Assessing the tone of televised economic messages during economic recovery: Positive and negative, global and local

Abstract

Objective: To map the tone of local and global economic information transmitted in news and non-news TV programming during economic recovery, and to resolve a conflict in the literature between research where a negative trend in economic news was identified and studies which concluded that economic news reflects actual economic circumstances.Method: A content analysis of 140 hours of prime-time programming (news and non-news) aired by commercial networks and public broadcasting in Israel during one month.

Interest Rate Demands and Television Viewing—Is a Single Exposure More Influential Than Routine Viewing?

“…To understand why this statement is correct in our case, we should look closely at the content of broadcasts (news and non-news) to which participants in the manipulation group could be exposed. Such an examination was recently made by Hetsroni and Sheaffer (2013), who analyzed economic content throughout the programming in Israel and found that even though interest rate is rarely mentioned, both news and entertainment apply a generally negative tone in references to the economy more frequently than a positive tone. In the non-news section, the negative tone finds expression in an over-representation of hardship narratives (e.g., drama about a single mother’s financial difficulties).…”

“…The experimental stimulus was prepared accordingly. No content analysis of interest rate representation was conducted because of the rarity of the topic in television programming (a recent content analysis of 60 hours of news programs from Israel found not even one occurrence—see Hetsroni & Sheaffer, 2013).…”

“…This is part of a general pattern of negative associations between heavy TV viewing and optimism in various walks of life (Bruni & Stanca, 2008; Morgan, 1984), which can be either interpreted as a second-order cultivation effect caused by repetitive exposure to dramatic genres that accentuate treason and mistrust (e.g., detective series) or news that highlights the negative aspects of daily life (Gerbner et al., 2002). Specifically, such argument makes sense in light of the negative tone in news coverage of the economy and the unfavorable treatment of the topic in popular non-fictional programming (Hetsroni & Sheaffer, 2013). Alternatively, the association can be attributed to previously existing unhappiness that brings people to invest more time in television viewing and maintain pessimistic attitudes about the economy (Robinson & Martin, 2008).…”