Expands Foucault's genealogy of the modern subject and morals, particularly as found in "The History of Sexuality." Focuses on the contemporary sex therapist Dr. Ruth, locating the phenomenon of Dr. Ruth within the matrix of power/knowledge and the political technology of the body. (SR)

Examines the current state of empirical research on religious television, discusses some of the implicit difficulties in exploring this phenomenon and its viewership, and suggests avenues for future research. (MS)

Argues that aesthetic or literary approaches to television provide an essential corrective to recent emphases on the ideological dimensions of modern media. Defines television as a contemporary American instance of "consensus narrative," a cultural formation or institution in which society's central beliefs and values undergo continuous…

Argues that the current popular negative critique of television, if examined carefully, reveals fundamental confusions concerning how print and television communicate information. Discusses the syntax of motion which distinguishes television from print, based on movement in space--a space that is both visual and acoustic. (SR)

Indicates that television news coverage of unemployment in early 1983 contained few explicit explanations. Reveals a diversity of thematic structures that (1) revealed the societal frameworks within which television journalists constructed their stories, and (2) raised question as to whether television acts as a disseminator of a "dominant…

Suggests a new academic perspective for investigating the nature of mass-mediated public controversies based on Stuart Hall's theory of articulation. This theory is appropriated to help identify the empowering associations made between the individuals and groups participating in the 1993 controversy over the embattled television program "NYPD…

Contributes to scholarship regarding whether, when, and how feminist formulations of rape made their way into the mainstream by examining 25 episodes of prime-time television featuring rape as a primary plot element from 1976 through 1978. Finds that these episodes bolster hegemonic masculinity by focusing on male protagonists, depicting them as…

Describes three varieties of metatelevision: audience awareness and intertextuality or medium-reflexive structure; metagenericism or genre-reflexive structure; and autodeconstruction and ilinx or text-reflexive narrative. Metatelevision relies on the ability of the viewers to recognize artifice. (NKA)

Argues that texts may be especially rhetorically effective when the content, the medium used to convey the content, and the real life experiences that make the content relevant are formally or structurally similar. Suggests that formal linkage creates rhetorical effect, and uses Burke's theory of forms to explain the effect of formal links. (MS)

Discusses issues raised in a content analysis of local television news, including (1) media definitions of community, (2) community in the narrative, and (3) the question of "boosterism." Claims that possible directions for research into local television news stem from a consideration of content. (JD)

Argues that, up until recently, the whole of British television (public and private) was a public service system, that the 1990 Broadcasting Act and satellite channels have introduced greater competitive pressures, and that British television is moving to a commercial system in which there remains a subordinate public service element. (SR)

Identifies the significance of the long-running debate among religious broadcasting professionals and religion practitioners regarding the size of the audience for religious television. (MS)

Argues that critics are caught in the dialectical tension between "technology" and "art" in television research. Examines how this dialectic informs and constrains examination of television. Presents "rhetorical aesthetics" to support the claim that critics should draw inferences from practical consideration of…

Examines the relationship between narrative structure and production techniques in two television programs, "All in the Family" and "M*A*S*H." Argues that the communicative ability of any television narrative is, in large part, a function of the production techniques used. (PD)

Discusses the Cook Islands experience in acquiring television and how highlighting push, pull, and temporal factors accounts for the creation and maintenance of dependency relationships. Demonstrates how the dependency relationships cannot be reduced to "natural" market forces but rather a range of strategies which Television New Zealand…