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Within the past twenty years, an abundant amount of research has been done on how alcohol advertising and alcohol portrayals affect society. The most common studies have examined the influence alcohol advertising and alcohol portrayals have or do not have on adolescents, the relationship between alcohol content and the level of consumption, and how adults and under-age drinkers perceive drinking incidents.The present study is a content analysis examining how four networks- ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC vary in the amount of alcohol incidents shown in prime-time programming.The two-week study began on Sunday, May 20, 2001 and ended on Saturday, June 2, 2001 from 8 to 11 p.m. each evening. Alcohol incidents were classified as either a physical or verbal reference, as well as an appearance. Physical references were further categorized as the type of theme represented, the venue of the incident, and the type of drink involved.The findings suggest that the FOX and NBC networks air programs that present more alcohol incidents and themes of socialization than ABC and CBS. Therefore the researcher concludes that because of the target audience age is younger for FOX and NBC, these networks are more inclined to show more alcohol incidents and socialization themes versus the ABC and CBS networks, which have an older target viewing audience. / Department of Journalism