Structure of Foreign TV News About the US Primaries
Xu Xiaoge and Abby Goodrum
AbstractThis paper will compare coverage of the US primaries on domestic and foreign television.
This investigation will address three questions. Do they cover the US primaries similarly or
differently? Do foreign TV stations have their own original stories? Do they emphasize
political conflict and sensationalism? Technically, nine journalistic elements will be
compared: (a) interviews, (b) live/pre-recorded reports, (c) quotes, (d) visual materials, (e)
political conflict and sensationalism? Technically, nine journalistic elements will be
compared: (a) interviews, (b) live/pre-recorded reports, (c) quotes, (d) visual materials, (e)
archive materials, (f) background music, (g) time shift (slow or speeded up motion) in news
item, (h) the number of original (non-US) news reports in the foreign coverage, and (i) the
degree of political conflict and sensationalism in the domestic and foreign coverage. Guided
by news framing, the examination aims to find out how the same event is framed differently
or similarly to domestic and foreign viewers.
keywords:
US election, US primaries, Foreign news, Foreign TV news, news coverage, news
structure, TV news structure, news framingResearch Questions:
US election, US primaries, Foreign news, Foreign TV news, news coverage, news
structure, TV news structure, news framingResearch Questions:
RQ1: Do domestic and foreign television stations cover the US primaries similarly or differently?
RQ2: Do foreign TV stations provide original coverage of the US primaries?
RQ3: How does coverage, both domestically, and internationally, situate the US primaries in terms of political conflict and sensationalism?
Methods:
Unit of Analysis: Newscasts
Time frame: one constructed month (January 20 – March 29, 2008)
A comparative analysis of public and commercial newscasts in 14 out of 23 countries under study.
News Flow (week/sequence/duration)
News Exclusiveness (v24)
News Emphasis (headline/promo/recap)
Studio Reporting (to be replaced by a better term later) (v15-v19)
Scene Reporting (v22-v23)
News Enhancement (v 23, v25-v35)
Sensationalism (v36-v45)
Conflict in News (v66)
Verbal Conflict (v71, v73, v75, v77, v79)
Visual Conflict (v72, v74, v76, v78, v80)
Posted by Xiaoge 
