As receivers of information from the media, we are faced with the constant problem of determining what sources are and are not credible. Given that much of what we know of the world around us comes directly from the media (Lippman, 1922), as receivers of messages from the media we realise how important the credibility of a news source is. Many of the attitudes that we form about a wide range of issues in society are formed as a direct result of the coverage we receive through the media, although there are numerous other factors involved such as issue involvement, intensity and closure (e.g., Guttman, 1954). Traditionally a large number of studies have argued that a high credibility source is more effective in causing attitude change than a low credibility source (Hovland & Weiss, 1951; Kelman & Hovland, 1953; Bochner & Insko, 1966; McGuire, 1973), while other experimental research examining the interaction between source credibility and other variables have indicated that there are other factors which have an important mediating effect on the impact of source credibility. To further complicate the issue, researchers have argued that credibility is not a stable attribute that a person assigns consistently to a source. Instead, credibility is highly situational and is a changeable perception by a receiver (Berlo, Lemert, & Mertz, 1969; Smith, 1970; Hayes, 1971; Chaffe, 1982). Also, individual differences of receivers such as age, education, gender, and knowledge about the media and the topic could contribute to the evaluation of source credibility (Westley & Serverin, 1964; Lewis, 1981). In addition, the importance of the issue in the media, the controversiality of the issue, receiver bias, the receiver's involvement with the issue and so on have also been shown to have a relationship with the evaluation of source credibility (Stone & Bell, 1975; Robert & Leifer, 1975; Gunther & Lasorsa, 1986). This thesis thus explores the various complexities involved in the relationship between media credibility and attitude formation by examining the characteristics that play a role in making a news source credible to readers, and then considering those factors that affect attitude change in the receivers of a news message. To achieve this, university students in south-east Queensland were examined in order to investigate attitude change regarding the issue of South Korea as a result of coverage in sources they perceive to be of high and low credibility. The study consisted of three stages: a survey of the university students to determine which newspapers they find to be of high and low credibility, a content analysis of their high and low credibility sources for articles of positive, neutral and negative tone, and finally an experiment which measured subjects' attitude change through reading articles of different tones in high and low credibility sources.

Prior to 1994 I had little interest in the activities of the police. As a mass media consumer I was aware of the prominence of crime in the daily news agenda and I watched, read and listened to potted summaries of rape, mayhem and murder. Frequent too, were stories of police malpractice, incompetence and corruption. Police stories were also a significant part of television drama with programs like the long running British series The Bill, and a range of Australian productions: The Feds, Halifax f.p, Rafferty's Rules, Blue Heelers, State Coroner, and Water Rats. The police also featured at the cinema with crime genre movies Natural Born Killers (Oliver Stone, USA), Once Were Warriors (Lee Tamahori, New Zealand) and Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, USA) becoming box office hits. My interest in the portrayal of police change dramatically when on the 7th of October 1994, I was appointed Officer-in-Charge of the Media and Publications Branch of the Australian Federal Police (AFP). I was responsible for all aspects of the communication function including: media liaison, crisis management, media management, publications and internal communication. My branch dealt with media inquiries from local, national and international media across the gamut of issues facing the AFP. These ranged fiom industrial issues about budgets and overtime, allegations of corruption and incompetence, and operational matters as diverse as burglaries, alleged Nazi war criminals, peace-keeping operations and drug 'busts'. Needless to say my police stakeholders did not always see things the same way as my media colleagues. I was seeing at a practical day-to-day level the complex taxonomy of police/media relations outlined by Putnis (1996). Putnis noted the ubiquity of the police and the media as social institutions and observed that their daily operations involved a complex, dynamic, relationship constructed out of many thousands of interactions, across all levels of the organisations, in many different settings. My experiences in dealing with the media became the genesis of this study. My aim is to expand our understanding of the police/media relationship by exploring characteristic forms of print news-media reports about policing, the impact these reports have on police, and on law and order policy. The possibility of bias towards police in this study is acknowledged given I was a member of a police service fiom 1994 until 2002 and the research relies heavily on 'participant observer' techniques (Kay 1997; Potter1 996; Schofield 1993). Every effort has been made to maintain a critical perspective on the subject matters raised and it should be noted my association with police ended prior to the writing-up phase of the research. In addition to comments fiom my supervisory panel, ongoing discussions with media colleagues were another strategy adopted to ensure balance in the writing-up of this study. This is a unique study in that it offers an insider's perspective of police/media relations and at a time that represented a watershed for police. The early 90s was a period of straightened finances for public sector agencies and police, like other agencies, were under pressure fiom governments to demonstrate the efficient use of public monies (AFP 1995; Grieve 2000). Reform programs swept through policing with many, like the AFP, being organised along business lines (Palmer 1995; Etter 1995; Rohl 1999; WAPOL 1999). The 90s were also a watershed for criminal organisations with the emergence of transnational criminal syndicates, such as drug traffickers, that had the potential to impact on crime at a local level without even entering the country, let alone the jurisdiction, in which the crime took place (Bliss and Harfield 1998; Palmer 1995; McFarlane 1999). In order to combat these syndicates, police began to work in a more cooperative fashion and formed loose coalitions, often across countries, in a manner similar to the criminal syndicates they were trying to combat (Palmer 1995). The 90s also saw the continuation of committees of inquiry and royal commissions into police malpractice (Landa and Dillon 1995) and the inevitable bad press for police (Wood 1996; Munday 1995). The media and police have a symbiotic relationship and it is a critical one as most members of society have little direct contact with the criminal justice system. Information about crime, and the efforts of police to combat it, is obtained second hand through fictional accounts from such vehicles as television dramas, and from the news media. As aptly described by Hall et al. (1975), nearly thirty years ago, the media is the link between crime and the public. The police are therefore heavily reliant on the media to provide a balanced account of the panoply of issues surrounding the criminal justice system (Cowdery 2001). At its most fundamental, police require the support of the communities they serve in order to be effective, and the news media can have a major impact on perceptions about police performance (Reiner 1997; Surette 1992). As organisational entities, police need to compete with other bureaucracies for public hnding, and the media is an essential tool in generating positive publicity about successful operations and policies. The media is, therefore, critical to the maintenance of positive relationships with the two most important stakeholders in the policing function: the community and the government. McGregor (1993) provides a useful summary of the literature relating to print media coverage of policing issues: there are substantial discrepancies between official accounts of criminal activity and press reports of crime; the media tends to homogenise crime by concentrating on a limited range of crimes (mainly violent crime) and drawing facts from a limited range of sources (police/court reports); the media over-report serious crimes, especially murder and crimes with a sexual element; and, the press concentrates crime reportage on events rather than issues, so crime incidents and specific crimes form the bulk of crime news as opposed to analyses of the causes of crime or remedies, trends or issues. McQuail (1994, p.256) reminds us that assessing media performance on the basis of media content, measured against the extent to which content relates to reality, is open to question. He argues that there is no general answer to questions of meaning construction, but media research has pointed to several elements in a more general framework of social and personal meanings including clues as to what is more or less important, salient or relevant in many different contexts (1994, p. 379). An important research question concerns the impact of news media practices, particularly given the significant costs to the community flowing from the commission of crime, its investigation by police, and the processing of offenders through the criminal justice system. The Australian Institute of Criminology estimates the cost of crime in Australia is approximately $19 billion, while the cost of dealing with crime is another $13 billion (Mayhew 2003). The news media, articulated through radio talk-back hosts, are seen as having undue influence on how public funds on crime control are spent (ABC, The Media Report, 1 August 2002; Chan 1995; Cowdery 2001; Dixon 2002; Weatherbum 2002). These commentators have pointed to the serious public policy issues arising from the contribution made by the media towards what Weatherburn describes as an irrational public debate about law and order (2002, p. 12) and Hogg and Brown have coined 'the uncivil politics of law and order' (1998, p. 4). As Hogg and Brown (1998, p. 4) observe: crime is depicted as a problem of ever-increasing gravity set to overwhelm society unless urgent, typically punitive measures are taken to control and suppress it. The influence of the media on public policy has long been recognised. As Paletz and Entmann (l981, p. 6) observe: they influence the decisions and actions of politicians; they are open to manipulation by the powerful which insulates the powerful fiom accountability to the public; they reallocate power amongst the already powerful; they decreased to a marked extent the ability of ordinary citizens to judge events; they foment discontent among the public; and they preserve the legitimacy of the political, economic and social system. Ethnomethodological approaches (Ericson and Haggerty 1997) underpin the research in this study. The ethnomethodological approach was used because of its wider scope, employing as it does, observation, interviewing, and document-analysis techniques (Ericson et al. 1987, p. 77) and its ability to provide meaning and context to the phenomena under observation (Hall 1978; Willis l981). Ethnomethodological approaches are complemented by news framing analyses (Barkin and Gurevitch 1987; Blood, Putnis and Pirkis 2002; Capella and Jamieson 1996; Coleman 1995; Entman 1993; Kitzinger 2000; Keely 1999; Darling-Wolf 1997; London 1993; Pan and Kosicki 2001; Miller and Riechert 2001; Pirkis and Blood 2001; Reese, Gandy and Grant 2003; Scheufele 1999) to explore the news media frames employed in the genre of print crime reporting. What emerges from the study is evidence of a one-sided, highly negative, discourse about policing implemented through a range of media frames centred on conflict and broader xenophobic and egalitarian narratives. Despite the advantages police have as information gatekeepers, their attempts to manage the media environment have met with little success (Hughes 2004; Williams 2002) and the need for police to restrict access to police communications is being challenged (Crime and Misconduct Commission 2004, Inquiry into the effects of a Queensland Police Service decision to adopt digital technology for radio communications). There are exceptions, of course: the news media are not all bad. Routine reporting of crimes, where details of offenders are publicised, greatly assists the work of police as reflected in the case of 43-year-old Mr Colin George Dunstan which is discussed in Chapter Eight. Dunstan sent a series of explosive devices through the mail system in Canberra and police provided the media with photographs of the devices, Mr Dunstan (who was the main suspect), and his vehicle. The media coverage restricted Mr Dunstan's movements and led to his early arrest. Similarly, publication of the details of missing persons, warnings about lethal batches of drugs and crimes such as drink-spiking, enable police to reach a mass audience efficiently and quickly. And at a more abstract level, as noted by McQuail (1994, p. 34), modem communication vehicles can make a positive contribution to cohesion and community. The emergence of the 'yapping pack' form of journalism (Tiffen 1999, p. 207) has resulted in elements of the media exercising a worrying degree of influence over what should be a broader and better informed debate about criminal justice issues. An illustration of this process occurred toward the end of this study with the widely reported spectacle of the Premier of New South Wales presenting his replacement police minister before radio presenter Mr Alan Jones for his endorsement; the subsequent involvement of that minister in operational police matters (Williams 2002); and the departure of the state's police commissioner as a result of sustained media attack (ABC, The Media Report, 1 August 2002; Weatherburn 2002). These incidents say much about the influence of the news media in relation to police matters and makes this study a timely one. What follows is a literature review examining contemporary trends in policing and the media; a detailed analysis of two major case studies involving complex police operations; an analysis of a number of examples of print media reports about policing, to identify typical, or characteristic, media frames; the findings from nearly 50 interviews with senior people involved in the policelmedia interface; and an examination of changes in the milieu in which media reports about policing occur.

Coverage of the Third World by the media in the developed Western nations has been a subject of intense debate among scholars since the 1970s. Some of the outspoken media critics have pointed to certain imbalances in Western media reporting on some parts of the world, including African countries. Such imbalances range from inadequate coverage to emphasis on crisis news events. Other critics argue, however, that Western news reporting on African countries, for example, is crisis-oriented because that is the kind of news those countries offer to the media given the recurrence of various forms of crises there. The 1984-85 Ethiopian famine was one such crisis that received extensive coverage in the Western media. Criticisms of this coverage served to fuel a growing concern among African and other intellectuals, particularly about one aspect of Western media reporting: the failure of those media to put into adequate context African events on which they report. Some critics have pointed out, for example, that although environmental decline is a major underlying cause of famine in Africa, it does not receive attention in Western media coverage of this recurring crisis. This is in spite of the pioneering role of the latter in the promotion of environmental issues in the West as a major social and political concern. From a much broader perspective, however, it appears that the case of imbalanced reporting on Africa in the Western media is not an isolated one. A number of studies on news reporting suggests that the criticism of imbalances in Western news reporting may have more to do with the nature of Western news values than with a wilful attempt on the part of the Western media to report on particular countries in those terms. Thus reporting on African countries by the Western media could be one typical example in which standard Western news practices come into full play. Against this background, the present study sought to investigate Western media coverage of Africa as viewed in terms of the application of Western news values. First, using qualitative analyses of relevant literature, the study undertook a contextualisation of crisis events in African countries, with special reference to famines, by identifying environmental degradation as a crucial factor in the unfolding of such crises. This included explanations for the apparent neglect of African environmental issues by Western media. Discussion on the environment was set in a wider context of a global environmental crisis. The qualitative analyses also examined the issue of imbalances, such as the focus on crisis and the lack of context, in Western media coverage of Africa. This was explored within a theoretical framework that encapsulates aspects of the political economy of the mass media, political ideological differences, and culture as some of the theoretical propositions used by some media researchers to explain imbalances in international news flow. Second, the study used the quantitative research technique of content analysis to carry out a longitudinal investigation of reporting on African countries in general during 1982-87 as well as a case study of the 1984-85 Ethiopian famine by three Western dailies: The Times of London, the New York Times, and the Sydney Morning Herald. An IAMCR (International Association for Mass Communication Research) coding scheme was adopted for this purpose. With regard to the qualitative analyses, the study found that even though environmental decline is a major underlying cause of many of Africa's ongoing and recurring crises such as famines, it may not receive attention in Western media reporting on those crises. This appears to be because the nature of Africa's environmental problems does not meet Western news value criteria. As regards the content analyses, the study found, in both the longitudinal and case studies, a dearth of reporting in all three dailies on African environmental issues and an orientation towards reporting events as discrete events, with little or no attention to underlying or contextual information. Crisis and non-crisis events in Africa were found to be, however, equally reported in most of the sample years studied in two of the three dailies. The focus of reporting on the Ethiopian famine was found to be on Western relief activities and on the bizarre or sensational side of the disaster - aspects of reporting that fit into standard Western news practices.

The present study examined the role of the Korean ethnic press in Australia with special reference to the ways in which their professional backgrounds shaped the construction of the news content of their newspapers. The study sample consisted of six Korean ethnic newspapers produced in Sydney. Both intrinsic and extrinsic factors relevant to the role of journalists were identified in interviews with the editors and publishers. The overall news content was analyzed through quantitative and qualitative content analysis. The principal finding of this study was that none of Shoemaker's (1987) theoretical statements about how economic factors shape news content could be applied to the Korean ethnic press in Australia. Despite their reliance on commercial sources for their economic survival, all six papers devoted more space to issue oriented news than to event-oriented news, and were not responsive to their readers and advertisers in Shoemaker's terms. Journalistic professionalism as discussed by Henningham (1989) also was treated as a less important factor by Korean ethnic newspaper staff. Rather the professional identity of the ethnic press editors and publishers was grounded in the culture of their local community instead of in the mainstream standards of It is concluded that Korean ethnic newspapers in Australia have more pragmatic criteria both for the selection of their news content, and for the professional standards of their newspaper staff.

從世界各國有線電視的源起不難發現，有線電視脫胎自地方共同天線。發展地方共同天線原本是為了改善地方收視不良的情況，各國有線電視至今大都沿襲此一地方性格。而我國當然也不例外，根據調查發現，1969年花蓮出現國內第一個社區共同天線；非法「第四台」的鼻祖陳錦池則於1970年在台北市石牌地區架設有線錄影帶播放系統。1990年 6月，高雄第一民主電視台為「突破國民黨壟斷三台新聞」的局面，推出自製的地方新聞，首開「第四台」自製新聞節目風氣。 而今，台灣有線電視蓬勃發展，國內電視生態丕，三台強勢媒體壟斷局面逐漸式微，其中電視新聞正面臨有史以來最震憾的考驗，三台晚間新聞的收視率已經較三年前下滑超過20％以上。反觀，有線電視新聞頻道的平均收視率卻持續上昇。 由於三台新聞長久以來背負著政黨包袱，因此飽受報導角度不夠客觀、立論不夠公正的批判。自有線電視逐漸興起後，各地系統業者開始自製強調本土的地方新聞，頻道經營者致力成為「華人的CNN」 ，國際新聞網絡也進駐分食新聞大餅，三者無一不企圖呈現新聞事件的多面向或開拓觀眾國際視野，一場新聞市場爭奪戰就此熱鬧展開。身處關鍵性要角的龐大電視新聞觀眾是如何看待這場爭戰？而其人口特質與消費需求又為何？實待業者與學界深入探究台灣有線電視新聞觀眾的消費特質，尤其台北市已齊身國際都會且是我國政經中樞，本地民眾的媒介消費行為將成為未來規劃亞太營運中心的重要指標，所以，本研究特以台北市民眾收看有線電視新聞的情形做為探討焦點。在傳播理論領域中「使用與滿足」是閱聽人研究的主流。其主要論點依據是，閱聽人會主動求取資訊滿足特定需求，並了解自己的需要，知道使用何種媒介去獲得滿足。因此，本研究係以「使用與滿足」為理論基礎檢測： 台北市民眾收看有線及無線電視新聞之動機與滿足及其差異；觀眾人口特質對有線電視新聞收視動機、滿足程度、收視行為及涉入程度之影響；並試圖瞭解台北市民眾收看有線電視新聞的動機與所獲得的滿足關聯性，進而歸納出觀眾收視動機與滿足類型，以提供有線電視新聞節目（頻道）業者製播線纜新聞之參考依據。 本次調查分析發現：1.高學歷的年輕中產階層是台北市有線電視新聞的主要觀眾群。支持新黨比率較高，但並未大幅超前其他政黨；在選舉原則上，近八成受訪者傾向選人的自主原則；在每日使用媒介新聞資訊的時間上，無論在報紙、廣播或電視媒介，每日接觸時間都在一小時以下，但在自主時間較充裕的情況下，受訪者有增加收視有線電視新聞的傾向；他們最常收看的有線電視新聞是TVBS新聞及中天頻道新聞，收視習慣以不固定，有時間就看、及晚間收看比率最多；收視原因大多認為有線電視新聞報導尺度較寬、處理較客觀；最想在有線電視新聞中看到的新聞類別，是有關生活及公共政策的資訊且有偏好政治議題的傾向。2.收看電視新聞的 動機偏向是「資訊探索」而非「逸樂消遣」，另外在收看有線電視新聞時則增加「政治守望」的收視動機，並認為有線電視新聞比無線電視（三台）新聞較能夠提供有用的資訊以為選舉時參考。3.台北市民眾收看有線電視新聞與無線電視（三台）新聞的動機與滿足有差異且收視有線電視新聞的動機與滿足高於收視無線電視（三台）新聞的動機與滿足。4.收看有線電視新聞的特定動機越強，其相對應 的滿足程度也就越高。5.本研究出現女性觀眾收看有線電視新聞時的「政治守望」動機高過男性的現象，尤其，想藉由收看有線電視新聞以了解政府官員的動態，並將各項政治資訊做為選舉時參考依據。6.男性收視程度高於女性的收視程度。7.年齡、語言、職業、選舉原則、婚姻狀況的不同，收視有線電視新聞的涉入程度也會有差異。8.閱讀報紙與收視有線電視新聞兩者之間並未存有關聯性；但收看無線電視新聞與收看有線電視新聞兩者間達到極顯著正相關。

本論文的研究目的在探討影響電視新聞編輯編排的因素，以及24小時新聞台編輯因應這些因素發展出來的編排策略。依照Shoemaker〈1991〉所提的影響守門人因素的五個層次，包括個人層面、常規層面、組織層面、媒介外層面以及社會文化層面，作為分析架構，藉此了解電視編輯對於各層面的因素對其影響的程度，問卷調查總計訪問了127位新聞台的編輯人員，再針對問卷調查的分析結果，以深度訪談的方式訪問7位編輯人員。研究結果發現個人層面對新聞台編輯的影響主要包括：編輯在新聞價值判斷上偏重新聞的話題性及畫面的精采度；而越年輕、職務越低的編輯再編排新聞時越容易受到個人喜好影響；另外「獨家新聞」無論其新聞價值性如何，編輯普遍都盡量會排播。 常規層面部分，最主要影響的因素是「時間」面向，包括到帶時間及新聞播出的時間篇幅限制；而編輯負責的編排時段也會影響新聞的選擇，如是「黃金時段」新聞選擇較多樣化，「一般時段」就會考量「消化」新聞；而編輯一次負責編排的時數也會影響新聞的重複率；另外，晚夜時段編輯較早午時段編輯不偏愛SNG連線。編輯通常會選播做新聞品質較有口碑的記者的新聞；另外，編輯普遍認為一則普通新聞長度最好不要超過90秒；而平衡報導的操作模式已內化在編輯的操作模式中。 組織層面部分，部份編輯認為電視台屬性確實會影響其編排；而年紀輕、資歷淺、職務低的編輯也較會受到長官指示編排新聞；在「以編領採」的新聞室內，其新聞製作及編排方向越會以收視率為導向；而組織文化會影響編輯對於新聞品質的要求；本研究也發現組織獎懲對於編輯編排的影響不大。 媒介外層面部分，有93.7%的編輯認為其編排時會考量收視率，而且教育程度越高、年資越久的編輯影響越高，顯示收視率已逐漸內化成編輯判斷新聞的實考模式，而且前一天的收視率對於新聞規模及擺放位置有關鍵性指標；在禁止「每分鐘收視率」之後，編輯通常是以新聞區塊或新聞節奏思考觀眾喜好的趨向。另外被要求編排「業配新聞」對編輯而言是習以為常的事，通常編輯會將之排在新聞的最後，或依照業配新聞的性質隱藏在其他新聞之間。另外年紀越輕、資歷越淺、職務越低的編輯越容易受到其他媒體議題設定的影響；而本研究也發現，編輯是電視新聞「跟報風」的推手之一。 在社會文化層面，編輯認為若社會環境趨勢也是影響其編排的重大指標。另外編輯也認為馬賽克、消音等製播限制有逐漸增加趨勢，甚至在編播上有自我更加限縮的情況。本研究也發現，媒體自律隱隱成形，對於暴力、色情、自殺新聞的選擇並沒有放寬，尤其是自殺新聞基本上不選用。 比較五個層面的影響程度，編輯普遍認為媒介外層面是最主要的原因，其次為個人層面、接續是社會層面、組織層面及常規層面。 關於編輯編排策略上，研究發現編排模式會融合固定新聞模式及議題分散模式為主；編排節奏也趨於緊湊；新聞編排的重複率降低。除了TVBS恢復「整點開播」之外，其他新聞台仍是提早開播，因TVBS「整點開播」模式對其他台的收視率無明顯受衝擊，因此其他台均認為沒有跟進的必要。「短廣告」策略出現，其目的是為了減低觀眾廣告轉台機率，並且分散每段廣告時間的廣告量；此策略目前僅TVBS使用，其他台為跟進的原因是考量其觀眾的收視習慣不同。本研究也發現監看友台而調動新聞順序的頻率減少；並且插播新聞也已非隨到隨播；另外「假連線」已成目前新聞台的製播常態。 / This thesis aims to investigate the factors affecting TV news editing and the responsive strategy developed by editors in 24-hour news channel. It adopts Shoemaker’s (1991) five levels of gatekeeping decisions and forces, including individual, communication routines, organizational, extramedia, and social system level. Based on this analytical framework, the research was conducted by survey of 127 editors which was followed by in-depth interview of 7 editors. The research findings can be summarized into the five levels respectively. On individual level, editors preferred to evaluate news with the extent of controversy and excitement; the younger and lower-positioned editors were more easily to be subjective in editing news. Furthermore, “exclusive news” enjoyed higher priority to be broadcast regardless of its news value. On communication routine level, the influential factors are “time-related”. First, editors were concerned about the timing of videotape arriving and limited length of broadcasting time. Second, the session for which editors were responsible was also important. The news was more diversified in “prime time”, but more repetitive in “general session”. Third, editors of morning and noon sessions were more likely to conduct SNG connection than editors of late night session. Fourth, editors preferred to broadcast the news reported by reporters with fine reputation. Moreover, the consensus among editors was that general news should not be longer than ninety seconds; the principle of balanced report has been internalized in editors’ operational model. On organizational level, interviewees agreed that attributes of the channel and organizational culture were more consequential than reward system in news editing. The younger, lower-positioned, and junior editors were more likely to follow instructions from supervisors. Generally, the producing and editing of news were rating-oriented. On extramedia level, 93.7 per cent of interviewees would consider rating in news editing, especially the more educated and senior editors. This result indicated that rating has been internalized as the standard of editing. Specifically, the pridian rating is critical in deciding the length and placement of news in the following day. However, after the “rating per minute” was prohibited, editors inferred audience preference from news zone or news rhythm. Furthermore, “product placement” was placed in the end of or among other news according to its characteristics. This study also found that editors partook in promoting the trend of “follow suit” TV news. On social system level, editors thought that the social trend was critical in editing news. Some editors considered that constraints of broadcast such as blurring and muting were increasing which made editors more self-limited. This study also found that media self-regulation was in shape. The news about violence, pornography, and suicide were highly restricted or even abandoned. Based on interviewees’ response, the five levels can be listed in order of the extent of influence. The primary factors were on extramedia level which followed individual level, social system level, organizational level, and the communication routine level. This study found that editing strategies include: combination of fixed news model and issue diffusion model, tighter schedule, lower rate of repetition, and “short advertisement”. The last one was only used by TVBS channel in order to keep audience stay tune and to dilute quantity of advertisement in every intervals. TVBS was the only channel resuming “on the hour” news. Since this broadcast model had no significant impact on TV rating, other channels remained broadcasting a few minutes earlier. Last but not least, this study also found that “fake connection” has been commonly used and emergency news would not be broadcast on time. Fewer changes of broadcasting order due to monitoring news of other channels.

<p>Vårt sätt att kommunicera med varandra är i hög grad situationsberoende. Ett tillfälle när samtalets form kan ha stor betydelse är i kontakten mellan läkare och patient och då speciellt när läkaren behöver förmedla tråkiga nyheter till patienten. I denna studie undersöktes faktorer som påverkar hur läkaren upplever sin förmåga att genomföra samtal med ”bad news” för patienten. Nio läkare på två sjukhus i Mellansverige intervjuades. När materialet analyserades induktivt genom meningskoncentrering framkom det att patientens ålder och personlighet tycks ha större inverkan än kön, och att anhöriga ansågs kunna vara både ett värdefullt stöd och en belastning för informationsgivningen i svåra samtal. Eftersom de flesta studier om svåra samtal inom vården bygger på uppgifter ur vårdpersonalens synvinkel diskuterades vikten av att i framtida studier fokusera patientens egna upplevelser.</p>

<p>The purpose of our study was to examine how missing children are portrayed in media. We wanted to see if there are any recurring story patterns and characters in the texts. We also wanted to examine how the relationship between children and adults are framed and which comprehensive view of children is mediated in journalistic texts.Our questions were: how do Swedish newspapers write about missing children? Which narrative pattern are there in the texts? How are children and adults represented in the texts? What relationship between children and adults are made visible in the texts? What a comprehensive approach to children is constructed in the texts?For this study, we used the media discourse, theories of representation, stereotypes and characters. And theories of narrative, dramatic turns and opposites.We chose to make three case studies in which children suddenly disappeared, the case of Bobby Äikiä, the case of Engla Höglund and the case of Sebastian Hedman. We analyzed 93 news articles from Swedish newspapers, which were published in connection with the events. Our method was discourse analysis. We examined the characters and relationships between them, and looked at the dramaturgical construction of the articles.In our conclusion we established that the children are portrayed as helpless and weak in contrary to the adults, who are portrayed as strong and as they who are in power. The mothers of these children all play a major part in these articles while their fathers are made invisible. These texts contribute to a discourse about the vulnerability for the children.  The texts construction of children mediates an image that says that children are helpless, innocent and unprotected. Children are represented as an inferior group to adults, and without authority in the society.</p>

Thesis (M.S.)--Kutztown University. / Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 45-06, page: 2702. Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 61-65).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Michigan State University. Dept. of, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 166-175). Also available on the Internet.