| In the past few years, the television news magazine format has become increasingly pervasive in network prime time programming. Economics is the primary motivation behind the growth because news magazines are significantly less expensive to produce than entertainment dramas and comedies; the ratings are occupying spots in the Nielsen top 20; the advertising revenues are profitable; and they can create long-term loyalty of viewership.; The news magazine has been characterized by its in-depth, investigative approach to journalism. Networks claim that news magazines provide a public service for their audiences, acting as watchdogs and uncovering issues for public debate. However, shifting news standards to incorporate entertainment programming strategies has raised numerous criticisms that news story sensationalism and corporate synergy are intervening with news professionalism.; This study applies a market-driven journalism model and proposes that media commodification and conglomeration are the two major factors influencing the setting of news agendas and diversity of news sources. It conducts a content analysis of eight weeks of network news magazine programming, including 60 Minutes, 60 Minutes II, 48 Hours, 20/20 and Dateline. Other cable and syndicated news magazines are included for a comparison of news content and advertising: CNN with Time, CNN News Stand, MSNBC Weekend Magazine, Entertainment Tonight, Inside Edition and Extra.; This study finds that competition for audiences and advertising has made news merge with entertainment. Compared with prior research, the proportion of sensational news stories has increased, with a shift toward crime, scandal, lifestyle, health, celebrity coverage and entertainment, and away from public policy of political, economic, and foreign affairs. Overall, news stories are employing a more featurized and people-oriented approach to stories and events.; The significantly high Spearman's correlation coefficients among news magazines indicate that their category rankings are similar. Therefore, this study finds that the patterns of news topics, advertising, and news sources are consistent with each other. Accompanying the demographics data, the results indirectly support the theory of audience commodity that news topics are manipulated to capture certain lifestyles of audiences and sell the desired advertising.; Furthermore, this study finds that the diversity of news topics and sources is restricted by the synergy of corporations, which usually occurs in the conglomerate or partnership media with printed magazines. News magazines mix used or prior video images to repackage new stories and reduce production costs, especially in the cable and syndication programs. In addition, the promotion of entertainment programming and publishing books are often found in the syndicated programs. |
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