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- Creators: Department of English
- Creators: Arizona State University
Description
U.S. television is about earning profits, but European broadcasting has historically been governed as public service, indirectly or directly operated by the government. Substantial changes occurred in the 1990s. Privatization and the United Kingdom’s Independent Television franchise auction stimulated commercial developments throughout Europe. Even public service broadcasters lost their traditional characteristics, adopting routines making them almost indistinguishable from commercial competitors.
Television remains the number one news source overall. Research shows news adheres to similar, recurring and predictable elements; an anchor team balances the broadcast and its various elements, following a formula of friendly personalities, visuals and sound bites.
This study examined American news consultants’ role in the development of television news in the UK in the 1990s. American news consultants’ work abroad is important because they spread the U.S. model - the origin of today’s on-air news style – and changed television news on a global scale.
Limited research has been conducted on the consultants’ European work and how they operated, largely because of proprietary material. This study was based on 2359 pages of archival material from Frank N. Magid Associates’ European archives. In addition, 24 interviews with Magid staff and UK journalists allowed for a comprehensive examination.
Magid truly infiltrated UK television - from the headquarters of the BBC and ITN, to the regions. A major finding is the extent of Magid’s penetration with research services, storytelling and performance training. During the franchise auction, Magid worked with ITV clients in 11 of the 16 regions.
This study examined how Magid played a role in the development of television news. It analyzed key concepts integrated into UK news and how those are similar or different from the U.S. The importance of good storytelling permeated the findings. Tell a story well – tailored to the culture, medium and viewers – and it will attract an audience. In turn, that attracts advertisers, making news profitable. Change theory guided an analysis of societal forces. Driving forces, such as privatization and technology, spurred on development of television news; restraining forces, such as fear of Americanization, slowed it down.
Television remains the number one news source overall. Research shows news adheres to similar, recurring and predictable elements; an anchor team balances the broadcast and its various elements, following a formula of friendly personalities, visuals and sound bites.
This study examined American news consultants’ role in the development of television news in the UK in the 1990s. American news consultants’ work abroad is important because they spread the U.S. model - the origin of today’s on-air news style – and changed television news on a global scale.
Limited research has been conducted on the consultants’ European work and how they operated, largely because of proprietary material. This study was based on 2359 pages of archival material from Frank N. Magid Associates’ European archives. In addition, 24 interviews with Magid staff and UK journalists allowed for a comprehensive examination.
Magid truly infiltrated UK television - from the headquarters of the BBC and ITN, to the regions. A major finding is the extent of Magid’s penetration with research services, storytelling and performance training. During the franchise auction, Magid worked with ITV clients in 11 of the 16 regions.
This study examined how Magid played a role in the development of television news. It analyzed key concepts integrated into UK news and how those are similar or different from the U.S. The importance of good storytelling permeated the findings. Tell a story well – tailored to the culture, medium and viewers – and it will attract an audience. In turn, that attracts advertisers, making news profitable. Change theory guided an analysis of societal forces. Driving forces, such as privatization and technology, spurred on development of television news; restraining forces, such as fear of Americanization, slowed it down.
ContributorsLiseblad, Madeleine Sonja (Author) / Thornton, Leslie-Jean (Thesis advisor) / Casavantes, Michael (Committee member) / Delmont, Matthew (Committee member) / Silcock, Burton William (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
Using a critical textual approach and a feminist lens, this paper analyses the television adaptation, Outlander, and its depictions of sexual violence. The nature of adaptation and how the adaptation process can lead to incidental as well as intentional alterations in the storytelling are addressed throughout the paper. The analysis is done in two parts, the first exploring emergent themes such as the use of bodies’ geographic location, scars, and nudity to depict messages about power, the impact of the adaptation’s choice to promote Jamie’s perspective, and the use of cinematic techniques as narrative devices. The second half of the analysis covers how notable characters and events are framed by the show to promote a division between pure evil (embodied by Capt. Randall) and the heroes of the story, Claire and Jamie, whose problematic behaviors are minimized or promoted by the narrative. Many of the scenes in the show can be read multiple ways, sending different or even contradictory messages. However, despite the positive critical response to the show, this paper argues that Outlander still reinforces the notion that female characters are natural victims, and undermines the trauma of their assaults, in contrast to the focus given to the rape of Jamie, the heterosexual male lead.
ContributorsHeath, Mary (Author) / Mean, Lindsey (Thesis advisor) / Nadesan, Majia (Committee member) / Gruber, Diane (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
Netflix has positioned itself at the forefront of the future of television with its original programming, which has been rolled out in greater and more frequent amounts just in the last couple of years. The streaming service has already experimented with creativity in ways most other shows and creators haven't, playing with the pacing of overall seasons as well as the length of episodes. So, too, Netflix has been at the forefront of increasing visibility for minority characters on television. Many of its shows incorporate racially diverse casts and depict lots of LGBTQ characters, a refreshingly realistic view of the world that many of its viewers have always lived in but haven't yet witnessed on television. Visibility and representation are critical concepts for analyzing minority characters on television. It is important for diverse characters to be seen, first and foremost, but also to be seen in positive or at least realistic lights. Care must be taken to avoid fulfilling stereotypes or tropes, and attention must be paid to what has happened to other characters who have come before. However, many of Netflix's portrayals of these characters, particularly bisexual characters, leave much to be desired. With the original dramas House of Cards, Hemlock Grove, Orange is the New Black, and Sense8, all of which include characters who identify as or behave bisexually, Netflix has been reluctant to use the specific word bisexual to describe characters, and many don't even identify their sexuality with a synonym for the term. Many of the bisexual characters that I identified died or were killed on the shows, and nearly all of them fulfilled stereotypes or tropes in some way. There were multiple scenes of threesomes or other distinctly kinky sexual encounters, which served to exoticize bisexuality and distance it from the more normatively viewed identities of heterosexuality and homosexuality. Ultimately, while Netflix's original programming has offered increased visibility to bisexual characters, it has yet to reflect the real community it seeks to portray. In particular, Netflix's refusal to label characters as bisexual is frustrating and limiting. It can be argued that this is a progressive move toward more ideas of sexual fluidity and a post-modern lack of sexual labels, but there are not enough depictions of identified bisexual characters on television yet for this to make sense. Until bisexual characters and their identities are not invisibilized or stigmatized, more work has to be done to ensure that bisexual people are represented fairly and accurately on television and in all media.
ContributorsKoerth, Kimberly Marie (Author) / Himberg, Julia (Thesis director) / Sturges, Robert (Committee member) / Department of English (Contributor) / College of Public Service and Community Solutions (Contributor) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication (Contributor) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
Amphibians have been experiencing a worldwide decline that is in part caused by an infectious disease, chytridiomycosis, specific to frogs and salamanders. Globally many species have declined or gone extinct because of the pathogenic fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, also known as the amphibian chytrid or Bd. By the time Bd was discovered it was too late to stop the spread and it has now been found on almost every continent. The trade of captive amphibians, used as pets, bait, and educational animals provides an opportunity to spread Bd. Because some amphibians can carry Bd without experiencing symptoms, it is possible for even healthy looking amphibians to spread the amphibian chytrid if they are moved from one location to another. Recently, a new species Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal) was found on salamanders. Bsal was identified before it reached the United States, prompting concern regarding its spread and a call for regulation regarding the trade of captive amphibians. There are some regulations in place controlling the trade of amphibians, but they are insufficient to stop the spread of amphibian chytrid in captive populations. A 2016 law prohibits the importation of 201 salamander species. However, there is no central organization to sample or certify if amphibians are free from Bd or Bsal. Although some stores say they test for these pathogens the tests are unregulated and not reported to any central body. If the captive amphibian trade is to go disease free, there would need to be a significant push to coordinate testing efforts. To estimate Bd's prevalence in Arizona captive amphibian populations, I contacted pet stores, bait stores, and sanctuary or educational organizations to ask if I could sample their amphibian collections. My research built on the 2008 work of Angela Picco, who sampled for the amphibian chytrid in Arizona bait shops. I found that amphibian owners were often hesitant and unwilling to participate in this research opportunity. There are multiple reasons for this hesitancy including a fear of increased regulation, the potential for reporting to a government agency (USDA), or the eventual cessation of amphibian trade. The lack of willing participants suggests there may be difficulties in coordinating future sampling efforts for Bd and Bsal.
ContributorsFadlovich, Rachel Maurine (Author) / Collins, James (Thesis director) / Minteer, Ben (Committee member) / Brus, Evan (Committee member) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
This work examines three common practices—yellowface in Cloud Atlas (2012), whitewashing in Star Trek Into Darkness (2013), and absence in Firefly (2002)—employed in popular science fiction that represent Asianness and disregard the Asian body. Though the creators purport to have progressive ideals at the center of their production choices, their works call on Techno-Orientalist and Orientalist tropes and divorce them from the Asian body, implicitly continuing the Orientalist argument of Western supremacy even in representing Asianness.
ContributorsTse, Kassidy Laurane (Author) / Miller, April (Thesis director) / Rondilla, Joanne (Committee member) / Department of English (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
The television industry has experienced major changes in the past decade that have affected our behaviors, expectations, and perceptions of the world. New services offer different methods of consuming media and shift the way the industry defines television. The following research reflects on past trends in television history and the current landscape in order to understand how television will continue to evolve, adapt, or return to old practices as it reacts to audiences' needs. From the growth of binge-watching to the proliferation of connected devices and digital technologies, the television industry faces many new challenges and opportunities. Consumers have shifted from the post-network era of cable's dominance to the leading online, digital services that enhance consumers' desires to have television anywhere and everywhere. Although these changes threaten the industry's current advertising models, they also present new ways for networks to connect with quality audiences, and thereby, shape our identities and consumer culture. This study analyzes the influence of these changes and considers how the current state of the television industry may continue to change in the future.
ContributorsDorsey, Caitlin Renee (Author) / Himberg, Julia (Thesis director) / Haggins, Bambi (Committee member) / Department of English (Contributor) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), the amphibian chytrid fungus causing chytridiomycosis, is the cause of massive amphibian die-offs. As with any host-pathogen relationship, it is paramount to understand the growth and reproduction of the pathogen that causes an infectious disease outbreak. The life-cycle of the pathogen, Bd, is strongly influenced by temperature; however, previous research has focused on Bd isolated from limited geographic ranges, and may not be representative of Bd on a global scale. My research examines the relationship between Bd and temperature on the global level to determine the actual thermal maximum of Bd. Six isolates of Bd, from three continents, were incubated at a temperature within the thermal range (21°C) and a temperature higher than the optimal thermal range (27°C). Temperature affected the growth and zoosporangium size of all six isolates of Bd. All six isolates had proliferative growth at 21°C, but at 27°C the amount and quality of growth varied per isolate. My results demonstrate that each Bd isolate has a different response to temperature, and the thermal maximum for growth varies with each isolate. Further understanding of the difference in isolate response to temperature can lead to a better understanding of Bd pathogen dynamics, as well as allow us the ability to identify susceptible hosts and environments before an outbreak.
ContributorsWoodland, Laura Elizabeth (Author) / Collins, James (Thesis director) / Davidson, Elizabeth (Committee member) / Roberson, Robert (Committee member) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / School of Molecular Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
This project explores television as the mediation of lived experience through a semiotic phenomenological lens. To do so, this thesis explores representations of gendered violence in self-identified feminist, Sally Wainwright's two shows: Last Tango in Halifax (2012) and Happy Valley (2014). By employing a phenomenological framework to Sally Wainwright's own relationships and experiences, I will seek to examine the semiotic codes embedded in the interactions between women in Happy Valley and Last Tango in Halifax. This will also provide a foundation for discussion on how and why the characters in her shows appear in ways that submit to and subvert the dominant 21st century understanding of 'feminine' on television.
ContributorsFry, Elisabeth (Author) / Sandlin, Jennifer (Thesis advisor) / Cavender, Gray (Committee member) / Anderson, Lisa (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
The mass media genre known as true crime is dismissed often as a more sensational, less reliable iteration of traditional crime journalism. Consumer and editorial confusion exists because there is no overarching criteria determining what is, and what is not, true crime. To that extent, the complete history of true crime’s origins and its best practitioners and works cannot be known with any certainty, and its future forms cannot be anticipated. Scholarship is overdue on an effective criteria to determine when nonfiction murder narratives cease to be long-form crime reporting and become something else. Against the backdrop of this long-evolving, multi-faceted literary/documentary genre, the researcher in this exploratory, qualitative study seeks to (a) examine the historical tension between formal journalism and true crime; (b) reveal how traditional journalism both reviles and plunders true crime for its rhetorical treasures; and (c) explain how this has destabilized the meaning of the term “true crime” to the degree that a more substantive understanding needs to be established. Through a textual analysis of the forms and functions of representative artifacts, the researcher will suggest that a Theory of True Crime could be patterned after time-tested analytic codes created for fiction, but structured in a simple two-stage examination that would test for dominant characteristics of established true crime texts.
ContributorsPunnett, Ian, 1960- (Author) / Russell, Dennis (Thesis advisor) / Holtfreter, Kristy (Committee member) / Russomanno, Joseph (Committee member) / Silcock, William (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
This paper analyzes the television show Star Trek: Deep Space Nine within the context of the other Trek series, especially the original series and Star Trek: The Next Generation, with a particular focus on multiculturalism. Previous Trek series present an image of the United Federation of Planets that has evolved into a peaceful, cooperative, post-scarcity, multicultural utopia, but gloss over the difficulties the Federation governments must have faced in creating this utopia and must still face in maintaining it. I argue that DS9’s shift in focus away from exploration and towards a postcolonial, multicultural, stationary setting allows the show to interrogate the nature of the Federation’s multicultural utopia and showcase the difficulties in living in and managing a space with a plurality of cultures. The series, much more than those that precede and follow it, both directly and indirectly criticizes the Federation and its policies, suggesting that its utopian identity is based more in assimilation than multiculturalism. Nonetheless, this criticism, which is frequently abandoned and even undermined, is inconsistent. By focusing on three of the show’s contested spaces/settings—the space station itself, the wormhole, and the demilitarized zone—I analyze the ways in which DS9’s ambivalent criticism of the success of multiculturalism challenges the confidence of the Trek tradition.
ContributorsPoterack, Vivien Eulalie (Author) / Free, Melissa (Thesis director) / Sandlin, Jennifer (Committee member) / Department of English (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05