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Trends in violence in television drama were measured over a seven-year period climaxing with 1973-1974. About 70 percent of programing in 1973 contained violent episodes, as opposed to 80 percent in 1967. However the proportion of domestic crime programs increased, while programs of historic or exotic episodes declined, so that violence was increasingly depicted as occurring in present society. The number of violent episodes per hour was gauged at about eight for cartoons. Violence rates for Westerns were also measured. Types of persons most frequently shown as victims were tabulated. The relative violence rates for each of the three networks were charted. Tables showing each trend were prepared, along with those showing involvements in violence and risks for different groups. Other tables depicted those who watch violent programs by years of education, newspaper readings, and other indexes. (DGC)

This report presents an analysis of the characters created for prime time and weekend daytime network television drama and viewer conceptions associated with exposure to television. Data was gathered through 10 years of monitoring television programs, analyzing characters, and conducting surveys of child and adult viewers. Trends in representation of women and minorities (nonwhites, Hispanics, young and old people), findings on role characterizations and occupations, a measure of violence as a demonstration of power, and associations between television exposure and viewer conceptions of social reality are discussed. Television drama is found to underrepresent women and minorities. Typecasting of women is seen to restrict ooportunities. Women and minorities are characterized as more vulnerable than their majority counterparts and are more frequently depicted as victims of violence. A positive and statistically significant relationship was found between the time an individual spends watching television and the individual's stereotyping of the role of women and the aged. Younger viewers born into a television world are found to be more imbued with its depiction of people and less likely to express an independent view of reality. Graphs and tables of data are included in the report. (MK)

This study of the role of television in the presentation and cultivation of public conceptions of science and technology investigated these issues: (1) the types of representation and information about scientists, science, and technology that are embedded in television programs; (2) types of images and beliefs about science that television tends to cultivate in different groups of viewers; (3) levels of scientific interest and information associated with television watching in different groups of viewers; (4) public policy conceptions and attitudes toward science cultivated by television; and (5) how the reading of science magazines and viewing of science documentaries modify television's contributions to conceptions of science. A message system analysis performed on a sample of prime-time dramatic programs broadcast between 1973 and 1983 revealed that, if medicine is included, the images of science and technology appear in 7 out of every 10 of these programs, and that, in addition to news and occasional documentaries, the average prime-time viewer will see 11 doctors and one or two other scientists each week. The results of a national telephone survey of adults (N=1,643) indicate that heavy watchers of television have less favorable attitudes toward science than those who watch television less, especially in groups whose light viewers are the most favorable (such as those who went to college); television viewing is associated with a less positive adults (N=1,643) view of scientists and new technologies; and heavy viewers show more willingness to place restrictions on science and evidence the opinion that scientists are odd and peculiar. While television appears to inhibit interest in science among the best informed, it also reduced the amount the most interested think they know. A list of references is provided, as well as extensive appendices, which contain 40 data tables, 23 figures, a description of the research methodology, and a sample survey instrument. (JB)

Acknowledges a number of studies that show an association among children, but warns that such an association does not prove causality. Calls for the implementation of such controls as IQ and social class in research on the effects of television on achievement. (GC)

Trends in violence in television drama were measured from 1967 to 1976. In 1976, 89.1 percent of programming contained violent episodes, as opposed to 78.4 percent in 1975. The increase in violence was not due to changes in context of dramatic programming. The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) contained the most violence overall in children's and late evening hours. The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) was middle in overall violence due to a decline in late evening violence and despite increases in family and children's hours. The Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) held the lowest family, late evening, and overall violence scores. Persons most frequently victimized were children; old, unmarried, nonwhite or lower class women; and nonwhites. Children and adult viewer responses to questions about social reality confirmed previous findings that heavy exposure to violence in television drama may cultivate fear and mistrust. Tables showing trends of overall violence, violence for different viewing hours, and violence for each network from 1967 to 1976 are included. (KP)

This paper discusses mass media images of family life, the impact of media on families and evidence concerning sexually explicit programing. Section One identifies characteristics of family images (including sex-related differences and typical themes) found in women's magazines, comic strips, films, children's books and television. Television researchers have found that the themes of home and family and close personal relationships between the sexes are those which appear most frequently in network prime-time and weekend-daytime dramatic programing. Section Two considers the impact media have on families. First, the research on the uses and functions of television within the family is summarized. Next, research on the context of family viewing is reviewed and the consequences of the family viewing environment on television's effects are inspected. Finally, the kinds of family life expectations television may cultivate are discussed. It is argued that television seems to cultivate attitudes about when to form a family and how many children to have. Section Three reviews research on how television depicts sexual activity. It is concluded that television is becoming more sexy but not less sexist. (Author/RH)

This 2-year study was conducted to investigate the nature of religious television, its viewers, and its effect on mainline or other local churches. Four specific areas were addressed: the nature of the viewing audience, the content of religious television, the appeals and satisfactions (uses and functions) of religious programs, and behavioral effects of various levels of religious and general television viewing. Two methods of data collection were employed: a study of the content of 101 national and local religious programs broadcast over a 3-week period in 1982, and one national and two regional surveys which assessed the ideas and behaviors viewing tends to cultivate in its audiences. Findings indicate that: (1) higher levels of religious behavior were reported by those who watch more religious television; (2) correlates of general viewing show some similarities and some contrasts with those of viewing religious programs (general viewing seems to cultivate some of the same beliefs as religious television, such as biblical literalism, belief in miracles, and acceptance of speaking in tongues); (3) while heavy viewers of religious television read the Bible and pray more than light viewers, heavy general television viewers pray more than light viewers but read the Bible less; (4) those who watch more general television are less likely to have had a religious experience, to attend church often, to engage in non-worship activities, or to make contributions to their local church; (5) heavy viewers of religious programs are more likely than non-viewers to describe themselves as conservatives, oppose a nuclear freeze, favor tougher laws against pornography, and report voting in the last general election; (6) the vigorous cultivation of traditional sexual values is one of the most distinctive features of religious programs and especially of the television ministries; and (7) heavy viewers of religious television express greater confidence in leaders of local churches and organized religion than do light viewers. The second half of the document contains 75 data tables with raw data on viewers and non-viewers of religious television. The results of the national Gallup Organization portion of the study are also presented. A list of references is provided. (JB)

The highly selective and politically shaped portrayals of violence and terror conceal rather than reveal the actual incidence and distribution of real violence and terror. These portrayals, including the choice of labels, serve as projective devices that isolate acts and people from meaningful contexts and set them up to be stigmatized and victimized. Symbolic uses benefit those who control them. They are usually states and media establishments, not small-scale or isolated actors or insurgents. The mass ritual of television presents a world which is power oriented. Though perpetrators of small-scale acts of violence and terror may occasionally force media attention and, in that sense, seem to advance their cause, in the last analysis such a challenge serves to enhance media credibility ("just reporting the facts") and is used to mobilize support for repression, often in the form of wholesale state violence and terror or military action, presented as justified by the provocation. (RS)