The Known World of Broadcast News: International News and the Electronic Media (Comedia)

A comprehensive empirical and theoretical study of broadcast news throughout the world, which examines the effects of syndication and questions whether this fiercely competitive business satisfies the democratic demands of its audience. • This title available in eBook format. Click here for more information. • Visit our eBookstore at: www.ebookstore.tandf.co.uk. Radio and television news are expanding everywhere, often at the expense of print media. Developments in global communications, in theory at least, have made the world smaller. An event anywhere can theoretically be reported anywhere else on radio within minutes; on television within hours. But theory and practice are often far apart. Broadcast News has become a global business, almost like the music industry, with its own'Top 10'and an inevitable streamlining of taste. A few major organisations control the newsflow. Syndicators guarantee that more and more of us get to see or hear the same stories. This is typified by the growth of independent or local news stations, and cable suppliers, competing mercilessly with the traditional giants of the news airwaves (the US Networks, the BBC and other Public Service Broadcasters, etc.). But does this development satisfy the democratic demands of enlightened society and of informed citizens? This book presents a catalogue of worries, but also some rays of hope. It looks in detail at news broadcasters on both sides of the Atlantic. It also covers the international broadcasting scene as well as third world countries and recent developments in Glasnost's USSR. A major empirical study of what we get from broadcast news (taking the case of the USA, Britain and Sweden) is also presented. Models useful for understanding both the present and the future are suggested. Book Cover......Page 1 Title......Page 4 Contents......Page 5 List of illustrations......Page 8 List of figures and tables......Page 10 Preface......Page 14 A day in the life of the world......Page 22 Broadcast news in the USA: turmoil, realignment, and restructuring of the traditional operators......Page 37 The traditional news broadcasters in Britain: new establishments fighting older institutions......Page 65 Medium-sized traditional operators in Europe: the example of broadcast news in Sweden......Page 93 Challenging the traditional broadcasters: new players in the news game......Page 116 The international news broadcasters: information, disinformation, and improvised truth......Page 137 Meeting the elephant: broadcast news views the world......Page 171 Which news and why? Understanding the forces that shape the news......Page 229 Epilogue: What will we know? What should we know? Comparing broadcast news to developments in other media sectors......Page 266 Postscript: A challenge to European traditions of broadcasting......Page 275 Appendix......Page 276 References......Page 281 Index......Page 0 The text poses the question as to whether developments in radio and television news satisfy the democratic demands of enlightened society and informed citizens. The authors present an empirical study of what news offers in Britain, Sweden and America, and suggests future developments Annotation A comprehensive empirical and theoretical study of broadcast news throughout the world, which examines the effects of syndication and questions whether this fiercely competitive business satisfies the democratic demands of its audience