Study on how fair and balanced the three cable news networks were in their coverage of the 2012 presidential election.

Thesis (MA--Communication Studies) -- Auckland University of Technology, 2004. / Appendices not included in e-thesis. Also held in print (150 leaves, 30 cm.) in Wellesley Theses Collection. (T 070.44995670443 SAR)

Thesis (M.A.I.S.)--Oregon State University, 2006. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 115-119). Also available online.

Thesis (M.A.)--Georgia State University, 2005. / Title from title screen. Merrill Morris, committee chair; Marian Meyers, Douglas Barthlow, committee members. Electronic text (98 p.) : digital, PDF file. Description based on contents viewed June 21, 2007. Includes bibliographical references (p. 89-96).

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Prior literature has identified several simultaneously occurring trends: namely, sharply intensifying negative partisanship, partisan patterns of media trust, increasingly partisan content on cable news networks, and increased viewership of these networks. A large portion of this literature, as well as journalistic research, has predominantly focused on individuals' consumption, rather than trust, of particular political media sources. I explore to what degree the nature of how individuals are consuming partisan media (be it trustingly, skeptically, etc.) plays a role in the relationship between partisan media consumption and partisan sentiment. Using OLS regression models across three ANES samples, I test the relationship between individuals' viewership and trust levels of particular partisan cable news sources (Fox News and MSNBC) and corresponding partisan sentiment, taking into account individuals' own partisan leanings. I find those who consume like-minded partisan media to express more partisanship (both for their own political group and against the other). I additionally find that trust, as opposed to just viewership, of these partisan networks correlates strongly with partisan sentiment. In light of these findings, I conclude that future research on this topic should more clearly distinguish between trust and viewership of political media. / Master of Arts / Over the last two decades, surging mass political polarization has occurred simultaneously with a strikingly more segmented and increasingly partisan news media landscape. A large portion of research on this topic, both academic and journalistic, has focused exclusively on individuals' viewership or consumption levels of particular media sources. Relying solely on consumption does not take into account the trust levels that individuals have in what they are consuming. In this study, I explore to what degree the nature of how individuals are consuming partisan media (be it trustingly, skeptically, etc.) plays a role in the relationship between partisan media consumption and partisan feelings. Utilizing multiple American National Election Studies samples, I test the relationship between individuals' viewership and trust levels of particular partisan cable news sources (Fox News and MSNBC) and corresponding partisan sentiment, taking into account individuals' own partisan leanings. I find those who consume like-minded partisan media (Republicans watching Fox News and Democrats watching MSNBC) to express increased levels of partisanship - both for their own political group and against the other. I additionally find a strong relationship between individuals' trust, as opposed to just viewership, of these partisan networks and their own partisan feelings. In light of these findings, I conclude that future research on this topic should more clearly distinguish between trust and viewership of political media.

This thesis seeks to identify the main sources of news in the coverage of the 2003 war in Iraq by the Arab channel Al-Jazeera and CNN. It distinguishes the news sources that journalists of CNN and Al-Jazeera have depended on while covering or reporting the events of the war and examines why they gave more airtime to certain news sources than others. Content analysis is used as the main research method and the Glasgow University Media Group's work is adopted as a model. The data for the research is five prime time news hours chosen from five-day intervals during the war from the coverage by both channels.This study also examines the two channels' different perspectives towards the event. This takes into account their histories, their stated position regarding their role and their editorial practices. At the same time there will be an attempt to further contextualize this issue by looking at the flow of the world news across borders, the development of Arab media before and after the emergence of satellite broadcasting and by briefly reviewing the history of Western media war reportage.The thesis concludes that the main sources on CNN were the 'coalition' military and official sources. By contrast, Al-Jazeera's coverage gave almost equal time to other perspectives such as anti-war voices and 'independent' analysts. Consequently it is argued that Al-Jazeera's coverage was more balanced and multiperspectival.

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Analyses of war coverage address its relation to historical fact, propaganda, and bias, but I see a great need to position war coverage within the context of the industry that produces and distributes news content. To divorce televised war coverage from the entertainment industry is to decontextualize it in the most fundamental way. This dissertation investigates the way in which Cable News Network (CNN) and Fox News Channel (FNC) positioned and packaged the U.S. military’s invasion of Iraq in March 2003 for a domestic audience. I place those two networks and the 2003 invasion of Iraq within the context of post-classical Hollywood filmmaking, one offshoot of which is high concept. I argue that high concept—a filmmaking practice inextricably linked to conglomeration, new technologies, and an incessant, self-preserving drive to market— can be applied productively to the study of television news. When infused with critical theory, high concept is a valuable way to understand the politics and construction of entertainment-driven war coverage. The industrial development of television news has yielded a media artifact that mimics the practice of high concept filmmaking narratively, stylistically, ideologically, and commercially. By using high concept as an alternative approach to television news, I propose that studies that disregard or marginalize visuals, sound, narrative, and the industry that profits from the spectacular packaging of those elements cannot fully capture the thrust of television news. By stripping television news of its stature as somehow divorced from and above the rest of television programming, I aim to re-insert it into the entertainment industry. My intent is to bring together theoretical and practical insights from different disciplines so that I can contextualize contemporary television news in a unique and compelling way. In doing so, this dissertation aims to contribute to the pursuit of democratic media. / text