Television: What's On, Who's Watching, and What It Means
Editorial Reviews
Choice, October 1999
"The renewed debate about media violence makes this comprehensive survey of empirical research on television viewers, content, and effect particularly timely. Providing a guide to that research and referencing more than 1,000 studies, Comstock and Scharrer divide the volume into three sections. In the first section they present findings about how the medium is structured and who watches. The second section, provocatively and appropriately labeled 'Manufacturing the World', deals with news and public affairs and presents data that demonstrate the process and outcome of television's selective presentation of reality. The final section looks at effect and will probably receive the most attention. The multiple experimental studies reviewed lead the authors to conclude that 1) on balance (but not universally) substantial television viewing by school-age children has a negative effect on scholastic performance; and 2) exposure to violent acts on television produces antisocial behavior: some people do learn that every problem can be solved with a gun. Highly recommended for all collections."
Review
"The renewed debate about media violence makes this comprehensive survey of empirical research on television viewers, content, and effect particularly timely...Highly recommended for all collections."
--CHOICE, October 1999
"This volume belongs on the bookshelf of all serious media researchers."
--JOURNALISM AND MASS COMMUNICATION QUARTERLY
"George Comstock and his former graduate student, Erica Scharrer, examine an impressive array of studies (more than 1,100 are cited) in an attempt to describe the content of TV and to synthesize knowledge about people's uses of TV and the micro- and macroeffects of TV viewing. Comstock is the right person to take on this challenge. During the past quarter century, he has established himself as one of the leading scholars on the influence of TV in American life... the authors... make a significant contribution to an understanding of the role and impact of TV in our lives... the authors do a fine job of distilling and making sense out of the array of often conflicting studies about the content of TV and its effects... The book offers an excellent synthesis of social science research on TV: the essentials about TV--its content, uses, and effects. I recommend the book to all psychologists who are interested in the nature and effects of TV in contemporary America."
--CONTEMPORARY PSYCHOLOGY, Vol. 45, 2000
Television: What's On, Who's Watching, and What It Means
Television: What's On, Who's Watching, and What It Means,George Comstock,Erica Scharrer,Academic Press,0121835804,Pop Arts / Pop Culture,Psychology,Social Interaction,Social Psychology,Sociology - General,Television - General,Television - History & Criticism,Television Broadcasting,Social Science / Sociology / General
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