Electronic News

No social scientist has paused to discover exactly what, if anything, local television news anchors contribute to the newscast beyond their obvious on-air performance, and the assertion that has categorized anchors as gatherers in the research literature hasn't been tested. With clear consonance, however, these researchers found that local television news anchors regularly complete news gatherer, news manager, and news performer tasks; they cross work roles to participate in multiple activities in the news process. Although this study doesn't answer why anchors complete some tasks, the results of this study do call into question the usefulness of the work roles typology of gatherer and manager, and the relationship of work roles to the news-factory analogy. Because anchors cross work roles and work under conflicting sets of norms—journalism and business or entertainment—there are implications for the understanding of the role anchors play in balancing those norms in the final on-air product. A survey of 895 top local anchors resulted in 451 usable surveys, for a 50.4% response rate. Future research about local television news workers should account for anchors as a separate group and not categorize them merely as news gatherers or merely as performers.

Drawing on a survey of sports broadcasters in top markets, the authors use the theoretical lens of privilege to examine career paths of white men, women, and racial minorities and their views about social identity as influential in their career success. Those most privileged by gender (male) and race (white) least often acknowledged it. They were also less likely to believe women and minorities faced discrimination. Women and racial minorities were more likely to view their social identity as a reason they were hired, suggesting they might view themselves as “quota hires.” The authors discuss the practical implications of the findings and provide suggestions for the profession and for further research.

This pilot study explored the use of official and nonofficial sources as information subsidies in coverage of the Virginia Tech shootings and introduced a new type of information subsidy—new technology sources. Results indicated that reporters used significantly more new technology sources as information subsidies during the first two days of the crisis compared to the latter stage of the crisis, and that nonofficial sources were used to a greater extent than official sources. This study advances the literature on information subsidies by introducing a new type of subsidy, new technology, and therefore provides a benchmark for future studies on the use of new technology as an information subsidy in news coverage.