Date of Award

12-1-2003

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Communication

First Advisor

Dr. Jeremy Lipschultz

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to analyze the content and style of the 12-minute Channel One broadcasts seen by 8 million teenagers in their classrooms each day. Following a review of relevant literature concerning Channel One, the researcher recorded 163 shows aired during the 2000-2001 school year. From these shows, the researcher chose a sample of 46 Channel One broadcasts from which 150 stories were analyzed according to type of story, topic of story, source occupation, the ethnicity and gender of the anchor and reporter, location of the report and the use of file tape and/or photos or maps. The analysis revealed that almost one third of the stories aired by Channel One could be categorized as hard news stories that occupied 37 percent of the airtime studied. The twenty-seven feature stories studied occupied almost 30 percent of the airtime. Analysis of the broadcasts suggests that Channel One strives to provide hard news and feature information for teenagers comparable to national news programming but with a definite youth-orientated production style. This study serves to motivate more administration teachers to use Channel One to enhance student knowledge and understanding of international and domestic current events in the worked in which they live.

Comments

A Thesis Presented to the Department of Communication and the Faculty of the Graduate College University of Nebraska In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Master of Arts Degree University of Nebraska. Copyright Mary McNamara Coyle December, 2003

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