Violence: Form and Structure in American and International Programming

• NCJ Number: 150868
• Author(s): S Ramsey; L Morton; M Nedelijkovich; M Marcus
• Date Published: 1994
• Length: 14 pages
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Conference Material
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: This paper was presented at the International Conference on Violence in the Media: Prospects for Change, held on October 3-4, 1994, in New York City. The conference was sponsored by St. John's University.

Annotation

Violence in television newscasts is discussed.

Abstract

Until recently, the analysis of newscasts across international borders was extremely difficult and costly. With the advent of improved video playback equipment, studies of structural components in television newscasts as well as other programming is made possible. The goal of this pilot study is to compare nonverbal structures for presentation of violent news across international borders-- in other words, a look at the presentation of violence in television news and whether it may present different nonverbal "pictures" in different cultural contexts. Results showed that for the sample studied, the United States is significantly different for presence of violence in newscasts and for violent images. For depiction of international violence within local newscasts, Singapore, Japan, and El Salvador provided segments predominantly of other countries' violence (coverage of these aspects, however, were not significant). Significant differences also were found for the three dominant religious systems for the countries sampled and their use of violence in newscasts. 12 references, 3 tables