Presentation and impact of market-driven journalism on sensationalism in global TV news

Abstract

This study conducted a cross-national television news content analysis in 14 countries to compare the elements of sensationalism appearing in four types of media systems. A secondary analysis was further employed to examine the relationship between news sensationalization, news competition levels, and professionalism of these countries. Results reveal that crime-, accident-, and disaster-related news remain the staples of sensational news across countries. Dual broadcasting systems devoted more sensational news coverage than commercial broadcasting systems. Sensational formal features were found to be limited in all broadcasting systems. Celebrities and ordinary people tended to pose as news actors to personalize and dramatize the news more frequently than allowing officials or authoritative sources to legitimate the stories. Furthermore, news competition has been confirmed as an impact to the boom of news sensationalization. More professional journalists report more soft news than less professional ones.

Is the news making us unhappy? The influence of daily news exposure on emotional states

“…Not only is the majority of news topics negative, people also tend to pay more attention to negative news (Zillmann et al ., ). In addition, the majority of negative news coverage is directed towards people's emotions (Philo, ), and the sensationalism and confronting nature of news coverage have increased drastically over the last decades (Wang, ).…”

Sensationalism in News Coverage: A Comparative Study in 14 Television Systems

“…Personalized exemplification exerts considerable (emotional) influence on viewers’ processing of the news (Bas & Grabe, 2015; Lefevere, De Swert, & Walgrave, 2012). Ordinary people appear in news as actors commenting on a story topic as a passer-by or as an eyewitness to “personalize and dramatize news” (Bek, 2010; Wang, 2012). For an ideal link with sensationalism, their human exemplars would tell personalized stories, but in a milder form the mere choice of the reporter to ask a common person for a comment, testimony, or opinion also makes the news more concrete and proximate to the viewers, increasing vividness (Hendriks Vettehen, Nuijten, & Peeters, 2008).…”

“…The third category of sensationalism is the use of specific audio-visual features, often referred to as “formal features.” Using music and specific camera techniques arouses the attention of the audiences as it directly affects the human sensory system (Grabe, Lang, & Zhao, 2003; Hendriks Vettehen, Nuijten, & Beentjes, 2005). These sensational features include a fast editing pace, an eyewitness camera perspective, zoom-in camera lens movements, reenactment of news events, the use of music, and voice-over narration (Wang, 2012). The separation of these three categories of sensationalism will allow us to assess which of the strategies described above are affected most as competitive and commercial pressures increase.…”

“…or even a local context (e.g., Ryu, 1982; Slattery & Hakanen, 1994). Recently, some cross-country comparative studies have been conducted, suggesting that sensationalism is stimulated by higher competition (Hendriks Vettehen et al, 2012; Kleemans et al, 2008; Wang, 2012). Our study is, to our knowledge, the first one to study cross-level effects between channel characteristics and the systemic context.…”

How Chilean Editors perceive and define the role of melodrama in television News

“…Even though these rhetorical devices also characterize sensationalism, what makes their use melodramatic is their combined use with personalization and information about emotions. When defined in the literature as sensationalism, these rhetorical features are linked to gory images and detailed information about death or catastrophe, with the intent of morbid interest (Grabe et al, 2000;Grabe et al, 2001, Reineman et al, 2012Wang, 2012). However, in melodrama, these traits are combined with a focus on personal or even domestic stories, and information about emotions such as sadness, happiness and love.…”