Can a single incident create an issue? Exemplars in German television magazine shows

Journalism and Mass Communication Quaterly

Volumn 76, Issue 1, 1999, Pages 35-51

  Daschmann, Gregor ^a   Brosius, Hans Bernd ^b  

^a JOHANNES GUTENBERG UNIVERSITY   (Germany)

^b UNIVERSITY OF MUNICH   (Germany)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0038927477     PISSN: 10776990     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/107769909907600104     Document Type: Article

References (48)

1. Hans-Bernd Brosius, Alltagsrationalität in der Nachrichtenrezeption [Everyday Rationality in News Reception] (Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag, 1995); Hans-Bernd Brosius, "Der Einfluß von Fallbeispielen auf Urteile der Rezipienten. Die Rolle der Ähnlichkeit zwischen Fallbeispiel und Rezipient [The Influence of Exemplars on Recipient Judgments. The Impact of Similarity of Exemplar and Recipient]," Rundfunk und Fernsehen 44 (1, 1996): 51-69.
2. Hans-Bernd Brosius, Alltagsrationalität in der Nachrichtenrezeption [Everyday Rationality in News Reception] (Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag, 1995); Hans-Bernd Brosius, "Der Einfluß von Fallbeispielen auf Urteile der Rezipienten. Die Rolle der Ähnlichkeit zwischen Fallbeispiel und Rezipient [The Influence of Exemplars on Recipient Judgments. The Impact of Similarity of Exemplar and Recipient]," Rundfunk und Fernsehen 44 (1, 1996): 51-69.
3. The term "greater validity" refers to the validity of base-rate information compared to exemplars. This does not exclude the epistemological debate if and which data sources can be seen as indicator of reality at all, cf. the German debate about constructivism, for example Klaus Merten, Siegfried J. Schmidt, and Siegfried Weischenberg, Die Wirklichkeit der Medien [The Reality of the Media] (Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag, 1994); Lutz Hachmeister, "Das Gespenst des radikalen Konstruktivismus. Zur Analyse des Funkkollegs 'Medien und Kommunikation' [The Ghost of Radical Constructivism. About the Analysis of the Radio Course 'Media and Communication']," Rundfunk und Fernsehen 40 (1, 1992): 5-21.
4. The term "greater validity" refers to the validity of base-rate information compared to exemplars. This does not exclude the epistemological debate if and which data sources can be seen as indicator of reality at all, cf. the German debate about constructivism, for example Klaus Merten, Siegfried J. Schmidt, and Siegfried Weischenberg, Die Wirklichkeit der Medien [The Reality of the Media] (Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag, 1994); Lutz Hachmeister, "Das Gespenst des radikalen Konstruktivismus. Zur Analyse des Funkkollegs 'Medien und Kommunikation' [The Ghost of Radical Constructivism. About the Analysis of the Radio Course 'Media and Communication']," Rundfunk und Fernsehen 40 (1, 1992): 5-21.
5. Dolf Zillmann, Joseph W. Perkins Jr., and Shyam S. Sundar, "Impression-formation Effects of Printed News Varying in Descriptive Precision and Exemplification," Medienpsychologie 4 (3, 1992): 168-85.
6. Brosius, Alltagsrationalität; Brosius, "Der Einfluß von Fallbeispielen"; Hans-Bernd Brosius and Anke Bathelt, "The Utility of Exemplars in Persuasive Communications," Communication Research 21 (February 1994): 48-78; Gregor Daschmann, Der Einfluß von Sprecherrolle und Lebhaftigkeit auf Hörerurteile [The Influence of Speaker Roles and Vividness on Listener Judgments] (Master thesis, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, 1992).
7. Brosius, Alltagsrationalität; Brosius, "Der Einfluß von Fallbeispielen"; Hans-Bernd Brosius and Anke Bathelt, "The Utility of Exemplars in Persuasive Communications," Communication Research 21 (February 1994): 48-78; Gregor Daschmann, Der Einfluß von Sprecherrolle und Lebhaftigkeit auf Hörerurteile [The Influence of Speaker Roles and Vividness on Listener Judgments] (Master thesis, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, 1992).
8. Brosius, Alltagsrationalität; Brosius, "Der Einfluß von Fallbeispielen"; Hans-Bernd Brosius and Anke Bathelt, "The Utility of Exemplars in Persuasive Communications," Communication Research 21 (February 1994): 48-78; Gregor Daschmann, Der Einfluß von Sprecherrolle und Lebhaftigkeit auf Hörerurteile [The Influence of Speaker Roles and Vividness on Listener Judgments] (Master thesis, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, 1992).
9. Brosius, Alltagsrationalität; Brosius, "Der Einfluß von Fallbeispielen"; Hans-Bernd Brosius and Anke Bathelt, "The Utility of Exemplars in Persuasive Communications," Communication Research 21 (February 1994): 48-78; Gregor Daschmann, Der Einfluß von Sprecherrolle und Lebhaftigkeit auf Hörerurteile [The Influence of Speaker Roles and Vividness on Listener Judgments] (Master thesis, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, 1992).
10. Brosius, Alltagsrationalität.
11. Zillmann, Perkins, and Sundar, "Impression-formation"; Dolf Zillmann and Su-lin Gan, "Effects of Threatening Images in News Programs on the Perception of Risk to Others and Self," Medienpsychologie 8 (4, 1996): 288-305; Dolf Zillmann, Rhonda Gibson, Shyam S. Sundar, and Joseph W. Perkins Jr., "Effects of Exemplifications in News Reports on the Perception of Social Issues," Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 73 (summer 1996): 427-44.
12. Zillmann, Perkins, and Sundar, "Impression-formation"; Dolf Zillmann and Su-lin Gan, "Effects of Threatening Images in News Programs on the Perception of Risk to Others and Self," Medienpsychologie 8 (4, 1996): 288-305; Dolf Zillmann, Rhonda Gibson, Shyam S. Sundar, and Joseph W. Perkins Jr., "Effects of Exemplifications in News Reports on the Perception of Social Issues," Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 73 (summer 1996): 427-44.
13. Zillmann, Perkins, and Sundar, "Impression-formation"; Dolf Zillmann and Su-lin Gan, "Effects of Threatening Images in News Programs on the Perception of Risk to Others and Self," Medienpsychologie 8 (4, 1996): 288-305; Dolf Zillmann, Rhonda Gibson, Shyam S. Sundar, and Joseph W. Perkins Jr., "Effects of Exemplifications in News Reports on the Perception of Social Issues," Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 73 (summer 1996): 427-44.
14. Brosius, Alltagsrationalität.
15. Brosius, Alltagsrationalität.
16. Brosius, "Der Einfluß von Fallbeispielen".
17. Rhonda Gibson and Dolf Zillmann, "Exaggerated versus Representative Exemplification in News Reports: Perception of Issues and Personal consequences," Communication Research 21 (October 1994): 603-624.
18. Gregor Daschmann, "Vox Pop & Polls: The Impact of Poll Results and Voter Statements on Voter Judgment" (paper presented at the annual conference of the International Communication Association, San Francisco, CA, 1999).
19. Empirical studies show that although exemplars have a strong effect on the perception of public opinion on majorities and minorities or social issues, the effect on personal opinion is limited. This need not reduce the relevance of the present findings, which, according to Noelle-Neumann's theory of public opinion, can be interpreted as the first stage in a two-stage process. The perception of modifications in the opinion climate can lead to changes in personal opinion over the long term; see Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann, Öffentliche Meinung. Die Entdeckung der Schweigespirale (Frankfurt: Ullstein, 1991) [English edition: Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann: The Spiral of Silence. Public Opinion - Our Social Skin (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996)].
20. Empirical studies show that although exemplars have a strong effect on the perception of public opinion on majorities and minorities or social issues, the effect on personal opinion is limited. This need not reduce the relevance of the present findings, which, according to Noelle-Neumann's theory of public opinion, can be interpreted as the first stage in a two-stage process. The perception of modifications in the opinion climate can lead to changes in personal opinion over the long term; see Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann, Öffentliche Meinung. Die Entdeckung der Schweigespirale (Frankfurt: Ullstein, 1991) [English edition: Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann: The Spiral of Silence. Public Opinion - Our Social Skin (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996)].
21. Shanto Iyengar, Is Anyone Responsible? How Television Frames Political Issues, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991).
22. Brosius, Alltagsrationalität.
23. Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman, "Availability: A Heuristic for Judging Frequency and Probability," Cognitive Psychology 5 (1, 1973): 207-232.
24. Tversky and Kahneman, "Availability."
25. Michael Jäckel, "Mediennutzung als Niedrigkostensituation. Anmerkungen zum Nutzen-und Belohnungsansatz [Media Usage as Low-Cost Situation. Notes about the Uses and Gratifications Approach]," Medienpsychologie 4 (4, 1992): 246-266.
26. For a definition of magazine shows that do not deal with news of the day, see Udo Michael Krüger, "Boulevardisierung der Information im Privatfernsehen: Nichttagesaktuelle Informations-und Infotainment-Sendungen bei ARD, ZDF, RTL, SAT1 und PRO SIEBEN [Tabloidization of Information in Commercial Television: Information and Infotainment programs of ARD, ZDF, RTL, SAT1 and PRO SIEBEN]," Media Perspektiven 7 (Juli 1996): 362-74.
27. This definition led to the coding of 24 different shows.
28. Intercoder reliability was verified on the basis of 30 stories using the Holsti formula. The coders agreed by 100% for the formal categories and in 84.4% of the cases when classifying by topic. The intercoder reliability for the characteristic "Use and portrayal of base-rate information" (specificity, validity, intentionality, visuality: see Results) was r=0.98 (min.: 0.88, max.: 1.0); when coding the stylistic device or rhetorical figure used, this figure dropped to r=0.71 (min.: 0.45, max. 1.0). The lower reliability coefficients were generally recorded in categories that were poorly represented in the study.
29. RTL also devoted the most broadcast time (20.5 hours) to magazine shows. However, ARD broadcast the most stories, because the individual stories on RTL-as was the case of the other commercial networks - were much longer than on ARD or ZDF.
30. The shows were only classified by network to improve the clarity of the data. This classification by no means suggests an editorial responsibility of the network, nor seeks to define a reporting style. For example, the shows Spiegel-TV and Stern-TV, which make up a good part of the magazine broadcast time on RTL, are not ipso facto RTL shows, since the network is not responsible for the editorial content.
31. There were only a few stories on environmental issues because reports on ecological crimes or disasters, environmental scandals, or long-term health disorders were classifed for the most part as "criminality," "accidents," or "health." For more on the implicit problems of communicator-determined classifications by topic, see Hans-Bernd Brosius and Camille Zubayr, "Vielfalt im deutschen Fernsehprogramm. Eine empirische Anwendung eines Qualitätsmaßstabs [Diversity in German Television. An Empirical Application of a Quality Standard]," Rundfunk und Fernsehen 44 (2, 1996): 185-213.
32. Owing to the limited selection of magazines, it was not possible to make statements about general differences between the networks, even though the focus of the public channels on "hard news" (politics and business) and the commercial channels on "soft news" parallels the findings of a representative study done by Krüger ("Boulevardisierung"). However, the differentiation between "hard news" and "soft news" can itself be criticized because stories dealing with the same subject matter can be classi-fied in one or other category depending upon the format and news value.
33. The category "environment" was disregarded in this analysis owing to its small sample size.
34. It should be noted that anchor and reporter are clearly defined different roles in TV journalism in Germany. The reporters investigate the issue, lead the camera team, cut the footage, and write and speak the voice-over text. The anchor is presenting the whole magazine by making introductory and/or closing remarks for each report.
35. Statistisches Landesamt Baden-Württemberg, ed., Quelle: Amtliche Statistik. Materialien und Stellungnahmen zur Praxis der Quellenangabe in den Medien [Source: Official Stats. Examples and Opinions about the Practice of Source Citation in Media Coverage] (Stuttgart: Eigenverlag, 1996).
36. 2 = 58.46, d.f. = 1, p < .01.
37. Renate Köcher, "Bloodhounds or Missionaries: Role Definitions of German and British Journalists," European Journal of Communication 1 (March 1986): 43-64; Siegfried Weischenberg, Martin Löffelholz and Armin Scholl, "Journalismus in Deutschland [Journalism in Germany]," Media Perspektiven 1 (January 1993): 21-33; Siegfried Weischenberg, Martin Löffelholz, and Armin Scholl, "Merkmale und Einstellungen von Journalisten [Journalist's Traits and Attitudes of]," Media Perspektiven 4 (April 1994): 154-67; Beate Schneider, Klaus Schönbach, and Dieter Stürzebecher, "Westdeutsche Journalisten im Vergleich: Jung, professionell und mit Spaß bei der Arbeit [West-German Journalists under Investigation: Young, Professional, and with Fun on the Job]," Publizistik 38 (January-March 1993): 5-30; Beate Schneider, Klaus Schönbach, and Dieter Stürzebecher, "Journalisten im vereinigten Deutschland. Strukturen, Arbeitsweisen und Einstellungen im Ost-West-Vergleich [Journalists in the United Germany. Structures, Routines, and Attitudes in an East-West Comparison]," Publizistik 38 (July-September 1993): 353-82.
38. Renate Köcher, "Bloodhounds or Missionaries: Role Definitions of German and British Journalists," European Journal of Communication 1 (March 1986): 43-64; Siegfried Weischenberg, Martin Löffelholz and Armin Scholl, "Journalismus in Deutschland [Journalism in Germany]," Media Perspektiven 1 (January 1993): 21-33; Siegfried Weischenberg, Martin Löffelholz, and Armin Scholl, "Merkmale und Einstellungen von Journalisten [Journalist's Traits and Attitudes of]," Media Perspektiven 4 (April 1994): 154-67; Beate Schneider, Klaus Schönbach, and Dieter Stürzebecher, "Westdeutsche Journalisten im Vergleich: Jung, professionell und mit Spaß bei der Arbeit [West-German Journalists under Investigation: Young, Professional, and with Fun on the Job]," Publizistik 38 (January-March 1993): 5-30; Beate Schneider, Klaus Schönbach, and Dieter Stürzebecher, "Journalisten im vereinigten Deutschland. Strukturen, Arbeitsweisen und Einstellungen im Ost-West-Vergleich [Journalists in the United Germany. Structures, Routines, and Attitudes in an East-West Comparison]," Publizistik 38 (July-September 1993): 353-82.
39. Renate Köcher, "Bloodhounds or Missionaries: Role Definitions of German and British Journalists," European Journal of Communication 1 (March 1986): 43-64; Siegfried Weischenberg, Martin Löffelholz and Armin Scholl, "Journalismus in Deutschland [Journalism in Germany]," Media Perspektiven 1 (January 1993): 21-33; Siegfried Weischenberg, Martin Löffelholz, and Armin Scholl, "Merkmale und Einstellungen von Journalisten [Journalist's Traits and Attitudes of]," Media Perspektiven 4 (April 1994): 154-67; Beate Schneider, Klaus Schönbach, and Dieter Stürzebecher, "Westdeutsche Journalisten im Vergleich: Jung, professionell und mit Spaß bei der Arbeit [West-German Journalists under Investigation: Young, Professional, and with Fun on the Job]," Publizistik 38 (January-March 1993): 5-30; Beate Schneider, Klaus Schönbach, and Dieter Stürzebecher, "Journalisten im vereinigten Deutschland. Strukturen, Arbeitsweisen und Einstellungen im Ost-West-Vergleich [Journalists in the United Germany. Structures, Routines, and Attitudes in an East-West Comparison]," Publizistik 38 (July-September 1993): 353-82.
40. Renate Köcher, "Bloodhounds or Missionaries: Role Definitions of German and British Journalists," European Journal of Communication 1 (March 1986): 43-64; Siegfried Weischenberg, Martin Löffelholz and Armin Scholl, "Journalismus in Deutschland [Journalism in Germany]," Media Perspektiven 1 (January 1993): 21-33; Siegfried Weischenberg, Martin Löffelholz, and Armin Scholl, "Merkmale und Einstellungen von Journalisten [Journalist's Traits and Attitudes of]," Media Perspektiven 4 (April 1994): 154-67; Beate Schneider, Klaus Schönbach, and Dieter Stürzebecher, "Westdeutsche Journalisten im Vergleich: Jung, professionell und mit Spaß bei der Arbeit [West-German Journalists under Investigation: Young, Professional, and with Fun on the Job]," Publizistik 38 (January-March 1993): 5-30; Beate Schneider, Klaus Schönbach, and Dieter Stürzebecher, "Journalisten im vereinigten Deutschland. Strukturen, Arbeitsweisen und Einstellungen im Ost-West-Vergleich [Journalists in the United Germany. Structures, Routines, and Attitudes in an East-West Comparison]," Publizistik 38 (July-September 1993): 353-82.
41. Renate Köcher, "Bloodhounds or Missionaries: Role Definitions of German and British Journalists," European Journal of Communication 1 (March 1986): 43-64; Siegfried Weischenberg, Martin Löffelholz and Armin Scholl, "Journalismus in Deutschland [Journalism in Germany]," Media Perspektiven 1 (January 1993): 21-33; Siegfried Weischenberg, Martin Löffelholz, and Armin Scholl, "Merkmale und Einstellungen von Journalisten [Journalist's Traits and Attitudes of]," Media Perspektiven 4 (April 1994): 154-67; Beate Schneider, Klaus Schönbach, and Dieter Stürzebecher, "Westdeutsche Journalisten im Vergleich: Jung, professionell und mit Spaß bei der Arbeit [West-German Journalists under Investigation: Young, Professional, and with Fun on the Job]," Publizistik 38 (January-March 1993): 5-30; Beate Schneider, Klaus Schönbach, and Dieter Stürzebecher, "Journalisten im vereinigten Deutschland. Strukturen, Arbeitsweisen und Einstellungen im Ost-West-Vergleich [Journalists in the United Germany. Structures, Routines, and Attitudes in an East-West Comparison]," Publizistik 38 (July-September 1993): 353-82.
42. The use of this kind of presentation in German TV-shows is very less frequent than in the United States.
43. It would also be possible to consider an interview with a doctor in his office as an exemplar; however, we chose to classify this as an expert opinion. In the same manner, inserted documents could be seen to represent individual cases, and thus act as exemplars. Since we were interested in empirical data on statements made on the use of exemplars, however, it appeared propitious to use a restrictive definition.
44. The percent values add up to significantly more than 100, since each story could use more than one type of stylistic device.
45. There were no large differences between topics: exemplars were the most common stylistic device in all topic areas.
46. Akiba A. Cohen, The Television News Interview (Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1987).
47. The sample included the national news of ABC, CBS, CNN, and NBC on five randomly selected days, covering Monday to Friday in May and June 1994.
48. Dolf Zillmann and Hans-Bernd Brosius, Exemplification Theory (Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, 1999 [in press]).