Page 235 - Media Effects Advances in Theory and Research

224 McLEOD, KOSICKI, McLEOD

Apart from the manifest or latent features of news content, we might
consider variations in news format. This can refer to the parameters of
story length or size, length of sound bites or quotes within stories, labels
or other means of identifying the genre of the story, or congruency of
audio and visual tracks. Features of form in entertainment television pro-
grams have been shown to have effects independent of content (Watt &
Krull, 1977).
Considerable research has examined the factors that shape the con-
struction of news content. Among the factors cited in the newswork liter-
ature are the values of individual journalists; their sources; organizational
deadlines and routines; occupational ideologies; ownership; and legal,
social, and ideological constraints (e.g., Bennett, 2001; Herman & Chom-
sky, 1988; Shoemaker & Mayfield, 1987; Shoemaker & Reese, 1996; Spar-
row, 1999).
Media institutions and media workers have developed distinctive
organizational procedures, values, and work routines to facilitate their
tasks of producing the news on a regular basis. Given their proximity to
East Coast government and financial centers, elite universities, and think
tanks, there is a tendency to draw from sources with geographic and
social proximity, thus restricting the range of sources and views (e.g.,
Gans, 1979; Herman & Chomsky, 1988; Lee & Solomon, 1990). Effects of
this bias range from assessments of the relative importance of presidential
primaries (Adams, 1987) to a general sense of conformity to establishment
priorities and worldviews (Gitlin, 1980).
Sourcing the news has long been recognized as a central problem in
journalism because of the role sources play as “primary definers” (Eric-
son, Baranek, & Chan, 1989; Hall, Critcher, Jefferson, Clarke, & Roberts,
1978; Soley, 1992). Although choices of sources are generally crucial, the
influence of these decisions on what is actually printed or broadcast may
be mediated by the overall context in which the story is embedded. For
example, although political candidates often set the tone for campaigns
by waging low-key or intense, negative campaigns (Jamieson, 1992), these
actions by sources will influence decisions about the resources news orga-
nizations are willing to commit to coverage of any given race (Clarke &
Evans, 1983; Westlye, 1991).
Much of this literature, however, grows out of sociological concerns
and remains, with certain exceptions, rather uniformed by advances in
cognitive and social psychology (Kennamer, 1988; Stocking & Gross,
1989). This arguably has led to an overemphasis on news production as a
selection process and drawn attention away from the constructionist
aspects that might link more readily with certain media effects traditions
(Ryan, 1991). Nonetheless, Bennett and others such as Iyengar (1991)
identified characteristics of news that are helpful in conceptualizing