NCJ Number
54567
Journal
JOURNALISM QUARTERLY Volume: 54 Issue: 4 Dated: (WINTER 1977) Pages: 773-776
Date Published
1977
Length
24 pages
Annotation
FINDINGS ARE PRESENTED FROM TWO MEDIA AUDIENCE SURVEYS CONDUCTED AFTER A 1973 SNIPING INCIDENT IN NEW ORLEANS, LA., TO GAUGE THE POSSIBLE EFFECTS OF A MAJOR CRIMINAL EVENT ON AUDIENCE SIZE AND CHANNEL SWITCHING.
Abstract
TWO SETS OF TELEPHONE INTERVIEWS WERE CARRIED OUT IN AN AREA ADJACENT TO NEW ORLEANS, ONE THE DAY AFTER A SNIPER KILLED 7 PEOPLE AND WOUNDED 21, AND THE OTHER 4 DAYS AFTER. INTERVIEWERS SPOKE TO 25 PERSONS DURING EACH OF FOUR TIMESLOTS ON BOTH DAYS. THE SAMPLE WAS QUESTIONED TO DETERMINE THE SIZE OF THE AUDIENCE AND TO OUTLINE MEDIA SWITCHING BEHAVIOR AND STATION SWITCHING WITHIN MEDIA. THE FINDINGS INDICATE THAT THE CRIMINAL EVENT DID NOT SIGNIFICANTLY AFFECT THE SIZE OF THE TOTAL WEEKDAY BROADCAST AUDIENCE. HOWEVER, RADIO LISTENING WAS DOWN ON THE EVENT DAY AS COMPARED TO NONEVENT DAYS, WHILE TELEVISION VIEWING WAS HIGHER. A SHIFT WAS ALSO NOTED WITHIN MEDIA, WITH TELEVISION VIEWERS SWITCHING FROM BATON ROUGE STATIONS TO THOSE IN NEW ORLEANS ON THE DAY OF THE SNIPING. THE FINDINGS SUGGEST THAT UNEXPECTED NEWS EVENTS THAT RECEIVE CLOSE MEDIA COVERAGE MAY CAUSE TELEVISION STATIONS' AUDIENCE SHARES TO VARY CONSIDERABLY FROM WHAT THEY WOULD BE ON ORDINARY WEEKDAYS. TABULAR DATA ARE INCLUDED. (KBL)