Popular Culture Review
92
Table 2: Profile of Media Broadcasts
M EDIA PRO FILE
Number of speakers on Each broadcast day
4/19
4/20
4/21
4/22
4/23
4/24
4/25
125
125
107
106
96
103
89
Number of speakers
ABC 236
CBS 297
NBC 216
Number of speakers on story
On story 656
Related story 22
Off story 71
Sources: ABC 1995a-1995g, CBS 1995a-1995g, NBC 1995a-1995g
Of the six hundred seventy-eight on-story speakers used in these twenty-one
broadcasts, only thirty quaUfy as one of the three categories of pohcy ehtes defined
by this study (see Table 3). State managers were the most active pohcy ehtes during
this week of newscasts.
Table 3: Speaker Classification
SPEAKER CATEGORIES
CATEGORY
TOTAL NUMBERS
Business representatives
3
Pubhc interest groups
8
State managers
19
Sources: ABC 1995a-1995g, CBS 1995a-1995g, NBC 1995a-1995g
The interviews of all thirty representatives were used in a total of seventyseven places during the broadcasts that week. State managers accounted for sixtythree of the seventy-seven instances. Not only were state managers the largest
group of pohcy ehtes to be interviewed, their expert opinions were used in the
media more frequently than any other group.