News broadcasts have been a staple in the lives of many long before the invention of the television. As technology changed, the place of the newscaster shifted from the radio to the television screen. These earliest years of television news did not adhere to the same conventions as the modern newscast. Moving from radio to television as the major source of broadcast news brought on new challenges. In order to do so, networks were forced to experiment with how stories and new anchors would be presented to their television audiences (Conway, 2007). Newscasters who were once popular among audiences could no longer be certain that this popularity would remain. Audiences who had once been captivated by the voice of an unseen man being transmitted over the airwaves were beginning to lose interest watching a man, eyes down, reading prepared lines from a card (Conway, 2007). It became apparent that the format so often used for radio newscast would no longer be sufficient when applies to a visual medium like television. As years went by, television networks began trying new ways to captivate their audiences once more. In this early period of news broadcasting many of today’s familiar conventions would be developed often times through experimentation. The use of graphics, video footage, images and other visual aids to the anchor on set were all developed in some of the earliest years of television news (Conway, 2007). These developments could then be employed as supplementary additions to the anchors delivery of the news and give the audience something more to view on their screen. The use of visual aids allowed for newscasts to features instances “where the newscaster appeared on camera, other times his voice guided the viewer ...
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Good evening and welcome to The History of Television. On tonight’s show we will focus on how and
Esch, Madeleine. Shufeldt. Renovating Television, Remodeling Gender: Home Improvement Television and Gendered Domesticities, 1990-2005. n.p. ProQuest, UMI Dissertations Publishing, 2009.
Cunningham, Matt. How has the evolution of TV chanced America? 11 March 2011. 15 April 2014.
On September 20, 1984 a show aired that changed the way we view gender roles on television. Television still perpetuates traditional gender stereotypes and in reflecting them TV reinforces them by presenting them as the norm (Chandler, 1). The Cosby Show, challenged the typical gender stereotyping of television, daring to go against the dominant social values of its time period. In its challenge of the dominant social view, the show redefined the portrayal of male and female roles in television. It redefined the gender role in the work place, in social expectations, and in household responsibilities. The Cosby Show supported Freidan in her view of “castigating the phony happy housewife heroine of the women’s magazines” (Douglas 136).
In American culture today, women continue the struggle of identifying what their roles in society are supposed to be. Our culture has been sending mixed messages to the modern day female, creating a sense of uneasiness to an already confusing and stressful world. Although women today are encouraged more than ever to be independent, educated, and successful, they are often times shamed for having done just that. Career driven females are frequently at risk of being labeled as bossy, unfeminine, or selfish for competing in many career paths that were once dominated by men. A popular medium in our culture such as television continues to have significant influences as to how people should aspire to live their lives. Viewers develop connections with relatable characters and to relationship dynamics displayed within their favorite shows. Fictional characters and relationships can ultimately influence a viewer’s fashion sense, social and political opinion, and attitude towards gender norms. Since the days of Bewitched and I Dream of Jeanie, where women were commonly portrayed as being the endearing mischievous housewife, television shows have evolved in order to reflect real life women who were becoming increasingly more independent, educated, and career oriented throughout the subsequent decades. New genres of television are introduced, such as the workplace comedy, where women are not only career oriented, but eventually transition into positions of power.
It wasn’t just when the news was delivered but also how it was delivered. It had an influence because of the great personalities of Dick Smyth, Lee Marshall, Grant Hudson and others who dramatically and entertainingly delivered the news. They reported the news “dramatically” and with the “same energy as disk jockeys had snappy writing with alliterations, and a lot of short sound bites.” They were deejays without music. This dynamic combination of news reporting made for an amusing news report; that not only captured the audience, but also kept them tuning in.
Individuals may believe this new exposure of political debates and facts about the candidates would help the public make an educated decision of their president. However, all of that television has done is turn the presidential debates into a popularity contest. Elections were based on image, charm and how the networks wish to have the candidates perceived. Televisions’ contribution to political debates only emphasized personality, visual image and emotion rather than ideas, issues and reason.
Taken at face value, Norman Mailer’s Armies of the Night and Tom Wolfe’s The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test may seem very similar. They are both centered on a major author of the 1960s and his experiencing of historical events of the time, while set in the style of New Journalism. When examined closer, though, it becomes apparent that these novels represent two very different sides of New Journalism – Armies of the Night an autobiography with personal and political motivations, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test a sociological piece which tries to capture the essence of its subjects rather than the absolute facts. By looking at the form and style which the novels were written in and the motives behind Mailer’s Armies of the Night and Wolfe’s The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test it is revealed how these novels represent the two major directions which New Journalism can take.
Many current crime dramas give younger female viewers female role models in professionally powerful positions. Law and Order: SVU commonly casts their district attorneys and judges with women. In addition, the characters often are portrayed as independent and strong women as they battle against tough male opponents. For too long, women have been portrayed in television as either being the “woman behind the man” or as needing to use her sex appeal in order to be powerful. Another crime drama, Criminal Minds, has casted females in roles such as the director of the FBI’s Behavior Analysis Unit, agents who also worked undercover in the CIA, and as international secret agents. All of these characters have, for the most part, been portrayed positively. An adult is aware that in the real world women in powerful positions is not fiction; and, wom...
Overall, in the last few months of working in mock news days, I have learnt the true factors behind what we see on our television screens. It is a very narrow view on the world, and often a mixture of logistics and legislation prevent some news from even entering our televisions. I found that sometimes the most interesting and valuable of news topics is not picked in order to prevent things such as copycat behaviour and also because a person in unavailable. Broadcast journalism is heavily based on pictures for our viewers to be told the story, and that words are used just to enhance the story. Overall, I believe our mock news days have truly reflected what it is like to work in a real life broadcast environment, and the stress and pressures journalists work through in order to put news on our screens.
Before analyzing the history of Rock n’ Roll television, the history of how watching television came to become a popular must come into question. To summarize briefly, the invention of television was in development since the 1870s, however the first demonstration of live transmitted images in motion was in 1925 lead by Scottish inventor John Logie Baird (Radio Shows Far Away Objects in Motion). The image was of Baird’s business partner Oliver Hutchinson (Television), showing a mere five frames per second, it was an impressive sight for the time. With perfection of the invention, electronic televisions had been developed by Vladimir Kosma Zworykin with the help of the RCA radio...
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This brings us to the two factors that influence an audience when presenting information through a media: the vividness of presentation and the position of a story (Baran 302). These factors, along with others, induce the audience to feel as if a particul...