Date of Award

1-1-2014

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Specialization

Communication and Leadership

School or Department

School of Leadership Studies

First Advisor

Dr. Pavel Shlossberg

Second Advisor

Dr. Elizabeth Davis

Abstract

This study examined the characteristics of composition within the broadcasts of televised news. The examination was rooted in the work of media ecology, specifically the work of Neil Postman, and built upon examining the constructions of communication as a means of bringing thoughtfulness to the discourse of mass media communication in relation to televised news. This study examined segments of broadcast news programs over a three-day period. Segments taking place (beginning, contained, or ending) within the first ten minutes of each day’s program were subjects of content analysis. A local news outlet (Fox 35 in central Florida) and a national cable network (CNN) aired the programs examined within the study. On Fox 35, the morning news program, Good Day Orlando at 7am, and an evening news program, Fox 35 News at 6, were examined. On CNN, the morning program New Day and the evening news program The Situation Room were examined. The study focused upon the identification of soft news and hard news characteristics of segments in order to expand perspective on the composition of broadcast-news-based mass communication. In this, the examination oriented around the questions: (a) In what ways does the framing of hard news versus soft news differ within the broadcasts of news on television? (b) What juxtapositions exist within individual news programs and within individual blocks of programming? (c) In what ways do juxtapositions of tone and content exist when comparing news programs from different time periods (the morning versus the evening)? and (d) In what ways do juxtapositions of tone and content differ across channels and network profiles (local, national, cable)? The results of the study elucidated trends and distributions in regards to the composition of segments within news broadcasts. This allows for a greater understanding of the mediated communication of broadcast news for viewers in order to better understand the purposefulness of the communication’s characteristics.

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