Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This paper takes a theoretical and empirical look at a key problem posed for world cultures, namely the unequal flow of television programs across national and regional borders. It examines the literature on television flows, advances several specific research propositions, and then examines the actual production and importation of television programs in sixteen countries in Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America, and NAFTA. National production is compared with imports from the U.S., from within the country's cultural linguistic region, and to other international imports. We look at the countries over 40 years, in 1961, 1971, 1981, 1991, and 2001. This empirical data base permits to examine trends in light of several competing theoretical predictions from cultural imperialism, cultural proximity, and asymmetrical interdependence.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Building on Segrin and Nabi (2002), this study examined possible associations between romantic TV content and romantic expectations (romantic beliefs and fantasy rumination) in individuals who are versus are not involved in committed romantic relationships. Participants were 415 undergraduates who completed self-administered questionnaires. Results revealed that exposure to romantic TV and seeking romantic fulfillment from TV were positive predictors for fantasy rumination, but not for romantic beliefs, whereas perceived realism of TV’s romantic portrayals was a positive predictor for romantic beliefs, but not for fantasy rumination. Additionally, romantic expectations were positively predicted by the strength of respondents’ romantic parasocial relationship with favorite TV characters or personalities. Associations among the main romantic TV variables in not committed and committed individuals separately showed similar patterns. However, perceived realism of TV’s romantic portrayals was a positive predictor of romantic beliefs only in committed individuals. Implications for these findings are discussed.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The paper analyzes changes that have taken place in the last ten years in TV Globo, Brazil’s most powerful media institution. More especially, the aim is to investigate the transformation of TV Globo’s News Division and situate this transformation in relation to the process of democratization of Brazilian politics and society. Based on three brief case studies about the political role of the newscast Jornal Nacional between 1995 and 2002 and on in-depth interviews with four of TV Globo’s main news editors, the paper stresses how the new conditions brought by the process of social democratization and by a more active civil society have been major forces leading to importance changes in TV Globo’s model of journalism.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Why do American and Swiss TV news report the world in different forms? And how have these differences changed since the late 60s? While a few scholars of communication and linguistics have analyzed the difference between TV news shows from different countries at a given moment, diachronic comparative analysis has hardly been done – although the question of „Americanization“ of European TV news or the development of a global media culture is often discussed. In this paper, American and Swiss TV news from 1968 to 1999 will be compared, focusing on the form of news reporting – the forms which create meaning on a subtle level. The comparison points at important cultural differences in news reporting in the ways actuality, closeness and authenticity are staged and in the forms of news narratives, but it also points out a decrease of these differences. Different explanations, like commercialization, technical development, journalistic culture and cultural differences in communication practices are discussed.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This paper uses a database of TV advertising during the 1998 and 2000 election cycles to examine the decisions of candidates, parties, and interest groups to air commercials in House elections. Controls for the competitiveness of the race, candidates’’ budgets, and the cost and efficiency of the media market are included. The results show that candidates’’ actions are largely determined by the amount of funds available and the cost of ads. Parties, however, are largely indifferent to costs; instead they (and to a lesser extent groups) effectively concentrate their resources in the same small subset of competitive contests. This pattern suggests that parties may make House elections less competitive by aggressively seeking to target resources to a handful of districts. The paper further explores the allocation decisions of parties and considers different policy responses.