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Intermedia analysis of foreign news
INTERMEDIA ANALYSIS OF FOREIGN NEWS: A LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF THE NEW
YORK TIMES AND NBC NIGHTLY NEWS: 1974 - 2004
Miao Zhang
Graduate Student
Ohio University
300 W. State St., Apt G8
Athens, OH 45701
Tel: 740-274-9696
Email: [log in to unmask]
A student paper submitted to the International Communication Division
for presentation at the Association for Education in Journalism and
Mass Communication
Annual Convention, in San Antonio, Texas, on August 10-13, 2005
Intermedia analysis of foreign news: A longitudinal study of The New
York Times and NBC Nightly News: 1974 - 2004
Abstract
This study examines ways that NBC Nightly News sourced The New York
Times for its foreign news coverage. Findings show that the amount of
television news quoting the lead newspaper declined over time. Among
the several ways of quotations, scoops of the newspaper are most
often used. Quotations for foreign news are less than those for
domestic news. Most often quoted news topics deal with foreign
relations, crime or military.
Introduction
Television and newspapers are the primary media utilized by Americans
to access news. Newspapers started in the 1600s, which are still
widely used by the public today. Since World War II, television has
developed into a popular medium. Americans get most of their
information from television broadcasting today (Chandler, 1998). In
2000, adults 18 or older spent 1,633 hours per person per year on
television, and 151 hours on daily newspapers (Bureau of Census,
2002). For adults 18 or older, their television spending was $192.82
per person per year, and their spending on daily newspapers was
$53.32 per person per year (Bureau of Census, 2002).
Mass media in the United States are well known for the role of
watchdog. A free press is guaranteed by the First Amendment to the
U.S. Constitution. According to a Global Survey of Media Independence
by Freedom of the Press 2005 (www.freedomhouse.org), media in the
U.S. are rated as "free" with the assessments of the state's laws and
regulations, political and economic pressures and controls. With the
trend of media globalization, American mass media pay more attention
to the rest of the world, although the amount of news decreased in
the past years (Riffe & Budianto, 2001).
Foreign news coverage on mass media is related with public
assessments of foreign nations (Salwen & Matera, 1992; Wanta, Lee &
Golan, 200). It has an influence on the image types of a country or a
culture, as well as the flow of international capital (Kunczik,
2002). Under a global environment, it is significant to explore how
the home country covers foreign countries for its own interests.
Previous research has shown that the news agendas of different news
organizations have influences on each other (Danielian & Reese,
1989). How is foreign news covered by different American media? How
is such foreign news coverage at different media related with each
other? This study aims to explore questions in such areas.
Purpose of study
This study applies the intermedia agenda setting theory to the major
U.S. mass media. It explored, over time, how a television broadcaster
built up its foreign news coverage for its audience by quoting that
covered by the newspapers.
Literature Review
Intermedia agenda setting theory
McCombs and Shaw (1972) proposed agenda setting theory, which states
that news coverage can influence the salience of objects on the
public agenda. Later they refined that the framing of objects on the
media agenda also can influence the pictures of those objects in the
audience's heads (McComb & Shaw, 1972).
A key question is who set the media agenda. Other media are one of
factors influencing the media agenda, which was referred by Danielian
and Reese (1989). Intermedia agenda setting is defined in terms of
the influence that the news agendas of different news organizations
have on each other (Danielian & Reese, 1989). It deals with the
effect of elite media such as The New York Times on other media
(Danielian & Reese, 1989).
Research on intermedia agenda setting theory can be traced to the
late 1980s. Intermedia agenda setting was first investigated in the
news coverage of state government (Atwater et al., 1987). By
analyzing trends in story origination across media over time,
researchers found that similar news judgments had been made by wire
services, newspapers, radio, and television stations. High and
significant correlations in topic agendas were found. Newspapers were
found more likely than the other media to set this longer range, more
specific story agenda (Atwater et al., 1987).
Danielian and Reese (1989) proposed intermedia agenda setting theory
when they studied cocaine coverage by examining national, elite U.S.
daily newspapers, news magazines, and television networks news shows.
Reese and Danielian (1989) pointed out that media's coverage is
similar in timing, emphasis, and source selection. "Similarities in
coverage may simply result from equally accurate news judgments. If
convergence occurs in stories that are not purely event-driven,
however, media organizations may be looking to each other for
guidance in an ambiguous situation" (Reese and Danielian, 1989, p.
30). Reese and Danielian (1989) also found that print media,
specifically The New York Times, set the agenda for the television
networks; they lead the television networks rather than the reverse.
New media were recently studied regarding political news coverage
from the perspective of intermedia agenda setting. A study examined
the impact of website campaigning on traditional news media agendas
and on public opinions during the 2000 presidential election campaign
(Ku et al., 2003). An agenda setting impact of website campaigning on
the public in terms of the flow of information was identified based
on an intermedia agenda setting approach.
Most of the available intermedia agenda setting research involved
political news and dealt with the political power of news-oriented
media. However, the concept of intermedia agenda setting has been
expanded to political advertising.
A study of the 1996 presidential election analyzed political
television advertisements, major newspapers, and television network
newscasts to determine intermedia agenda setting influences (Boyle,
2001). Boyle's findings supported the influence of the major party
candidates' advertisements on the news agenda.
The direction of influence or intermedia convergence of issue agendas
was studied during the 1990 Texas gubernatorial campaign. Televised
political advertising was found to have an influence on the
television news agenda. The newspaper agenda was found to be
correlated with the television agenda. The political advertising
agenda was found to be correlated with the newspaper agenda (Roberts
& McCombs, 1994). Lopez-Escobar (1998) replicated Roberts and
McCombs' research on intermedia agenda setting in a Spanish election
to explore that pattern of intermedia relationships. Lopez-Escobar
found that the newspaper agenda in Spanish influenced the agenda of
television news. Newspaper political advertising influenced both the
television and newspaper news agendas. Television news, in turn,
influenced the television political advertising agenda (Lopez-Escobar, 1998).
Shaver and Lacy (1999) found a negative relationship between the
number of radio and television stations and daily newspaper
advertising. Shaver and Lacy pointed out that intermedia advertising
is monopolistically competitive, with some media being better at some
types of advertising than others (Shaver & Lacy, 1999).
Breen (1997) indicated that the intermedia agenda setting function of
media is reinforced when combined with certain news norms, as with
deviance in terms of both volume and valence in his study of media
coverage of clergy from 1991 to 1995. Breen discussed the strong
media agenda setting effects of the negative triggering events.
The intermedia theory was applied to the study of
entertainment-oriented media by Soroka (2000). Soroka used
Schindler's List and citation indices to evaluate the movie's effects
on the Canadian news media agenda. The findings supported the film's
ability to affect the news media agenda (Soroka, 2000).
Based on prior research and the rationale that the intermedia agenda
setting function of media could be reinforced when combined with
certain news norms (Breen, 1997), this study applies the intermedia
agenda setting theory to foreign news coverage in American media.
Results of this study will contribute to the development of the
intermedia agenda setting theory by exploring how one medium quotes
another medium in foreign news coverage.
Determinants of foreign news coverage
As to foreign news coverage in the mass media, much research was done
in the 1980s on the international news flow into the U.S. and factors
influencing such flows. Haynes (1984) concluded that foreign news
flows responded to cultural, linguistic, and geographic determinants
rather than to the flows on investment and trade. Another study found
that increases in GNP, trade, and scope of political dialogue all
produced increases in a nation's coverage in elite U.S. newspapers
(Ahern, 1984). Ismail (1989) concluded that there were positive
correlations between the amount of Asian news coverage and the three
variables of trade, cultural contacts, and communication.
Since the 1990s, research has been done on effects of foreign
coverage on public assessments of foreign nations and the agenda
setting influence of media coverage. A study suggested that the
amount of news coverage of nations had its greatest effect on public
assessments of the amount of coverage given to them by the news media
(Salwen & Matera, 1992). Kunczik (2002) stated that mass media
reporting of foreign affairs often governed the image types of a
country or a culture, which had a strong influence on the flow of
international capital. Moreover, the more media coverage a nation
received, the more respondents were to think the nation was important
to the U.S. interests. The more negative coverage a nation received,
the more respondents were to think negatively about the nation
(Wanta, Lee & Golan, 2003).
Much research in the 1990s contributed to factors influencing foreign
news selection in Western mass media. Criteria for international news
selection are similar to those used for national news or local news
(Kunczik, 2002). Gatekeepers were researched in 1992 through a
national survey of newspaper editors (Chang & Lee, 1992). Chang and
Lee found that editors considered the following factors in selecting
foreign news in descending order of importance: threat to the U.S.
and world peace, anticipated reader interest, timeliness, U.S.
involvement, as well as loss of lives and property. Four categories
of news coverage were found to have the strongest agenda setting
influence: international conflicts involving the U.S., terrorism
involving the U.S., crime or drugs, and military or nuclear arms
(Wanta & Hu, 1993). Tai and Chang (2002) found that most media's top
stories involved natural disasters. The editors' ranking of news was
moderately correlated with the actual coverage of the domestic and
foreign media (Tai & Chang, 2002).
Cohen (1995) studied the newsworthiness of foreign countries and
concluded that elitism was a major determinant of foreign news
reporting since the media of all regions of the world had their
largest contingents of foreign correspondents in the U.S. and Western
Europe. A secondary determinant was "proximity" to foreign states,
which may be expressed in geographical, political, economic, or
cultural terms (Cohen, 1995). Chang (1998) re-examined the
determinants that may affect the structure and process of foreign and
international news flow and coverage in the global setting, and found
that countries were not equal to be news in international
communication, and that countries in the core zone of the world
system had more chances of being in the news than those in the
semi-peripheral and peripheral strata (Chang, 1998).
Van Belle (2000) analyzed U.S. news media coverage of foreign
disasters and found that when the magnitude of the event was
controlled for, the only contextual influence that demonstrated the
relationship with the amount of coverage was the distance from the
United States.
Kim and Barnett (1996) furthered the studies of Haynes (1984) and
Cohen (1995) to examine the structure of international news flow and
its determinants. Kim and Barnett found the inequality of
international news flow between the core and the periphery, in which
the Western industrialized countries were at the center and dominated
international news flow.
Regarding the impact of systemic determinants on international news
flow between developed and developing nations, trade, population,
presence of news agencies, and geographic proximity were found to be
factors in transnational news flow (Wu, 2003). Higher ranking of
geographical or cultural proximity and more economic or ideological
relations of a foreign country led to more intensive coverage of the
country (Kunczik, 2002). The structure of international news flow was
influenced by a country's economic development, the language(s) its
people speak, its physical location, political freedom, and
population. Among them, economic development was the most important
factor (Kim & Barnett, 1996).
Hypotheses and Research Questions:
Based on the theory of intermedia agenda setting, this study focuses
on foreign news coverage in the U.S. news media from the perspective
of intermedia agenda setting. The New York Times was found to take
the lead in covering an issue, and that newspapers influenced the
agenda of television news which picked up news stories originated in
newspapers somewhat later (Reese & Danielian, 1989). Therefore, this
study specifically investigates NBC Nightly News selections of The
New York Times in terms of quotation type. Two hypotheses and three
research questions were proposed as the following.
H1: NBC's foreign news quoting The New York Times declined over time.
Riffe and Budianto (2001) found that NBC Nightly News stories devoted
to domestic events increased from 75.7 percent in 1973 to 87.2
percent in 2000, while news stories devoted to international events
decreased from 24.3 percent in 1973 to 12.8 percent in 2000. It is
logical to predict NBC's foreign news that quoted The New York Times
declined accordingly.
H2: The New York Times was used primarily for longer, in-depth
foreign news coverage by NBC Nightly News.
The New York Times' prestige was reflected partly on its longer,
in-depth news stories (Merrill, 1999). This study predicts that NBC
used the lead newspaper as a resource when it delved into a foreign
topic at some length.
The nature of intermedia agenda setting is explored in terms of
sources, topics, types of intermedia news selections. Four research
questions were proposed.
RQ1: Which quoting type was most often used by NBC in its foreign
news coverage?
RQ2: How was the quoting of The New York Times used in foreign news
and domestic news in term of frequencies?
RQ3: What news topics did NBC select most often from The New York
Times for its foreign news coverage?
Research method
Media selection
This study aims to explore the intermedia agenda influence of
newspapers on television's foreign news coverage. Selecting an
influential newspaper and television news provider is important.
Among the print media, The New York Times has a key role in setting
the agenda of U.S. media (Reese & Danielian, 1989). The New York
Times is the most influential national daily newspaper in the United
States, printing "all the news that's fit to print." The New York
Times is on the top three daily newspapers in the United States, with
a circulation of 1,113,000 (Time Almanac, 2004). The New York Times
has a national popularity for its comprehensive coverage of national,
foreign, business, and local news. It is widely read by government
officials and other elites, and frequently quoted abroad. John
Merrill, a professor emeritus of journalism at the University of
Missouri-Columbia, ranked The New York Times as top one on both the
1968 and 1999 top 10 elite dailies (Merrill, 1999). Therefore, The
New York Times was selected as a newspaper for this study's purpose.
Television broadcasting is a major source for Americans to access
information. NBC is one of the dominant commercial television
broadcasting networks in the United States. NBC became the first
television network to carry 30 minutes of nightly news seven days a
week beginning October 24, 1965. According to Nielson Media Research
1998 report on television, NBC's rating was 8.5 and a share of 18 for
its early nightly news 6:30 pm to 7:00 pm in 1996-1997. In 2002,
NBC's Nightly News had a household rating/share of 7.5/15. Its total
viewers were 10.5 million (Wang, 2002). Out of the big four U.S.
television networks, NBC Nightly News has the highest viewership.
Therefore NBC was selected for study.
To understand the intermedia agenda function of a newspaper on a
television news provider, this study made a longitudinal content
analysis of NBC Nightly News from 1974 to 2004.
Data searching and analysis
The Television News Index and Abstracts database of the Vanderbilt
University Television News Archive was used to electronically access
NBC newscast between 1974 and 2004.
Using the Vanderbilt database, the searches resulted in 443 items
where the title or the abstract contained the phrase "New York
Times," specifying the Network as "NBC Only" and searching from
"Regular Nightly News broadcasts" and "News Content."
Some news items in the search results were removed off the study
because of their irrelevance to intermedia theory, such as news
dealing with journalists of The New York Times being awarded Pulitzer
prizes, someone's career at The New York Times, detention of The New
York Times correspondents, or deaths of some employees of The New
York Times. After removing irrelevant news, a total of 397 news items
remained in the universe of stories.
Coding system
Each news item was coded based on a pretested system using five
variables: date, length, news type, news topic, and source type.
Categories for coding were derived from a study by the International
Association for Mass Communication Research (Sreberny,-Mohammadi,
1984). Variables are defined as the following.
Date is the date of the newscast. It was coded in the format of "mm/dd/yyyy."
Length refers to the running minutes of the specific news item.
News type refers to what countries are involved in the news story.
Any story that discusses issues only in the United States was coded
as "U.S. news" no matter where the event happened or was reported.
Any story that discussed issues only in non-U.S. countries was coded
as "foreign news" no matter where the event happened or was reported.
Any story that discussed issues on both the U.S. and other countries
was coded as "U.S. and foreign news." For example, a news story about
the Iranian crisis was coded as "foreign news." A news story about
Reagan's cabinet was coded as "U.S. news." A news story about US-USSR
relations was coded as "U.S. and foreign news."
News topic included categories derived from the 20 topics developed
by the IAMCR study. Its values are:
1= Diplomatic/foreign relations: including inter-state political
activity, international aid for disaster, famine or education;
2= Domestic politics: including politics within
states/countries/other units, campaign, government actions, etc;
3= Military / defense: armed conflict or threat, peace negotiations / terrorism
4= Economic matters: trade, tariffs, imports, exports, output, sales,
price, cost, budget, ratings related to sales, ads or profit;
5= Social and cultural: including social services of health, housing,
illiteracy, status of women, employment, strikes; culture, arts,
archaeology, history, language, or religion;
6= Crime, police, judicial, legal and penal: including governmental
case, such as Watergate Case, court hearings and decisions
7= Scientific, technical, medical
8= Sports and entertainment
9= Personalities: sportsmen, entertainers, professors, others
10= Human interest, odd happening, animal, sex
11= Ecology: energy, pollution, population, other
12= Accidents and natural disasters
13= Other
Source type This variable refers to how The New York Times is
mentioned in NBC news transcripts. If an NBC news transcript
mentioned The New York Times more than one time, the first appearance
was coded and fit into one of the following six categories.
1= Scoop: The New York Times is quoted as a direct information
provider, generally in the format of "New York Times reports /
publishes /prints/ says /notes …" or "according to the New York Times
…" This category includes the New York Times' news releases,
pictures, ads, editorials, allegation, findings or results of its
investigation or reports, its bestseller list or poll results, and
statements by the New York Times' spokespersons.
2= Expert source: The New York Times personnel are quoted or cited as
news sources for NBC news. For example, critics, writers, reporters,
or publishers affiliated with the New York Times are interviewed by
the New York Times or another medium. For example, the New York Times
music critic John Pareles was quoted in an NBC news story on October 28, 1985.
3= Investigative source: The New York Times acts as a mediator that
connects news sources with another news medium such as NBC; persons
or events that are quoted in the New York Times are picked up by NBC
news. For example, an NBC news story on June 13, 1979, cited a New
York Times quote from a Kuwait oil minister concerning oil price increases.
4= News outlet: The New York Times is taken as one of media channels
to let out some information. For example, people or organizations
wrote to, asked for ads for campaign, or requested particular
publication in the New York Times.
5= Comments on NYT coverage: This category includes comments on news
coverage in the New York Times, as well as responses, reactions, and
follow-ups of such news coverage. For example, an NBC news story on
April 19, 1980, dealt with Kennedy's reaction to a New York Times
article on Chappagauiddic.
Three international graduate students coded about 10 percent of all
the data. The intercoder reliability was calculated by percentage of
agreement (Holsti, 1969). The overall reliability was 92.71 %,
obtained by averaging these percentages: news topic, 79.18 %; quote,
84.04 %; news type, 93.06 %; date, 100%; headline, 100%; length, 100%.
Results and Discussion
This study analyzed 397 news abstracts from NBC Nightly News
appearing from 1974 to 2004, which were accessed through the database
offered by the Vanderbilt University Television News Archive. .
Table 1: NBC News quoting the New York Times from 1974 to 2004
Year
US news
Foreign news
other
Total
Foreign news
Foreign news
with U.S. involved
sub-total
1974-79
42
8
29
37
2
81
average
7
1.3
4.8
6.2
0.3
13.5
1980-89
86
24
87
111
1
198
average
8.6
2.4
8.7
11.1
0.1
19.8
1990-99
51
5
16
21
0
72
average
5.1
0.5
1.6
2
0
7.2
2000-04
26
4
16
20
0
46
average
5.2
0.8
3.2
4
0
9.2
Total
205
41
148
189
3
397
H1: NBC's foreign news quoting The New York Times declined over time.
(Supported)
As Table 1 show, NBC foreign news quoting the New York Times declined
over time. NBC's foreign news quoting the New York Times increased
from the average of 6.2 items per year in 1970s to 11.1 items per
year in the 1980s, then dropped to 2 items per year in 1990s and 4
items per year in the 2000s. Although NBC's foreign news with the
quotation of the New York Times fluctuated during the time period,
the trend of NBC's foreign news quoting the New York Times declined
over time. Therefore, this hypothesis was supported. This conclusion
strengthens the finding of previous study by Riffe and Budianto
(2001), which stated that NBC Nightly News stories devoted to
international events decreased from the 1970s to the 2000s.
Figure 1: NBC foreign news coverage that quoted the New York Times over time
The most frequent quotation of the New York Times happened in the
1980s (shown in Table 1 and Figure 1). During that period, a lot of
coverage was given to foreign countries, such as the USSR, Libya,
Lebanon, Israel, and Iran. U.S. policy to foreign countries,
especially the Mideast was highly covered.
Moreover, major events that took place in the 1980s may contribute to
news coverage during that time period. For example, the CIA
investigation of a papal assassination plot in 1983, US-USSR
relations on defectors, espionage, arms talks, or army control,
"Persian Gulf Tension / Iran-Iraq War (1984)," and "Iran arms scandal
(1987)." The finding shows that television news more likely quoted
the New York Times on topics of politics or foreign relations. It is
also consistent with the previous research that the New York Times
takes lead in setting the U.S. media agenda, especially on political
issues or U.S. foreign policies.
In recent years, NBC Nightly News with the quotation of the New York
Times has greatly declined when compared to the amount in 1980s. One
of reasons may be the availability of more media outlet options
today. Although the New York Times still takes lead in setting the
agenda of other media, its lead role is somewhat weakened by the
increasing media options. The New York Times is not the only source
for other media to turn to.
Table 2: NBC News distribution by length from 1974 to 2004
Length
US news
Foreign news
other
Total
Foreign news
Foreign news with U.S. involved
sub-total
0:00 to 1:00
52
13
49
62 (32.8%)
0
114
2:01 to 3:00
58
10
33
43
(22.8 %)
0
101
1:01 to 2:00
35
5
22
27
(14.3 %)
1
63
4:01 to 5:00
15
5
19
24
(12.7 %)
1
40
3:01 to 4:00
20
5
12
17
(9.0 %)
0
37
5:01 or more
25
3
13
16
(8.5 %)
1
42
Total
205
41
148
189
(100 %)
3
397
H2: The New York Times was used primarily for longer, in-depth
foreign news coverage by NBC Nightly News. (Not supported)
Length of NBC Nightly News stories was coded in minutes. Table 2
shows the distribution of NBC foreign news with the quotation of The
New York Times by the length of newscast. As shown in Table 2, in
NBC's foreign news coverage, the New York Times was quoted more often
in shorter news than longer news. About one third of NBC foreign news
that quoted The New York Times was short, less than one minute.
Longer news, more than five minutes, was least often used by NBC when
it quoted the lead newspaper in its foreign news coverage. Therefore,
this hypothesis was not supported. It seems NBC did not turn to The
New York Times when it delved into some foreign news topic in-depth.
Table 3: Quoting types of NBC foreign news from the New York Times, 1974-2004
Quoting type
US news
Foreign news
other
Total
Foreign news
Foreign news with U.S involved
Sub-total
Scoop
94
16
87
103 (54.5 %)
1
198
Expert source
44
9
17
26 (13.8 %)
1
71
Investigative source
37
10
31
41 (21.7 %)
1
79
News outlet
16
6
7
13 (6.9 %)
0
29
Comments on NYT
14
0
6
6 (3.2 %)
0
20
Total
205
41
148
189 (100 %)
3
397
RQ1: Which quoting type was most often used by NBC in its foreign
news coverage?
As shown in Table 3, scoops of the New York Times' were most often
cited by NBC Nightly News, taking 54.5 %. This result reflects that
NBC paid attentions to "big" news covered by the New York Times. NBC
filled its foreign news coverage with the direct quotation of the New
York Times. This finding strongly supports the intermedia agenda
setting influence of newspapers on television news.
RQ2: How was the quoting of The New York Times used in foreign news
and domestic news in term of frequencies?
Table 3 also shows NBC's quotations of The New York Times were
significantly different among U.S. domestic news, foreign news, and
foreign news with the U.S. involvement (df = 8, chi-square = 18.1, p
< 0.025). Therefore, we can conclude that domestic news more often
sourced the New York Times than foreign news. News of "U.S. and
foreign countries" sourced the New York Times more often than foreign news.
This may be due to news availability in the New York Times to be
quoted by NBC. Although the New York Times is well known for its
national and world news, foreign news is not the majority of its
whole news coverage. Accordingly, NBC may not have enough sources to
quote for its foreign news coverage. Less foreign news coverage in
the agenda of the New York Times may lead to the less foreign news
coverage in NBC Nightly News coverage.
Table 4: Topics of NBC foreign news from the New York Times, 1974-2004
Topic
US news
All foreign news
other
Total
Foreign news
Foreign news with U.S. involved
sub-total
diplomatic/foreign relations
0
4
64
68 (36%)
0
68
military / defense
5
19
47
66 (35%)
1
72
crime, judicial, legal etc
44
4
13
17 (9%)
0
61
economic matters
9
3
6
9 (4.8%)
0
18
personalities
22
2
4
6 (3.2%)
0
28
accident and disasters
1
2
3
5 (2.6%)
0
6
domestic politics
72
4
1
5 (2.6 %)
0
77
all the other
52
3
10
13 (6.9 %)
2
67
Total
205
41
148
189(100%)
3
397
RQ3: What news topics did NBC select most often from The New York
Times for its foreign news coverage?
As shown in Table 4, "diplomatic / foreign relations" was the most
often cited topic (36 %) by NBC Nightly News from the New York Times,
followed by "military / defense" 35 %, "crime, police, judicial,
legal and penal," 9 %, and other topics.
Such most often quoted topics have one common thing: they are all
serious and hard news. As the most influential national daily
newspaper in the U.S., the New York Times is printing "all the news
that's fit to print." The New York Times is widely read by government
officials and other elites, and frequently quoted abroad. That is,
the New York Times is known for its serious and hard news reporting.
That is probably the primary reason that NBC most often quoted such
serious topics. As a commercial network, NBC needs to strengthen its
credibility and objectivity by most often selecting news topics
involving politics from the New York Times. Political agenda and
media agenda are mutually influenced. This finding is consistent with
Coupland's viewpoint that mainstream news broadcasting pursues an
authentication project to bolster its claims to serious, weighty, and
factual news reporting (Coupland, 2001).
Conclusions
This study aims at understanding one of the influences on media
agenda and shows the longitudinal intermedia influence of the New
York Times on television network news. It stated several ways that
NBC Nightly News quoted the lead newspaper for its foreign news
coverage. The newspaper can be cited as scoops, as an investigative
source, as an expert source, as a media outlet, as a news maker, or
comments on those lead media. Among the several ways the lead
newspaper was cited by television, scoops of the newspaper were most
often quoted by television news. However, the total foreign news
selections from the lead newspaper by television news declined over
time. During the past 30 years, television news cited the New York
Times more often on U.S. news than foreign news. Most often quoted
news topics from the lead newspaper dealt with foreign relations,
crime or military.
Today media are converged with each other but at the expenses of less
diversity. A media company can own both newspapers and television
stations. The same content may be used for different media, which
belong to one owner. This media cross-ownership may blur the
intermedia content influence because agendas of different media may
be set up by the same or similar gatekeepers. More news channels or
more news workers "do little to further diversity if they all cover
the same 'big' news" (Reese & Danielian, 1989, p.31). "Too much
sameness in media content conflicts with a key value of American
pluralistic society, that the press should present a diverse set of
views and voices" (Reese & Danielian, 1989, p. 30-31).
Limitations
Although this study focuses on the intermedia agenda setting
influence among news media, it acknowledges the influence of
cultural, socio-economic, or other factors on foreign news coverage
by mass media. Media have the ability to screen news and other
materials. These filters will result in a medium that reflects elite
viewpoints and interests. News media may protect cultural identities
in their content presentation. Socio-economic status can also be seen
as an indicator for political problems covered by mass media.
Therefore, media coverage is influenced by several factors. However,
such factors were not considered in this study.
Findings of this study are limited by the abstract or index analysis
of NBC Nightly News, which was provided by the Vanderbilt database.
Abstract analysis omitted the context in which the New York Times was
quoted. New ways that NBC's news quoting the New York Times may be
found if the quotations are analyzed in news contexts. Therefore,
news context may be analyzed in future research to refine the ways of
the New York Times quoted by NBC Nghtly News, so that the full text
of television news may be used as the unit of analysis.
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