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In this essay, we analyse two mainstream Italian TV dramas about the Mediterranean crossing produced by the Italian national public broadcasting company RAI. Lampedusa dall'orizzonte in poi (2016, Marco Pontecorvo) and I fantasmi di Portopalo (2017a,b Alessandro Angelini) were both two-part mini-series broadcast in prime-time slots on consecutive nights on RAI 1. Inspired by real events which took place in 2008 and 1996, respectively, the first features the well-known actor Claudio Amendola, while the second stars Giuseppe Fiorello, perhaps the most popular face on Italian state television. The essay examines the ways in which these two specifically national productions both reproduce conventional media representations of migration and offer the viewer new ways to approach the topic through their transmedial presence on multiple platforms. We analyse the narratives and cinematography of the films themselves and explore how the star personae of the main actors and their appearances across different platforms affect audience reception. Our argument is indebted on work done in the field of critical race theory to illuminate the representational logics of agency in the Mediterranean and the definitions of the human which they produce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present research analyzes the current state of the representation of gender in prime-time Spanish television series broadcast on the main generalist channels. For this purpose, a content analysis was carried out on 26 television series produced in Spain from 2016 and the first semester of 2017, involving 723 characters (n = 723), in order to determine whether or not there is an unequal portrayal of male, female, and non-binary characters. The main findings indicate that contemporary prime-time Spanish TV series feature: an underrepresentation of females; an overrepresentation of cisgender characters and heterosexual orientation; an association of women with less qualified professional occupations and, in particular, with domestic work; and a statistically significant relation between female characters and fewer work objectives, as well as more personal objectives. In addition, female characters are more hypersexualized and socialized in male contexts. Nevertheless, no statistical link was found between gender and narrative weight. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study documents the prevalence of product placement in prime-time television, while also providing crucial criteria to consider in tackling the measurement issue of this emerging industry. Content analysis was used to capture placement techniques in various types of programming, including storied programming (e.g., dramas and situation comedies) and nonstoried programming (e.g., news programs, game shows, and sporting events), as well as to examine differences between plugs and placements. Consumer product placements were differentiated from other types of brand placements, such as services, sports, and entertainment. Finally, the growth of placements was contrasted with data from five years earlier. The findings reveal many similarities with earlier research, but also suggest that much work is still needed to maximize the effectiveness of product placements among marketers. Implications for consumer researchers and industry professionals are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Twitter updates and expands television's cultural forum model by letting viewers speak to current events such as the Black Live Matter (BLM) movement. This article analyzes 1,985 tweets in response to three television episodes (Law & Order: SVU, The Good Wife, and Scandal) that dramatized BLM, and identifies five common themes in how viewers address these representations: thematic appropriateness, timing, producers' qualifications, institutional critiques, and the purpose of entertainment television. This study concludes that Twitter facilitates a meta-commentary, which expands traditional discussions of entertainment programming, and that these programs transcend "mere" entertainment to become critiques of larger social movements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors compare the fine-print disclosures in children's Saturday morning television commercials with disclosures in prime-time commercials aimed at more mature audiences. The prevalence of fine-print disclosures in the two venues is compared, as well as the placement, duration, and informational characteristics of the disclosures. Statistical differences between Saturday morning and prime-time ad disclosures suggest that advertisers differentiate between audience types in the use and execution of fine-print disclosures. However, the differences do not necessarily suggest that the messages are reaching either audience group effectively. The findings have implications for how advertisers, regulators, and media firms might change fine-print disclosure practices in children's TV advertisements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Asian-Americans are a growth market. Their affluence, high education, and work ethic position them as a model minority. However complimentary that term may seem, it nonetheless represents a stereotype whose prevalence must be documented to examine the intersection of minority status and gender in mass media portrayals. The authors report a content analysis of more than 1300 prime time television advertisement conducted to assess the frequency and nature of Asian-American representation. They found that Asian male and female models are overrepresented in terms of proportion of the population (3.6%), appearing in 8.4% of the commercials. However, Asian models are more likely than members of other minority groups to appear in background roles, and Asian women are rarely depicted in major roles. Further, the findings indicate that portrayals of Asian-Americans put so much emphasis on the work ethic that other aspects of life seldom appear. For example, Asian models are overrepresented in business settings and relationships and underrepresented in home settings and family or social relationships. The findings suggest opportunities for advertisers who depict Asian-Americans in nonstereotypical ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the discourse practices of Greek journalism on mainstream commercial prime-time news. The article draws on data from Greek prime-time news and political current affair programmes over a 15-year period (from the early 2000s to date). By focusing on discourse and conversation analysis of journalistic talk in the studio, it will be shown that shifting discursive practices already in place long before the onset of the financial crisis that has afflicted Greece since 2010 have endowed Greek journalism with the discursive entitlements (or ‘frame space’) to challenge and hold politicians to account, in principle, allowing for more democratic journalistic gatekeeping. In reality, however, these same practices have created the conditions for an epistemological upgrading of opinion to the status of factual news reporting, in fact proposing ‘conversation as news’. These conversational practices have facilitated the Greek media’s role in shaping public opinion while allowing for the ideological manipulation of audiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The observed drops in the ratings of television programs on Fridays and Saturdays are likely a result of two factors: intrinsic contraction in demand for television watching and endogenous scheduling. I decompose the observed weekend effect into the effects from these two factors. To this end, I estimate a viewer choice model that uses aggregate Nielsen ratings data for prime-time network television shows over 11 years. The long span of the data enables me to control for television series qualities. The estimation results reveal that the estimated weekend effect is dampened as the empirical model accounts for variation in the program quality compositions. The counterfactual analysis that is based on the estimates of the preferred specification indicates that endogenous scheduling accounts for two-thirds of the rating drops on weekends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The authors conceptually aim to replicate and update an early stream of research to find the key dimensions used by today’s audiences. They also show that the dimensions are directly related with attitude toward the ad, product attitude change and product recommendation and test the moderating impact of FCB Grid product type.Design/methodology/approach Across two studies, the authors survey a nationally representative sample of 1,223 US adults.Findings Consumers evaluate commercials using the dimensions: Dislikable, Meaningful, Ingenious and Warm. The latter three are positively related with ad attitude, attitude change and recommendation, whereas Dislikable is negatively related. Furthermore, results show that High and Low Involvement Think products moderate the relation between all four dimensions and all three outcomes. Only Meaningful affects the outcomes for High Involvement Feel products, whereas only Ingenious affects Low Involvement Feel product outcomes.Research limitations/implications The research is limited to TV commercials, limiting generalizability to other media. Furthermore, the sample is limited to the USA.Practical implications The paper provides a parsimonious four-dimension model for advertiser use. These dimensions also predict ad attitudes, product recommendation, and attitude change. The results further show that for emotionally driven products with high involvement, commercials should focus on meaningfulness. For emotionally driven products with little involvement, ads should emphasize creative elements.Originality/value Addressing the paucity of replications in marketing, this paper replicates and extends a stream of research to reveal dimensions consumers use to evaluate commercials and demonstrates their practical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Achieving a more sophisticated understanding of narrative persuasion requires an examination of how the experience of narrative involvement influences persuasive resistance. In this study, we used a multiple message design approach to test two models of narrative involvement, one with transportation and the other with narrative engagement, with programs featuring persuasive stories about sexual and reproductive topics from primetime television. Although both transportation and the narrative engagement influenced processes related to changes in participants’ (N= 362) beliefs, attitudes, and behavioral intentions, the two scales influenced different cognitive and affective responses to the narratives. Transportation was positively related to enjoyment and the perception that the narrative topic was personally relevant. Narrative engagement predicted enjoyment and reduced reactance. Neither transportation nor narrative engagement significantly influenced cognitive elaboration or counterarguments, based on the application of a thought-listing procedure designed to measure counterarguments related to the realism of the narratives. Put together, these findings suggest that the study of narrative persuasion necessitates the use of different measurement instruments that can adequately assess the multidimensional nature and influence of narrative involvement. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

To document current portrayals of women and men on primetime television, a quantitative content analysis was conducted. A 1-week composite of primetime television programming across 9 broadcast and cable networks was randomly sampled, yielding 89 programs and 1,254 characters. Consistent with prior findings, women were significantly underrepresented on primetime TV when compared with men. Analyses examined representations of gender in the realms of occupation, aggression, sexualization, and stereotypically masculine and feminine attributes, with comparisons drawn across different age groups. Contrary to popular belief, these findings suggest that the current state of primetime television does not represent a “golden age” for women. Although it appears that some gender stereotypes have declined when compared to previous decades, others (e.g., dominant men, sexually provocative women) have persisted. Implications are discussed in terms of cultivation and social cognitive theories. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study examined sexual content in American prime-time programs popular among the tween (9–14 years of age) audience on broadcast networks and programs aired on the most popular adolescent TV networks—an understudied area of media research. Consistent with past research, the majority of broadcast shows contained sexual talk and behaviors, as did adolescent shows. No significant difference was observed between the two types of shows regarding the frequency with which sexual behaviors were presented in a given hour of TV programming. The amount of scene focus paid to sexual themes varied, but studio audiences were almost always heard positively reinforcing these messages. The findings are discussed with respect to social cognitive and cultivation theories. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Some prime-time TV dramas containing health topics have large audiences both in the countries in which they are broadcast as well as on an international level via Internet television network. We conducted a literature review to map the current research articles on prime-time TV dramas with health themes produced in so-called developed countries from 1986 to 2014. The review discovered 59 articles, of which 29 (49.2%) examined the portrayal of patients, doctors, and illness; two (3.4%) examined audience characteristics and motives for watching medical dramas; 17 (28.8%) used cross-sectional methods to examine viewers' knowledge, attitudes, or behaviors related to health concerns; and 11 (18.6%) used either pre- and post-exposure or post-exposure and follow-up tests to assess changes in viewers' knowledge, attitudes or behaviors related to health concerns. Theories employed to understand changes in viewers' knowledge and behaviors included cultivation theory, narrative transportation theory, and social cognitive theory. We noted that even viewers who are disinterested in health issues can be exposed to such content with minimal resistance; dramas and movies can be continuously and affordably distributed as streaming content; and large financial investments are being made in the entertainment industry around the world. As a means of health information exposure, then, narrative forms of entertainment content (e.g. dramas and films) should continue to be investigated, particularly their positive and negative effects on audiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ten years after the investigation of Perona (2005) published in ZER on the advertising in the Spanish radio, an investigation of the University of Girona approaches to the same object. The aim was identical to be able to verify which has been the evolution of the advertising in the last decade in the radio prime-time slot. The study, of quantitative tone, has been realized from a sample of spanish talkshow radio. The conclusions are not pleasing at all. In 10 years the most perceptible changes are observed in the transformation of the productive sectors as new advertisers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses the interpretive readings that teenagers from a high socio-economic class offer for one of the most popular reality programs in Israel:Big Brother. The findings of the study demonstrate how the youth completely focused on the ‘ethnic other' in Israel (Oriental characters). The dominant interpretations of the participants suggested open use of accounts affiliated with Orientalist discourse. The findings of the study also show that to explain the Orientalist accounts, the youth made dominant use of the neoliberal discourse. The discussion section offers some thoughts on thisdiscursive alliancebetween the Orientalist and neoliberal discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an era when identity is a hybrid process, it is interesting to examine whether and how it is possible to glean the presence or absence of certain cultural groups from their representations in a given culture. To do so, I employ two key Gramscian concepts: common sense and good sense. Using three research reports (from 2003, 2005, and 2011) that employed content analysis techniques, this article assesses the visibility of various subgroups in Israeli TV programs and majority-minority power relations in a variety of genres on commercial channels in the prime-time slot. This article focuses on three aspects of identity: nationality, ethnicity, and gender. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the constitutional issues concerning mixed martial arts (MMA) in New York. It provides data on the prohibition and legalization of MMA in the state through the New York State legislature. Moreover, it highlights the litigation filed by promotion-company Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) on the promotion of MMA on primetime television.

The article compares and contrasts the reception of DR's political drama series Borgen (2010-13) in Denmark and Germany. Whilst German audiences are au fait with a number of Danish primetime drama series, public opinion of the shows can diverge considerably. One such example is the reception of Borgen. Even if the critics' reaction was for the most part positive in both countries, reviews differ in tone and content. Among other issues, this is particularly apparent when critics relate the drama to a much broader discussion of public service broadcasting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent Federal Communications Commission reviews of media ownership rules, television writers unsuccessfully campaigned for a prime-time set-aside for "independent" programs. This article approaches the campaign as a structured negotiation of writers' industrial authorship, which exploited institutional contradictions across the field while also betraying instabilities in the concept of independence itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An essay is presented on the correlation of the economic realities and post-racial ideologies of racism in prime time cable drama. It discusses these post-racial ideologies as a challenge of colourblind racism in cable drama. It investigates the association of moral standing with race contending that modern audiences are compelled to determine prejudice characters.

Introduction: This article has two main objectives. Firstly, it attempts to determine whether the news content of the mainstream Spanish television channels is governed by external pluralism which is a distinguishing feature of the polarised-pluralist media system, as exposed by Hallin and Mancini. The second objective is to address the relation that exists between pluralism and political parallelism. Methods: The study is based on the content analysis of a sample of 3,134 news items broadcast by the prime time news programmes of six national television networks: TVE1, Antena 3, Telecinco, La Sexta, Cuatro and Intereconomía. Results: The Spanish model of television is hybrid and combines different degrees of internal and external pluralism depending on the network's profile and the media group's business strategy. The news programmes produced by the public television channels exhibit the highest levels of internal pluralism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inspired by Queiroz (2007), Garboggini (2005) and Dantas (1997), this article compares the use of male stereotypes in Brazilian and Portuguese television advertising. For a long time, the dominant and conqueror man was used as an ideal standard for advertising, but in recent decades this has been changing: the search for eternal youth and a greater presence in parental care, associated with women, is now part of the male ideal in ads. Using as a model the study of Fonseca (2005), through content analysis methodology, this study was conducted with recordings of television spots during prime time (08 to 11:0 pm), on the TV channel audience leader during the month that corresponds to the Day of the parents in each country. The data analyzed are a part of the author's PhD thesis on the subject of stereotypes in advertising. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When television is being watched the most, commercials reach much more audience. Television viewers constantly face the dilemma of changing the channel or not when commercials appear on their favorite shows. Networks strategically time their commercials in such a way that content viewers have to decide whether they should wait for the commercials to end or start flipping the channels in the hope of finding a better program. If it is accepted the commercials shown in the first minute of breaking up television shows, is being watched the most, then whether there is a significant difference in changing of the amount of viewers among the channels. This article uses the factors such as gender, age, and socio-economic status, and channels-four national television channels in Turkey, to compare the watching ratings during first minute of television commercials in each television channels by using descriptive statistics techniques and chi-square criterion. The paper can be useful for commercial owners especially first minute to determine the types of people watching. In addition to this, it determines Turkish people's attitudes in most widely towards television commercials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This study traces the changes of a prime-time health and lifestyle television programme (Puls) on the main channel of the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) across the last decade. The overall pattern of change is that as a public-service broadcaster, the NRK continues to broadcast factual programmes in prime time, which incorporate different entertainment and interactive elements to guarantee their popularity and relevance to the viewers. The integration of television and online activity has lessened over the years. The television content has become more lifestyle-oriented, while the Internet content has more stress on factual information and news. The use of reality elements has led to a strong emphasis on motivating the viewer to adopt an active lifestyle, while the viewers’ possibilities to participate actively in the programme have diminished. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Americans watch, on average, 5–7 hours of television every day—most of it entertainment programming. Yet the process of creating prime time television remains a mystery to most viewers. This article describes one of the most influential institutions in the process of television production: the “writers' room.” Based on interviews with writers, the authors analyze the culture and politics of “the room”—what makes this institution work and who survives its demanding environment. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Is it possible to transmit historical content while competing during prime time and on a television channel directed to a general audience? Is it also possible to attract the attention of a grass-roots audience? This critical commentary establishes different keys, both theoretical and methodological, for assessing the television program known as Algo habrán hecho (They Must Have Done Something Right) (on Argentine history)4. The authors believe this format brings together the main features of contemporary television: hybridization of genre, syncretism between reality and fiction, fragmentation, and innovation in forms of didactic representation of the past. Based on these core elements, this article proposes an interdisciplinary interpretive perspective of a narrative and historical nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effectiveness of entertainment-education is evidenced in previous research; nevertheless, content analytic research on the health content in such programs has been relatively meager in comparison to the large amount of content analyses of health content in news or ads in print media or on television. To address this issue, the current study content analyzed the portrayals of illnesses and related matters in 127 episodes aired from 2000 to 2007 of two top-ranked television medical dramas in the United States (Grey's Anatomy and ER). Results indicated that the two shows portrayed a wide range of illnesses and diseases, with injury, cardiovascular disease, and cancer being the top three most frequently portrayed. Moreover, equal numbers of men and women patient characters were portrayed, Caucasians and African Americans were the top two portrayed races, and the elderly were underrepresented. Last, the shows framed illness and health mainly from a medical perspective in references to the illness's causes, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Programs such as NBC's Dateline: To Catch a Predator illustrate the possible pitfalls of law enforcement interactions with media. To Catch a Predator is rife with procedural deficiencies and often appears to place the goal of increased ratings ahead of appropriate law enforcement procedures. Recent research in the field of social psychology has revealed that the perception of the law and law enforcement as legitimate can have an important effect on public compliance with the law. When the police take part in procedurally flawed media events, they may do more harm than good-sincere efforts to inform the public about law enforcement actions may ultimately erode the perception of police legitimacy and result in increased criminality. As such, it is incumbent on law enforcement to wrest control of its media interactions and insist that proper police procedures be observed on camera and off. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A conference paper regarding the loudness of various television programs and the strategies for loudness management is presented. It analyzes the loudness of prime-time programs from various television networks that were recorded from September to October 2008. It reveals a wide variation in the dialogue loudness of the recorded programs and suggests placing the proper quality control checks to make sure that program loudness agrees with the target loudness.

In the late 1990s, while broadcasting networks were criticized for the lack of racial diversity on prime-time television, cable was praised for its breadth of black representations. This praise suggested that diversity on cable was a result of cable's innovativeness and desire to take risks. A closer look reveals that blackness has been part the discourse of 'risk' that cable channels have used to create brand identities. In a repeat of the strategies broadcasters used in the late 1980s, cable channels have tried to draw black viewers, a (white) 'quality' audience, and a multiracial youth market by using blackness to signify 'quality' or 'edginess'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This investigation of offensive language on prime-time broadcast and cable programs found that 9 out of 10 programs contained at least one incident of profanity, and viewers were exposed to 12.58 cuss words per hour in 2005. Viewers of broadcast programs were exposed to slightly less than 10 objectionable words per-hour compared to 15 words-per-hour on cable programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the establishment of the Communication and Culture Audiences Foundation (FUNDACC), which aims to promote a communication system known as the Communication and Culture Barometer in Catalonia, Spain. It says that the Catalan communication system employs a questionnaire-based methodology to gather data on cultural and communication consumption and the social penetration of the country's cultural industries. The barometer data indicates that 25-44-year-old target audience predominates in cultural and media products consumption.

This study examines whether topics that are underrepresented in TV programming differ from topics that are overrepresented in their capability to cultivate distorted estimations of social reality. A content analysis of prime-time programming (63 hours) was used to detect overrepresented and underrepresented topics in four content domains: criminality, occupations, demography, and sex life. A survey (N = 517) tested the effect of different topics on reality estimation and found no systematic differences between topics that are overrepresented in the programming and topics that are underrepresented. The fact that distorted reality estimation may occur with topics that are not frequently depicted in the programming supports the thesis that cultivation stems from actual learning of facts and figures from the screen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Uses longitudinal meta-analysis to review 57 content analyses that examined the frequency of violent content on American prime-time network programming between 1960 and 2002. The overall sample is composed of 4,988 hours of broadcasts from 32 seasons. The frequency per hour of most of the expressions of physical aggression and body harm violence, as well as exploitative violence, shows a cubic pattern with two peaks: in the late 1970's and in the mid-1990's. The demographic composition of violent characters, namely, the share of women and white people among violence perpetrators, fluctuated similarly with the exception of smaller alterations. The study suggests sociological, historical, and industry-related explanations to the findings and concludes that throughout most of the years covered in this meta-analysis, television violence could not be regarded as an accurate indicator of societal violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Study of the advertising that appears on general prime-time radio acquires special relevance at a time when experimentation with new forms of advertisement broadcasting is one of the principal demands of the different subjects that intervene in advertising activity, especially the creative subjects. However, the innovation that is required for this medium clashes with the reality of a radio that, deriving from the analysis of nearly 500 advertising inserts, continues to rely on traditional formulas and appears to continue anchored to a role of complementing and supporting campaigns that relate to other media such as the television and the press. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines portrayals of acts and consequences of sexual intercourse on prime-time television programs. Results indicate that few types of consequences of intercourse are presented, headed by emotional outcomes. Both acts of intercourse and their consequences receive only minimal focus within programs. Consequences are nearly equally positively and negatively valenced, but have a slight leaning toward being portrayed as transient and emotionally insignificant. Movies include the greatest number of acts of sexual intercourse and the most consequences for this behavior. Generic differences are also identified in the contextual presentation of consequences. Findings are discussed in light of effects on viewers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]