On Hard versus Soft News: A Content Analysis of Reporting by Three Nationally-Televised Evening News Programs

Joseph A. Rosendale^1*, Andrew Longcore²

¹Management Department Faculty, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Indiana, PA, USA.
²Communications Media Department, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Indiana, PA, USA.

DOI: 10.4236/jss.2015.311008                

Abstract

While television still represents the most pervasive medium by which Americans get their news, questions as to the quality and content being reported have been raised. Through the lens of framing theory, this study utilizes content analysis of three main evening news broadcasts to ex-amine what type of news is being reported and in what context. Results suggest that there is a significant difference between the broadcasts studied, and that the majority of each program is devoted to content other than what is considered “hard” news.

Keywords

Hard and Soft News, Content Analysis, National News Broadcasting, Framing Theory

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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