FREE ESSAY ON TALK-SHOW VIEWING

TALK-SHOW VIEWING

The article aims to assess whether data is consistent with critics' claims on the effects
of talk show viewing on the social reality beliefs of adolescents. Critics hypothesize
the following negative effects occur (on adolescents) as a result of talk-show viewing:
1) a incessant focus on bizarre behavior and social deviance leading viewers to accept
distorted versions of reality, 2) desensitization to the suffering of others occurs due
to (regular) viewer immunity to graphic discussions and guest outbursts, 3) the
trivialization of important social issues due to the oversimplification of difficult
issues. In order to test the three hypotheses, a survey was administered to 282 high
school students ranging in age from 13-18. Students answered questions about their
attitudes towards social issues and related media use and talk show viewing behavior. The
study analyses was limited to daytime television talk shows featuring non-celebrity
individuals discussing their personal lives and problems. The authors the study based on
the interpretive theory of communication. They attempted, through the survey, to uncover
the ways in which talk-shows do/do not influence adolescents in arriving at their general
meaning of social reality. Interpretive theories "describe the process whereby the active
mind [the adolescents] uncovers the meanings of experience [bizarre topics] in whatever
form it may take [talk-show viewing]. The results of the survey provided support for the
first hypothesis, disputed the second and proved contrary to the third, actually
establishing a positive relationship between talk-show viewing and the importance of
social issues. Although talk-shows have an effect on adolescents, the data did not
suggest that adolescents are corrupted by watching them. 
Stacey Davis and Marie-Louise Mares, "Effects of Talk Show Viewing on Adolescents,"
Journal of Communication, (1988) p.69-85.