and easily visual news sto- ries. This researcher also suggested that a lack of unusual events (usually action packed events) about the U.S.S.R. might have influenced perceived negativity. It might seem then that the recurrent theme in U.S. news is action shots, and dialogue seems to take a lesser role in creating dramatic appeal. Possibly thematic unity is developed by newsmakers selecting exciting visual stories to group together, rather than grouping together on the basis of auditory content. Even though the more pervasive nature of audio led Gans (1979) to consider dialogue to be more important than video, it is possible that what is heard depends on what can be shown. If action shots about the U.S.S.R. are hard to come by, how many stories with “talking heads” will be shown? Furthermore, is the dialogue of “talking head” stories different from those stories with action shots? 107 This process of selection led Altheide (1987, Pg. 141) to conclude that it is production rational rather than ideology which is the foundation of news content. Stevenson also concluded that certain news values such as conflict, prominence, and importance developed as part of the production rationale of western media. (Stevenson, personal communication, 1989). The results of this study can be inter- preted as support for this viewpoint also. This researcher found that political topics in general about the U.S.S.R. in 1984 and 1985 were not perceived to be overwhelm- ingly negative. Rather political topics in both years were perceived to be slightly negative bordering on neutral. Also negative categories were not predominant (in terms of length) during 1984—the Reagan pre—shift period. It was hypothesized that conflictual-impaired portrayals would be longer over both periods than consonant- improving portrayals, and this turned out to be the case. However it was found that the conflictual-impaired portrayals were somewhat longer in 1985. This was also true for political images. Even though stories illustrating U.S.S.R. political incapability were longer overall than those illustrating U.S.S.R. political capability, the incapable political images were somewhat longer in 1985. If ideology was a factor, one might think that such images would be predomi- nant particularly during the Reagan pre—shift period. Of course one can argue for a liberal ideology on the part of the news media, but stories about the U.S.S.R., regardless of year, weren’t very positive either, (assuming that a liberal press would 108 attempt to compensate for the negative rhetoric of the Reagan era by presenting more positive viewpoints). However, negative categories were longer overall, thus reflecting the need of newsmakers to present some type of image which fits a pro- duction rationale whether it is called a frame, format, or grammar. But perhaps an ideological bent is there, but is subtle, well-hidden. Paletz and Pearson (1978, pg. 80) suggest the “form of TV news is designed to sustain the legitimacy of the news personalities. In doing this, the credibility of the information and opinions, which compose the news, are enhanced. Thus selecting, framing, contextualizing, etc... are hidden from view.” Possibly production rationale and ideological bias are interwoven with such perfection that detecting bias is difficult with anyone not involved in the production. Robinson (1978, pg. 207) tries to separate organizational approaches such as Epstein’s (and then to a measure Altheide), from political approaches. Adams (1978, pg. 17—18) recognizes the confusion which arises when these two interpre- tations of news selection become differentiated, which frequently happens as bias studies are generally distinguished from organizational approaches. This researcher believes that production rationale can be a component of ideological bias. This study found that overall U.S. network Television News does report more stories about the U.S.S.R. which are negative images rather than positive ones, and these stories were also longer than their positive counterparts. I don’t feel these 109 results occurred simply because of the coder’s perceptions. Production rationale influences story selection, and ideological bias can influence production rationale. News is not objective. Stevenson states (personal communication 1989) “reality differs. Balance or objectivity doesn’t necessarily interpret to bias.” But what is bias? Williams points out the difficulty in determining an acceptable definition of bias. “Discussions of news bias are best served when norms of bias are distinguished from what causes deviation from the norms... [However] we can’t separate sender from receiver.” (Williams, 1975, pg. 29). But what are “norms of bias”? For Williams the norms of bias are production values. I agree that production rationale is acceptable as a norm of bias. But now we must find the ideology within this norm. Unlike Williams, I believe we can separate the sender from the receiver. The vast majority of Americans watch television on a daily basis; however, considering the number of television viewers, few of them ever have the opportunity to be the subject of the news. So considering a simple communications model of sources—sender—message—receiver, to determine bias we must study the relationships between each element. There are many sources of differing information and each has its particular bias. But as disseminators of this information, it is up to the media to choose equally among these sources within the framework of production values. Keeping this in mind along with the basic communications model, I present the following 110 functional definition of bias. To determine if there is news bias a researcher should study: 1. Any inclusion or omission of information from various sources by the sender. 2. Any inclusion or omission of messages by the sender to the receiver. 3. Any variation in message content from the source by the sender. 4. Any variation in message content by the sender to the receiver. These four areas not only would reveal how the content of a message changes between source, sender and receiver, but would also reveal what is chosen or not chosen to be news, either initially (source avoidance) or during production (message elimination). Though a theoretical model, to study the four aspects not only would a content analysis of messages be necessary, but ethnographic studies would have to be employed as well. The researcher would have to be involved in the news production process from the beginning. ’ This study only examined the messages from the sender to the receiver. From the results it was found that negative images tended to be emphasized more than positive ones; however, the results don’t give any information about the number of positive stories newsmakers had to choose from, the sources they used, or how they changed (if they did) the information from the sources. Still, even though we don’t know if source avoidance or message elimination caused certain messages not to be reported, we do know that a certain type of information, information not favorable 111 to the Soviet Union was the main message, and this is significant. If this study was conducted today I doubt if any remarkable difference would result except, perhaps, in sample size. From this study, I found that the policy of Glasnost in 1985 did little to decrease the amount of negative news. So why should this change in 1990? For example, the reporting of Gorbachev’s economic policies and his recent Nobel prize has concentrated more on his ineptitude than his ability. It would be interesting to find out if newsmakers have more sources available to them today. And if there are more available, to find out what messages are being used from these sources. To be able to analyse message content and what is missing from a newscast would be favorable. APPENDICES Appendix 1. (From Greenberg, Straubhaar and Heeter, 1986) News Topics: Nine major topic areas and numerous subtopics were coded as present or absent from a story. If present, they were identified as either a major or minor topic in the story. The nine areas and subtopics were: 1. Accidents. (defined as disasters of nature, transportation accidents, property damage, injury and death, non-military/non-criminal explosions, etc.) 2. Politics —- electoral / congressional processes —— executive actions (appointments, policies, requests.) ——- domestic meetings / relations —— international diplomacy (meetings / relations) —— demonstrations / protests — criticism of government 3. Economy — industry (manufacturing) — agriculture —— trade and commerce (sales, banking, loans) — labor union activities / issues (strikes, etc.) 4. Social Welfare social services ans programs, population, nutrition, as well as formal sub- topics of — education —- health — infrastructure (communication / transportation) 5. Culture (art, religion, music, dance, etc.) 6. Sports 112 113 7. Science / Technology inventions, space travel, new developments in various fields — this is often coded along with another topic. For example, a technological breakthrough in health could be both technology and social welfare. 8. Judicial Crime ( interpretations by courts, civil suits, and laws not political or economic in character; criminal trials, reporting of acts of crime, arrests, punishments, jail and prison conditions) 9. Military —— defense/ intelligence — war — nuclear arms — guerilla activities / terrorism Coders were also asked to identify which of the nine topics was the primary topic in the story. When it was diflicult to choose a single topic, the first guideline was which topic takes up most of the story text. If two or more topics were fairly evenly split, the topic covered first in the story was selected. Appendix 2. Coding instructions: Domestic: concerns the U.S.S.R. only. Any mention of the U.S.S.R., its organizations, persons, etc. Foreign: concerns the U.S.S.R. and other country. If the other country is the U.S., the Intercountry Section must be filled out. THERE ARE SIX STEPS FOR CODING EACH TOPIC: Code topic, only one. Code subtopic, only one. Code topic theme, only one. Code overall mode, only one. Code Negative/ Positive index, only one. 97°95‘95”!“ If applicable, code Intercountry Section, only one. Definitions: the following definitions are not comprehensive, but rather should serve as a guide or supplement to the coding form. Politics: is the party leader or political organ in power shown as, 1) capable (supported, effective, in control, taking initiative), 2) incapable (ineffective, threat- ened, criticized, dissent) or 3) neither/ none. Subject includes information about the leadership, the political organ, diplo- macy, new legislation, political expression, etc. **Please see Military heading for further clarification. Industry/ Agriculture / Economics: are these systems, 1) strong (favorable balance of trade, minimum debt, high and good investment, scientific advancement, fruitful agriculture) 2) weak (negative trade balance, high foreign debt, poor tech- nology, poor agricultural management) or 3) neither/ none. Subject includes the management of economic affairs, trade, investment, the status of Industry/ Agriculture/ Economics and Science and Technology, etc. Social/ Cultural Welfare: Are these systems given a, 1) positive image (good social services and health services, good sportsmanship, plentiful and creative edu- cational, literary and artistic systems) 2) negative image (poor social services and 114 115 health services, poor sportsmanship, sparse and stagnant educational, literary and artistic systems, or 3) neither/ none. Subject includes education, health, the arts, religion, social services, and sports, etc. Please include the treatment of crime if it is non-political. If it is political, please code under Politics topic. Military: is the Military system portrayed as 1) strong (large military, new capabilities, ahead of the U.S. in weaponry, readiness, concensus in ranks) or 2) weak (forces depleted, outdated weapons, behind the U.S. in weaponry, readiness, dissention in ranks) or 3) neither/ none. Subject includes news of activities of defense departments, interventions, new weaponry, military forces, readiness, intelligence, etc. **Do not include actual meetings of officials (i.e. summits) under this topic: record those under the Politics topic. PLEASE SEE CODING FORM FOR FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS. Modes: The mode provides us with an overall theme of the story. Please code the one overall theme that you think describes how the U.S.S.R. was portrayed by the news media for that particular story. If you thought the story had more than one dominant topic, this section allows you to synthesize all the information from the story. PLEASE SEE CODING FORM FOR DEFINITIONS. Negative/Positive Index: This measures the degree to which the story presents a negative or positive portrayal of the U.S.S.R. “Negative news is defined as new information about any event that ‘would be interpreted by most people’ as negative, unpleasant, critical, conflictual, unhealthy, unwholesome, gruesome, disagreeable, anti-social, deceitful, destructive, painful, injurious, socially or individually problem-creating, troublesome, verbally or phys- ically fear-provoking, abusive, deteriorative or declining, or anything else normally perceived as an unpleasant event. “Positive news is defined as news of any event ‘interpreted by most people’ as expressing things positive, pleasant, humourous, agreeable, pro-social, healthy, wholesome, constructive, healing, favorable, sharing, helping, cooperative, altruis- tic, expressing affection, sympathetic, reassuring, positive new discovery, an im- 116 proving trend, or anything else normally perceived as a pleasant event.” (Haskins, Miller and Quarle, 1984) Coding the Negative/ Positive Index requires two steps. 1. Circle the main theme—either Negative, Neutral, or Positive. 2. If you circled either the Negative or the Positive, please code to what degree the story was negative or positive. Remember, choose neutral if you think the story does not present either a negative or positive slant. Intercountry section: This section is to be filled out only if the news story is about the interaction between the U.S. and U.S.S.R. SEE CODING FORM FOR DEFINITIONS. Appendix 3. Coding form. Code 1 form per story. DATE OF NEWSCAST __ month / day / year. ' Story # given __ Record length of story as given (min/sec)___ Was U.S.S.R. 1—sole focus. If the information concerned the U.S.S.R. only, code 1. 2—major focus. If the information concerned the U.S.S.R. and other country(ies) code 2. 3—mentioned in story. __ If two sentences or less in the article mentions and/or implies the U.S.S.R., code 3. focus relative to U.S.S.R.: 1—domestic 2—foreign __ If FOREIGN was recorded above, and the U.S. was involved, code 1 (one) and also fill out the interaction section. If the U.S. was not involved, code 0, continue on but do not fill out the interaction section. Brief instructions for topics and themes. (Also see the instruction sheet.) Record 1 BEST primary topic. Record 1 BEST subtopic. Record 1 BEST topic theme. Record 1 BEST overall mode. Record negative/ positive index. Record 1 BEST interaction theme if applicable. 117 118 Topic Record 1 BEST primary topic. Record 1 BEST subtopic. Record 1 BEST topic theme by writing appropriate number given before each theme. Choosing 3 (three) would mean there is no topic theme, or theme does not, in any way, reflect on the U.S.S.R. Choose the 1 best topic / sub-topic which describes the story. This means, what is the story about? When it is difficult to choose a single topic / subtopic in the story, please choose the one which takes up the most story text. This does not mean what is influenced highly, the ramifications, etc.... Simply put the “most talked” about subject. For example, a report of a sports event would be classified under sports, not under politics, even if the event has political ramifications. Definitions for topic themes are on coding instruction hand-out. Politics executive actions (new appointments, new policies, new requests) meetings / relations, any arms control issues protests / political prisoner issues _ Topic theme. Was the U.S.S.R. political system seen as? 1 .=capable If the communist party, or its leader in power, or its political organ are shown as capable, or taking initiative, or in control, code 1. 2.:incapable If the communist party, or its leader in power, or its political organ are shown as incapable, or inefiective, or criticized, code 2. 3.:neither-none If there is no theme, and/or the story seems objective/neutral, choose this theme. Do not choose this theme if you are undecided. Make your best decision and choose appropriate theme. 119 Industry/ Agriculture / Economics __ industry / agriculture _ __ trade and commerce __ debt / loans __ science / technology Topic theme. Was the U.S.S.R. In/ Ag/ Econ seen as? 1.:strong _ If the economic, or industrial, or agricultural systems seem strong, such as minimum debt, or good investment, or scientific advancement, code 1. 2.=weak If the economic, or industrial, or agricultural systems seem weak, such as high debts, or poor investment, or weak science, code 2. 3.:neither-none If there is no theme, and/or the story seems objective/neutral, choose this theme. Do not choose this theme if you are undecided. Make your best decision and choose appropriate theme. Social / Cultural welfare social / welfare health services / issues crime—non-political arts / religion / sports Topic theme. Was the U. S.S.R. social/ cultural welfare given? l.=a positive image If good social services, or health services, or good sportsmanship were shown, code 1. 2.=a negative image If poor social services, or health services, or poor sportsmanship were shown, code 2. 3.:neither-none If there is no theme, and/or the story seems objective/neutral, choose this theme. Do not choose this theme if you are undecided. Make your best decision and choose appropriate theme. 120 Military defense/ intelligence weaponry / new weapons / readiness terrorism / military intervention cuba __ afghanistan __ nicaragua __ middle east __ Topic theme. Was the U.S.S.R. military seen as? 1.:strong If the U.S.S.R. military organ is seen as large, capable, ahead of U.S., then code 1. 2.=weak If the U.S.S.R. military organ is seen as depleted, incapable, behind U.S., then code 2. 3.:neither-none If there is no theme, and/or the story seems objective/neutral, choose this theme. Do not choose this theme if you are undecided. Make your best decision and choose appropriate theme. 121 Modes. Code overall BEST modefor the whole story. Did the overall mode of the story show the U.S.S.R as conflictual-impaired If the overall theme of the story showed the U.S.S.R. as impaired, or stagnant, or weak, or conflictual, please check this theme. This can be either physical, mental or verbal, or things are going badly for the U.S.S.R. consonant-improving If the overall theme of the story showed the U.S.S.R. as improving, or bettering themselves, or strong, or consonant, please check this theme. This can be either physical, mental, or verbal, or things are going well for them. none If there is no theme, and/or the story seems objective/neutral, choose this theme. Do not choose this theme if you are undecided. Make your best decision and choose appropriate mode. 122 Negative / Positive Index: For the topic chosen please circle the most appropriate classification written in bold letters. Negative news: if you circled this, was the negative news: 1.: extremely negative news __ 2.: very negative news .— 3.: slightly negative news __ Neutral news: if you circled this please write: 4.: neutral news _ Positive news: if you circled this, was the positive news: 5.: slightly positive news __ 6.: very positive news 7.: extremely positive news Intercountry section 1=if the story is about the U.S.S.R. and U.S. Did the interaction between the U.S.S.R. and U.S. give the impression of conflict If one or both countries is not getting what it wants from the other, choose this theme. cooperation If both countries are working together on a relatively even keel and/or both are trying to work together well, choose this theme. none See definition for none under modes. June 2,4,6,8 10,11,12,14 15,16,18,19 20,21,22,28 29,30 June 3,8,10,11 12,13,14,24 26,27 Appendix 4 Sample Days Used. 1984 July 2,3,4,5 6,10,12,13 16,17,18,22 24,25,27,28 29,30 1985 July August 1,2,3,4 2,3,5,6 6,15,16,19 16,19,21,22 22,23,27,29 23,26,27,28 30,31 29,30,31 123 TABLES 124 Table l Intercoder reliabilities: Date Story # Length Focus Focus relative to U.S.S.R. Topic Subtopic Topic theme Mode Negative/ Positive Index Intercountry Overall Total Total % Agreement* 100% 100% 100% 87% 93% 100% 93% 80% 80% 53%** r :2: .56*** 80% 88% a 84% b * between the two coders with a sample of 15 stories each. Using the Holsti Method ** represents % agreement based on 7 point scale. When the scale is trichotomized, 1-3 representing Negative, 4 Neutral, and 5-7 Postive, the agreement goes up to 73%. *** represents correlation between two coders. a: represents overall % of agreement. b: represents % agreement of all categories except date, story order, and length. 125 Table 2 Frequency of topic and topic themes comparing 1984 to 1985. Based on individual totals of topics and topic themes. 1984 1985 Tot Politics (62) 55% 45% 59%* Capable (20) 40% 60% 32%“ Incapable (23) 57% 43% 37% S/C Welfare (6) 50% 50% 6% Positive Image (2) 50% 50% 33% Negative Image (2) 100% 0% 33% A/I/E (8) 75% 25% 8% Strength (2) 0% 100% 25% Weakness (5) 100% 0% 63% Military (29) 45% 55% 28% Strength (11) 45% 55% 38% Weakness (6) 83% 17% 21% * The total percentage for each topic is based on the total number of stories: 105. ** The total percentage for each topic theme is based on the total number of stories for the given topic. Frequency of topic and topic themes occuring within each year. Politics (34-28) 63% 55%"I Capable (8-12) 24% 43%" Incapable (13-10) 38% 35% S/C Welfare (3-3) 5% 6% Postive Image (1-1) 33% 33% Negative Image (2-0) 66% 0% A/I/E (6-2) 11% 2% Strength (0-2) 0% 100% Weakness (5-0) 83% 0% Military (13-16) 24% 31% Strength (5-6) 38% 38% Weakness (5-1) 38% 6% * % for each topic is based on the total number of stories in each year: 54 (1984) and 51 (1985). ** % for each topic theme is based on total number of a given topic for each year. 126 Table 3 Frequency of Modes: Comparing 1984 to 1985. Based on individual total of modes. 1984 Conflictual-Impaired (44) 73% Consonant-Improving (29) 38% Negative (1-3) (62) 53% Neutral (4) (19) 47% Positive (5-7) (24) 50% Conflict (54) 46% Cooperation (18) 44% 1985 27 % 62% 47% 53% 50% 54% 55% Total 42%* 27% 59% 18% 23% 70%M 23%** * The total % is based on the total number of stories: 105. ** The total % is based on the total number of stories involving the U.S. and U.S.S.R.: 77. Frequency of Modes occurring within each year. Based on the total number of stories for each year: 54 (1984)—51 (1985). 1984 Conflictual-Impaired (32-12) 59% Consonant-Improving (1 1—18) 20% Negative (1-3) (33-29) 61% Neutral (4) (9-10) 17% Positive (5-7) (12-12) 22% Conflict (25-29) 71% Cooperation (8‘10) 23% 1985 24% 51% 57% 20% 24% 69%* 24%* * Based on the total number of stories for each year which involve the U.S. and U.S.S.R.: 35 (1984)—42 (1985). 127 Table 4 Frequency of Focus, comparing 1984 to 1985. Stories involving U.S. and U.S.S.R. (77) Sole focus (12) Major focus (79) Mention (13) 1984 45% 67% 49% 54% 1985 55% 33% 51% 46% Total 74%* 12%** 76%** 13%** * the total percentage is based on the total number of stories: 105. ** there is 1 missing case, bringing the total number of stories to 104. Frequency of focus occurring within each year. Stories involving U.S. and U.S.S.R. (35-42) Sole focus (8-4) Major focus (39-40) Mention (7-6) 1984 65% 15% 72% 13% 1985 84% 8% 80% 12% 128 Table 5 Hypothesis 1b. Strong Agriculture/Industry/Economics vs. Weak Agriculture/ Industry/ Economics Strong Weak 2.0 .83 .5 N77 1.67 3.5 .17 {3X = 9 .33 x = 1.29 N = 2 N = 5 2X=3.67 2X=533 X = 1.84 X = 1.07 Overall length given in minutes. Hypothesis 1D Positive Image of Social/ Cultural Welfare vs. Negative Image of Social/ Cultural Welfare Positive Image Negative Image .33 .5 N = 4 .33 2.33 2 X = 3.49 X = .87 N = 2 N = 2 ZX=.66 EX=2.83 X = .33 X = 1.42 Overall length given in minutes. 129 Table 6. Hypothesis 1a. Political Capability vs. Political Incapability. Analysis of Variance for data of Table 5. Source of Sum of Degrees of Variance F p = variation squares freedom estimate Rows 10.232 1 10.232 3.35 .07 Columns 10.823 1 10.823 3.54 .07 Interaction .2177 1 .2177 .07 .79 Within 117.16 39 3.05 Capable Incapable .67 .5 .33 3.0 5.17 .33 N,1 : 21 Year .33 .17 .17 2.33 3.0 Z X,, = 33.16 1984 .33 4.33 1.5 2.33 X“ = 1.58 n = 8 n = 13 .33 3.17 22: = 6.83 2:: = 26.33 3.17 .83 i: = .85 5: = 2.03 .17 1.0 .67 2.33 .33 n = 12 n = 10 .5 2.66 N,.2 = 22 2.5 4.0 .33 2x = 24.0 2 x = 28.82 2.0 1.83 2 X,, = 52.82 2.17 .5 2.0 5: = 2.0 i = 2.88 5.33 8.17 22,, = 2.40 Year 5.5 2.67 1.0 .33 4.0 1985 2.17 1.83 NC, = 20 Ne, = 23 Nrc = 43 Z Xe; = 30.83 ZXQ = 55.15 2 X” = 86.0 X6, = 1.54 X6, = 2.40 X" = 2.0 Overall length in minutes. 130 Table 7 Hypothesis 1c. Strong Military vs. Weak Military Analysis of Variance for data of Table 7. Source of Sum of Degrees of Variance F p: variation squares freedom estimate Between 1.43 1 1.43 .77 .37 Within 25.87 14 1.84 Total 27.24 15 Strong Weak 3.17 2.0 .33. 2.0 N = 16 2.17 2.83 .33 1.83 2X 2 29.65 1984 and 1985 2.17 - .66 2.0 2.33 X = 1.85 .33 1.67 .33 5.5 N = 10 N = 6 z: X = 20.83 :3 X = 8.82 X = 2.08 X = 1.47 Overall length given in minutes. 131 Table 8 Hypothesis 2 Conflict vs. Cooperation Analysis of Variance for data of Table 8. Source of Sum of Degrees of Variance F p = variation squares freedom estimate Rows .004 1 .004 .0018 .66 Columns 8.376 1 8.376 3.25 .07 Interaction 1.42 1 1.42 .55 .45 Within 179.89 68 2.57 Conflict Cooperation 2.67 .33 1.33 .17 3.0 2.33 3.17 .67 .33 4.33 .5 1.0 5.83 .33 Nr, = 33 2.33 5.17 1.5 4.33 2 Xr, = 64.95 1984 1.83 3.0 .33 .5 X“ = 1.97 2.17 .83 2.83 .17 2.0 5.5 3.17 2.33 .33 .33 .17 n = 25 n = 8 223:5].75 2.1:: 13.2 :7: = 2.07 5 = 1.65 2.5 2.83 1.67 n = 31 n = 10 1.83 .5 .33 2.5 2 x = 69.48 2 x = 11.7 4 .33 3.33 2.33 :7: = 2.24 5: = 1 17 2.17 N,.2 = 41 3.0 1.33 2.5 1.67 z Xr, = 81.18 1985 2.0 2.0 2.33 .33 X}, = 1.96 2.0 .5 2.5 .33 .33 .67 1.83 .5 2.67 5.5 4.0 .33 8.17 2.0 2.17 .17 .33 2.83 2.67 .33 1.83 NC, = 56 Ne2 = 18 N"; = 74 ZXC, = 121.23 2X6, = 24.9 2X", = 146.13 Xe, = 2.16 X6, =: 1.38 X“ 21.96 Overall length given in minutes. 132 Table 9 Hypothesis 3 1984 vs. 1985 Analysis of Variance for data of Table 9. Source of Sum of Degrees of Variance F p: variation squares freedom estimate Between 3.36 1 3.36 1.33 .25 Within 261.45 103 2.53 Total 264.81 104 1984 1985 2.17 2.33 .33 .17 .33 .5 1.83 8.17 .33 .33 N = 105 2.67 3.17 .33 3.5 .33 3.0 2.0 2.0 3.33 2.83 2X = 190.5 .5 2.0 1.33 .33 .33 2.0 .33 4.0 .67 2.0 X = 1.81 .17 1.0 .83 .33 .5 3.33 4.0 2.67 .33 .60 1.83 2.33 .67 .17 .5 2.83 2.17 1.67 2.0 1.0 3.33 .33 .33 3.0 2.33 1.33 1.67 .33 .5 .17 2.17 5.17 3.17 4.33 .5 2.17 2.0 2.5 .67 .5 2.0 3.0 1.5 .67 2.33 1.83 1.67 .33 2.5 .33 4.33 .33 .33 .33 .5 5.5 2.33 1.83 .33 2.67 2.33 .83 3.17 .17 .33 5.83 2.5 2.0 5.5 .33 5.5 .5 5.83 2.17 .33 N = 53 N = 52 2X = 86.77 EX = 103.73 X = 1.64 X = 1.99 Overall length given in minutes. 133 Table 10 Hypothesis 4. Political and Military Topics vs. Social/ Cultural Welfare and Agriculture/ Industry] Economic Topics Analysis of Variance for data of Table 10. Source of Sum of Degrees of Variance F p = variation squares freedom estimate Rows 2.49 1 2.49 1.00 .32 Columns 7.09 1 7.09 2.84 .09 Interaction 1.64 1 1.64 .655 .42 Within 252.22 101 2.50 Political and Social/ Cultural Welfare and Military Topics Agriculture/ Industry / Economic Topics .5 .33 4.33 5.5 .5 .33 2.67 .17 5.17 .5 2.33 .83 .5 3.33 3.0 .67 .33 2.83 N,.l = 54 2.33 2.0 .33 .33 .5 3.5 2 X,, = 89.64 1984 2.33 1.33 .83 .33 .17 22,, = 1.66 .33 .17 3.17 .67 2.0 .33 2.17 .17 4.33 3.17 2.17 5.83 2.33 1.0 2.33 .33 .5 3.0 .33 1.5 n = 45 n = 9 .33 1.83 .33 .33 22: = 78.3 x = 11.32 3.17 i = 1.74 5? =1.26 .5 2.0 .33 2.0 n = 46 n = 5 .33 2.0 2.0 .33 .5 2.0 22: = 98.64 2:: = 4.5 .33 1.67 .33 2.0 2.67 1.0 5: = 2.14 :‘1’: = .90 .17 N” = 51 3.33 1.67 8.17 1.83 :X,, = 102.94 1985 3.33 5.83 5.5 .33 X,, = 2.01 .67 2.17 .33- 2.5 .33 2.33 4.0 .33 4.0 2.5 2.67 3.0 2.17 2.17 .5 1.83 1.67 1.83 2.5 2.0 2.83 .33 1.33 .67 5.5 2.83 Ncl = 91 N62 = 4 Nrc = 105 2X6, = 176.74 Z: c, = 15.84 2X“ = 192.76 in, = 1.94 in, = 1 13 x... = 1.83 Overall length given in minutes. 134 Table 11 Hypothesis 5 Conflictual-Impaired vs. Consonant-Improving Analysis of Variance for data of Table 11. Source of Sum of Degrees of Variance F p = variation squares freedom estimate Rows 16.55 1 16.55 7.01 .01 Columns 7.85 1 7.85 3.32 .07 Interaction .3883 1 .3883 .16 .68 Within 162.98 69 2.36 Conflictual—Impaired Consonant—Improving 2.17 2.0 2.33 .33 .33 .67 2.67 4.33 .33 1.33 .33 .33 .5 2.33 5.17 .83 .17 .17 N,.1 = 43 .17 2.33 3.0 .67 3.0 .33 Z: X.., = 67.94 1984 1.83 3.17 .33 .33 4.33 .33 Ah, = 1.58 3.33 2.0 .83 3.17 .33 2.17 1.0 .33 1.5 71:32 11:11 .33 3.17 .17 3.5 2:: = 57.65 21: = 10.32 5: = 1.80 5: = .94 .5 1.33 3.0 2.17 n = 12 n = 18 2.0 1.67 2.0 1.83 3.33 5.5 21: = 32.28 22: = 38.7 8.17 .33 2.83 5.83 2.17 1.83 5: = 2.69 5: = 2.15 2.33 2.0 N,-2 = 30 4.0 2.5 2 X,2 = 70.98 1985 4.0 2.17 X.2 = 2.37 2.67 1.67 .5 1.67 2.0 .33 .33 .33 NC, = 44 Ne2 = 29 Nrc = 73 Z: Xe, = 89.88 Z: c, = 49.04 2: X" = 138.96 Xe, = 2.04 }(.,2 = 1.69 X” = 1.90 Overall length given in minutes. 135 Table 12 Hypothesis 6 Political Topics in 1984 vs. Political Topics in 1985 Analysis of Variance for data of Table 12. Source of Sum of Degrees of Variance F p = variation squares freedom estimate Between 1.5 l 1.5 .58 .45 Within 134.15 52 2.58 ' Total 135.65 53 Political quics Political Topics 198 1985 5 6 1 2 3 4 3 6 5 4 N = 54 1 4 3 6 5 2 3 3 6 1 EX = 199 4 4 5 6 3 3 6 1 3 1 X = 3.69 4 6 2 4 3 2 6 3 2 4 4 4 3 7 2 3 6 3 4 3 5 2 2 5 N : 27 N = 27 2X = 104 EX = 95 X = 3.85 X = 3.51 Numbers from the Negative-Positive Index. See pages 63-64. 136 Table 13 Hypothesis 7 Military Topics in 1984 vs. Military Topics in 1985 Analysis of Variance for data of Table 13. Source of Sum of Degrees of Variance F p = variation squares freedom estimate Between 1.44 1 1.44 1.05 .31 Within 37.25 27 1.37 Total 38.69 28 Military Military Topics Topics 1984 1985 3 2 1 2 N = 29 1 3 1 1 Z: X = 61 1 2 3 1 X = 2.10 1 l 4 1 2 2 4 3 2 1 3 5 1 3 2 4 1 N = 11 N = 18 Z X = 20 z: X = 41 X = 1.82 X = 2.28 Numbers from the Negative-Positive Index. See pages 63-64. 137 Table 14 Hypothesis 8 Social/ Cultural Welfare and Agriculture/ Industry/ Economic Topics in 1984 vs. Social/ Cultural Welfare and Agriculture/ Industry/ Economic Topics in 1985 Analysis Source of Sum of variation squares Between 12.01 Within 13.2 Total 25.21 of Variance for data of Table 14. Degrees of Variance F p: freedom estimate 1 12.01 10.92 .01 12 1.1 13 Social / Cultural Welfare and Agriculture/ Industry / Economic Social / Cultural Welfare and Agriculture/ Industry/ Economic To 1C8 To ics 1984 1 85 4 2 5 N=l4 3 3 3 ZX=47 2 2 5 X:3.36 2 1 5 N29 N=5 ZX=24 ZX=23 X:2.66 X=4.6 Numbers from the Negative-Positive Index. See pages 63-64. 138 Table 15 Hypothesis 9 Conflictual-Impaired vs. Consonant-Improving Conflictual—Impaired Consonant—Improving 10 3 1 4 3 4 4 3 1 1 7 4 3 2 8 2 6 6 Nr, 2 43 4 1 4 3 1 8 Z X.1 = 217 1984 5 8 11 13 3 3 X,, = 5.05 15 10 2 14 3 7 7 3 7 n = 32 n = 11 3 1 8 1 2.1: = 169 2:1: = 48 5: = 5.28 :5 = 4.36 3 3 6 2 n = 12 n = 18 14 6 2 3 6 3 2x = 48 2x = 113 1 6 4 2 3 11 5 = 4.0 s = 6.28 9 6 N., = 30 6 2 Z X.2 = 161 1985 1 1 X.., = 5.37 10 2 5 2 16 12 4 10 N,, = 44 NC, = 29 N... :73 Z Xc, = 217 2 X3, = 161 Z ch = 378 27,, = 4.93 27., = 5.55 27., = 5.18 H = .449, p = .50, df = 1. The numbers are the actual ranks that the stories appeared in the newscast. 139 Table 16 Hypothesis 10 Political and Military Topics vs. Agriculture/ Industry/ Economic and Social/ Cultural Welfare Topics Political Agriculture/ Industry/ Economic d d Mfliltary Social/Cuiflural Welfare Topics Topics O—i 3 4 119 11 8 N=105 4 8 4 ZX=577 7 9 15 14 16 X=5.50 8 1 (Q t-J O 1984 and 1985 Hawawwowi—HA HK] w :5 t—I O O HMSwHAHWAAMWMHv-‘hfiw HawanHHSHwNI-‘oawao: kuwquwwwoowwcomqw o: HROHMQva-‘HU‘OJNOOMAU‘GMUWH O 01 a: {01950409401 2 ll N=l4 ZX=125 X = 8.93 >< 9; II a M H = 9.66, p: .001, df = 1. The numbers are the actual ranks that the stories appeared in the newscast. 140 Table 17 Conflict vs. Cooperation Conflict Cooperation 1 3 2 4 4 4 1 3 3 2 6 6 1 4 3 11 3 1 N,.l = 33 4 14 7 4 1 3 X:X,.1 = 131 1984 1 1 5 5 X,, = 3.97 4 7 11 1 1 n = 25 n = 8 Ex = 103 Ex 2 28 5? = 4.12 5 = 3.5 1 6 9 15 n = 29 n = 10 1 11 3 10 2 1 Ex = 150 x = 61 9 6 5 3 2 2 5: = 5.17 :7: = 6.10 10 10 N,.2 = 39 6 7 3 2 l 2 Z: X” = 211 1985 2 10 1 11 5 6 X” = 5.41 2 12 4 3 6 5 4 7 6 NC, = 54 Ne, = 18 N" = 72 2 X6, = 253 Z: Xe, = 89 2 ch = 342 X6, = 4.69 Xe, = 4.94 X” = 4.75 H = .165, p: .50, (If :1 The numbers are the actual ranks that the stories appeared in the newscast. BIBLIOGRAPHY Bibliography Adams, W. “Network News Research in Perspective: A Bibliographic Essay.” In Television Network News. Issues in Content Research. Edited by Adams and Schreibman. George Washington University Press, 1978. ,Adams, and Schreibman. Television Network News. Issues in Content Re- search. 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