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Date sent: Mon, 28 Jun 1999 20:41:37 -0400
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From: FAIR <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [FAIR-L] NEW STUDY: PUBLIC TV MORE CORPORATE,
LESS PUBLIC THAN EVER
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
FAIR-L
Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting
Media analysis, critiques and news reports
FAIR NEWS RELEASE
NEW STUDY: PUBLIC TV MORE CORPORATE, LESS PUBLIC THAN EVER
June 28, 1999
A new study of news and public affairs programming on PBS stations has
found that the voice of business is much louder than all others -- a
troubling finding for a broadcast system established to "provide a voice
for groups that may otherwise be unheard." Four years after Congressional
leaders failed to "zero out" public TV, the study suggests that the cost
of survival has been increasing commercialism, a persistent elite bias and
the marginalization of many of the groups in society that the system was
intended to serve.
The independent academic study, "The Cost of Survival: Political
Discourse and the 'New PBS,'" was conducted by Prof. William Hoynes of
Vassar College (It is available in its entirety at
http://www.fair.org/reports/pbs-study-1999.html ). It examined all of the
regular public affairs programming -- news, talk/interview, business and
documentary -- during a two-week period between November 30 and December
13, 1998. The study analyzed a total of 75 separate programs, including
276 stories and 651 on-camera sources. It will be published this summer
in Extra!, FAIR's magazine.
Hoynes concludes: "Instead of wide-ranging discussions and debates, the
kinds that might engage viewers as citizens, not simply as audiences,
public television provides programs that are populated by the standard set
of elite news sources. This insider orientation makes it hard to define
what, outside of the one-hour length of the evening news and the
documentary format, defines public television as innovative, independent
or alternative."
"The Cost of Survival" updates Hoynes' 1992 study, also released by FAIR
(Aug. '93), which found that public TV relied on a narrow spectrum of
sources and experts. This bias has become even more pronounced in recent
years.
Some key findings:
CORPORATE VOICE: More than one-third of all on-camera sources (36.3%)
during the two weeks studied were representatives of corporate America or
Wall Street. This almost doubled the percentage found in the 1992 study.
GENDER: News sources on public affairs programs are largely male: Just
21.5% of sources in the study sample were women -- less than the 23.1%
found in the 1992 study. Female sources tend to appear in specific types
of stories, especially on social issues like health, family, religion and
sexuality. Women constitute a majority (56.5%) of sources in stories on
social issues, though that's largely due to one program, the all-women
discussion show "To the Contrary."
POLITICS: Coverage of domestic political issues featured the views of
government officials (50.2%), professionals (31.2% -- overwhelmingly
journalists) and corporate/Wall Street representatives (11%), with very
few contributions from any other social group. Consumer, environmental or
labor advocates, for example, were almost invisible. (pp. 13-14)
ECONOMICS: Public TV coverage of the economy is, more than any other
topic, dominated by one social sector: the business class. Fully 75% of
the sources in economic stories were from the corporate or investment
world. By contrast, labor union representatives (1.5% of sources),
consumer advocates (0.4%), non-professional workers (1.1%) and the general
public (1.8%) were virtually invisible in economic stories. "Economic
coverage," writes Hoynes, "is so narrow that the views and activities of
most citizens become irrelevant."
BUSINESS PROGRAMS: The bias in favor of corporate voices is partly due to
the expansion of business news on public television, with many PBS
stations now airing two daily business news programs, plus at least two
regular weekly business programs. Hoynes writes: "In answer to the
question 'If PBS doesn't do it, who will?' this kind of business
programming is readily available on CNNfn, CNBC, Bloomberg and other
television channels, along with the business press and the Internet. It
behooves public television stations to evaluate the reasons why they
broadcast programs that are widely available elsewhere, appeal to such a
limited audience, and are so narrow in their definition of sources and
subjects."
INTERNATIONAL: Only 5.4 % of all stories focused on international
affairs -- a decrease from 11.7% in the 1992 study. The Middle East was
the only international topic that was the subject of more than two stories
in this sample. Ironically, during the period of this study, "Freedom
Speaks" -- a weekly show covering media topics -- featured a segment on
how commercial news pays so little attention to international stories, and
suggested that, due to the absence of commercial pressures, public TV
could provide an alternative by focusing more regularly on global issues.
CITIZEN ACTIVISTS: Citizen activists (a broad category encompassing
anyone of any stripe active in community, religious, health,
environmental, ethnic/racial issues, etc.) accounted for only 4.5% of
total sources. This was a decrease from 5.9% in 1992. Citizen activists
"appear with such relative infrequency -- for example, there is no regular
labor voice in discussions of the economy and no regular consumer
perspective in debates about anti-trust policy -- that they cannot help
but be marginal, if intriguing, participants in the public discourse."
THE PUBLIC: Only 5.7% of total sources are members of the general
public -- a decrease from 1992's 12%. "Another method of opening up the
discourse," writes Hoynes, "is to allow real people to participate in
debate and discussion." One edition of "Morning Business Report" referred
to the views of "average Americans," but these were later revealed to be
"investors," polled in a survey about investment and economic questions.
IMPEACHMENT: The single biggest story during the period studied was
impeachment, then under debate in the House. Almost all of the sources
were current or former government officials (70%) or journalists from
major news outlets (21%). "Public television's impeachment coverage
largely mirrored that of its commercial counterparts," Hoynes writes.
"Alternative perspectives and voices of the public were neglected, while
debates among and forecasts by members of the political class provided the
only lens for viewing the unfolding story."
MERGERS & LAYOFFS: A case study of public TV coverage of corporate
mergers and layoffs -- a significant news story during the two-week
period -- showed that the main focus was on how investors were affected.
Stories on mergers/acquisitions and anti-trust policy were dominated by
corporate viewpoints, with only one appearance by a citizen activist and
none by members of the public. Coverage of corporate layoffs and
unemployment was similarly narrow: 86% of the sources were corporate or
Wall Street representatives. Not a single representative of organized
labor appeared in public TV's discussion of corporate mergers or of
layoffs.
_________________________
In releasing the Hoynes study, FAIR program director Janine Jackson
commented: "In survival mode for so long fending off conservative
attacks, public television seems to have forgotten its original mission to
'help us see America whole, in all its diversity' and to be 'a forum for
controversy and debate.' Public TV was going to be different, free of the
'top down' conventions that define news as the activities and opinions of
the elite. This study reveals public TV's programming to be little
different in substance than that on commercial TV."
Professor Hoynes places the problem of narrowing news and public affairs
perspectives in context. "The increasing commercialization of the system
-- including the growth of corporate sponsored PBS-related world wide web
sites -- suggests that the public-as-citizens approach is taking a
backseat to the public-as-market model at the 'new PBS.'"
In the final words of the study, Hoynes asserts: "In the emerging
digital age, despite the temptations of commercialization, public
television can be a valuable democratic resource if its leadership takes
seriously its founding mission to broadcast programs that include fresh
perspectives, expand dialogue, welcome controversy and serve all segments
of the public."
Contacts: Steve Rendall: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Janine Jackson: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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