Putting a face on television news: Parasocial interaction and newscaster persona preference

Literature in the study of human communication often discusses the similarities among different forms of message processing. Early in the 21st century efforts are underway to make mediated communication appear to be as close to "face-to-face" discussion as the technology will allow.; Past studies concerning television in particular have assumed the audience is passive and quite content to assimilate message content because of a need to satisfy basic psychological and/or social needs, i.e., information, entertainment or just to fight boredom/loneliness. Later studies emphasized a growing relationship of interactivity between the audience and the technology which delivers the mass communication message.; Centering on a "uses and gratifications" approach, the study of mediated communication today opens up more possibilities for research, including new emphasis on the phenomenon known as parasocial interaction (PSI), which is suggested by more recent literature to increase as the technology makes possible more "lifelike" media experiences.; The current study looks at elements of communication research which emphasize the growing importance of parasocial interaction and an actively engaged audience in mass communication, focusing on television news as a primary example of the convergence of technology and a possible model for the intersection of mass and interpersonal communication theory.; Parasocial interaction with a mass medium such as television is measured in comparison to both the level of similarity to interpersonal relations and to any special reasons for connection to a particular televised persona. An examination of these relationships can help future researchers better understand the similarities and differences, both real and perceived, between interpersonal and mass communication.; A methodology is proposed for studying factors which contribute to levels of parasocial interaction in the use of college students' television news viewing, how these factors closely parallel those of actual human interaction, and how PSI potentially is a major component in bridging the gap between mediated and interpersonal communication.