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METHODOLOGY

This chapter presents the procedures that the researcher will go through to seek out

evidence that will solicit response to the main research question: “Do the news programs 24

Oras and TV Patrol exemplify tabloidization of TV news?”

Research Design

Descriptive method will be considered for this study. Under this method is a technique

called qualitative content analysis, which is defined by Scheufele in the International

Encyclopedia for Communication as an ‘empirical method of analyzing live or recorded human

communication’. The purpose of the study is to measure amount of tabloidization in the selection

and treatment of news stories coming from full length episodes of 24 Oras and TV Patrol thru

operationalized parameters.

In this study, the researcher will employ this technique (qualitative content analysis) to

analyze the presence of tabloidization thru qualitative measures or items. Results to be gathered

will then lead to quantitative data for interpretation. Consequently, this will confirm whether or

not the news programs 24 Oras and TV Patrol exemplify tabloidization of TV news.

Time and Place of Study

The study will be conducted in Cavite State University – Main Campus, Indang, Cavite

from December 2010 to February 2011.

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Variables of the Study

The study investigates on the main research question: “Do the news programs 24 Oras

and TV Patrol exemplify tabloidization of TV news?” This is important because if entertainment

is prioritized more than information, the ethics of proper journalism is compromised. Thus, this

study involves two variables.

The independent variable in the study is tabloidization having been defined referring to

stylistic and content changes in Journalism that tends to harm the democratizing function of

media in the society. To measure tabloidization, the researcher patterned a content analysis form

to Carl Philip Hagman who also made an analysis on the TV news environment on Tampa Bay’s

Local Fox Affiliate. Revisions or modifications were made in the form in order to fit in the

localized setting and with the researcher’s review of literature.

The dependent variables are the news programs under study namely: 24 Oras and TV

Patrol. These two, being the top-rating and pioneering flagship nightly news in the country

represents the Philippine broadcast news media, i.e. TV news media in this study. The analyses

of the two will lead to findings on how much tabloidization will be observed in TV news. Or

simply, it deals with how TV news is affected by the aforementioned media phenomenon.

Universe of Text

For this study, the researcher will be using full-length news episodes coming from 24

Oras and TV Patrol shown in twenty (20) consecutive business days (totaling to 40 full length

episodes). These two are the flagship nightly news broadcast of the country’s two largest TV

stations namely GMA7 and ABS-CBN (online). Both evening news program run for about an

hour and a half and has been in the industry for more than five years. Both were commended as
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Best News Program by the Catholic Mass Media Awards in different years and by other award-

giving bodies as well.

Moreover, one great assumption causing tabloidization is ‘commercialization’ (Thussu,

2007); or the market-driven journalism environment. Considering this as grounds, then 24 Oras

and TV Patrol are yet again qualified for inclusion in the study as these are owned by giant

media conglomerates competing against each other. It also prohibits the researcher from any

tendency of bias for this matter.

Sampling Procedure

The researcher will employ purposive sampling procedure. In purposive sampling, the

researcher attempts to obtain sample that appears to him as sufficient representative of the

population (Galloway, 1997). In other words, samples to be considered will only be those that

qualify on the basis of specified characteristics while those which will fail to meet the criteria

will be eliminated.

The researcher will gather and evaluate full-length news episodes which must all come

from 24 Oras and TV Patrol only. The scope of analysis will range over the course of four full

business weeks or 20 days (totaling to 40 full length episodes).

Research Instrument

Qualitative Content Analysis will be used to accumulate information. Qualitative Content

Analysis may be regarded as an empirical method of social sciences for analyzing live or

recorded human communication such as newspaper articles, television news or programs,

transcripts of interviews, or protocols from observations (Scheufele, International Encyclopedia

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of Communication). Also, Babbie (online) wrote that this is the standard methodology in the

social sciences on the subject of communication content.

The content analysis form, composed of different categories, will be used accordingly.

Each individual story of the newscast will then be placed into their corresponding category. The

researcher patterned the analysis form to what Hagman (2009) used in his dissertation entiled ‘A

Content Analysis of the News on Tampa Bay’s Local Fox Affiliate in 2009.’ Majority of the

research instrument’s categories were replicated from Hagman’s, although some were

operationalized in order to fit for the study using the definitions of scholars discussed earlier in

the review of related literature.

The form is composed of two parts. The first part will identify the topical category of the

news story. The second part solicits information on the treatment of the news story, time

allotment, priority and production techniques used. This form will scrutinize every news item in

text and characteristics and thus present tabulated results of the study.

Data Gathering Procedure

Prior to data collection, permit to conduct the study, along with research instrument’s

validity, will first be sought by the researcher. He will also clear himself from copyright

infringement issues from the videos that he is going to use for evaluation. The researcher, once

legally approved, will gather and archive full-length news episodes from 24 Oras and TV Patrol

shown in twenty (20) consecutive business days and will analyze the extent of tabloidization (if

present) in each. The distinction between tabloid and tradition news as well as the production

techniques will strictly be observed in the data processing as these will be interpreted to obtain

results, discussion and conclusion.

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Data Processing Technique

Once the full-length episodes/videos are collected and archived, each individual story

will be qualitatively analyzed based on the operationalized parameters in this study. This will be

made thru the use of a researcher-made content analysis form.

The first part of the coding form asks the coder to classify each individual news story in

24 Oras and TV Patrol as either traditional journalism or tabloid journalism by placing each

story correspondingly into the topic category which will fit best. The first category contains a

total of 15 traditional topics and five tabloid topics (Hagman, 2009).

The traditional journalism categories contain what are considered serious news topics,

and are stories that aim to inform and enlighten the viewer. These topics include: politics,

business and economic trends, important social trends, government and policy, international

politics and relations, health, education, environmental issues, natural disasters and weather

situations affecting a larger region, science and technology, transportation, religion, cultural and

community events, moral and ethical questions, and finally, war, military and national security.

The tabloid news topics are stories that aim to entertain or fascinate the viewer, and where the

sensational is weighted highest. These are: specific crime incidents, specific fires, accidents or

disasters, consumer reports, celebrities and entertainment, and finally human interest stories

(Hagman, 2009).

It should be taken into consideration that the most important distinction is whether or not

a story is tabloid. All stories that will not fit to any of tabloid categories defined below will then

be classified to traditional journalism stories (Hagman, 2009).

• Specific crime incidents – Any specific crime that is likely to have an immediate impact
on only a few individuals, and not the community as a whole. These include murders,
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robberies, shootings, and other crimes where the sensational is weighted highest. Crime
issues that have a major impact on the community are placed in one of the traditional
journalism categories.

• Specific accidents, fires, or disasters – Much like the category above, these stories
concern minor accidents, fires, and disasters that only affect a small number of
individuals. This category includes stories such as car accidents, brush fires, and house
fires. Again, anything that is bound to have an impact on the entire community will be
placed in the traditional journalism category that fits best.

• Consumer reports – All stories that involve seeking out the best products at the best price
for the viewer. This includes stories that test products, so that the viewer can make wise
purchases of goods and services.

• Celebrities and entertainment – This category contains stories about the rich and famous,
their lives, deaths, marriages, breakups, new shows, concerts, and etc. If the story
concerns a former or current politician that story would go under the traditional
journalism category that fits best.

• Human interest stories – These are stories concerning seasonal celebrations, pets and
animals, emotional reunions, heart-warming stories told by regular people, but also
stories displaying anger and hatred, for instance demonstrations and neighborly disputes.
This category is often described as soft news.

The second part of the content analysis form presents five more categories constructed to

evaluate both the journalistic values of the newscast and the treatment on the news story.

News Structure. This pertains to the construction of news whether it is the inverted

pyramid or the hourglass style. The kind of structure on which news is formed denotes emphasis

on its value. Hourglass tends to delve more with the issue and provide more discussion and

information as opposed to ‘compact news’ observable in tabloids (Malinao, 2003).

Placement. This refers to the order of news appearance throughout the news program.

Lima (2009) said TV news, similar to broadsheet format, present top news stories or the most

important ones at the beginning.

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This category is aimed at finding the stories that the news program prioritizes. The top

story of every newscast should be noted, as well as every story teased. Teasers are usually made

through small video clips in the opening or before commercial breaks.

Length. This refers to the time distribution or the length of time allotted to each news

story. Also, this refers to the traditional broadcast news adhering to the broadsheet format which

has emphasis on in-depth investigation and analysis (Lima, 2009; Bakke, 1999; Sparks, 2000)

that enhances the political and social knowledge of the audience. Tabloid usually present stories

in ‘compact’ form (i.e. short and concise) and dwells more into sensationalist features (Sparks,

2000). Stories that last longer are deemed more reliable for analytical purposes (Hagman, 2009).

The role of the journalist in the story. Baym (as cited in Hagman, 2009) argued the

importance of analyzing the journalistic stand-up, and that reporters today appear increasingly

more often in front of the camera. With advances in technology, it has also become much more

common to use live feeds, and often times the anchors ask the reporters questions, thus making

the journalists on-location experts. This is due to the notion that live television has become an

important news value, even though it often serves little purpose. Therefore, it is important to

note the number of live journalist appearances, as well as journalistic stand-ups (Hagman, 2009).

The final category is designed to count each and every type of transitional effect used

between camera shots. These are the transitions used to take the viewer from one visual to the

next. Traditionally, journalistic news stories have only used so-called hard cuts that change one

scene to another with no transitional effects (Hagman, 2009).

Studies such as Grabe (as cited in Hagman, 2009) have shown that using more advanced

transitions will heighten the sensationalism of a news story, thus making it more tabloid in form.
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In this coding form ten different categories of transitional effects were identified and – using

inspiration from Grabe et al.’s study. These include:

• Standard hard cut – As mentioned before, this is the change from one scene to
another without any transitional effects.

• Wipe movement – This is an electronic effect where one picture pushes the other
off the screen.

• Dissolve – This is an effect that gradually changes one shot to the other while
the images slightly overlap one another.

• Flash frame – This is when frames of white are inserted between two shots
creating an effect that is similar to that of a camera flash.

• Fade – This is when one picture gradually turns to black and/or the next image
appears from black.

• Slide and peel – This is a sophisticated transition that is similar to the turn of a
page in a book.

• Rotation and bounce – This transition occurs when an image flips on the vertical
axis or tumbles on the horizontal axis 360 degrees.

• Fly effect – This involves making an image smaller and at the same time moving
and spinning it into a new position on the screen or moving it off the screen.

• Graphic transition – This is an advanced type of transition that was noticed

during the pilot analysis and added to the final coding form. This transition
involves a graphic, for instance Live, Murder, or perhaps the name of the city
where the event takes place, appearing on the screen in between two shots. This
seems to be used by many of the local newscasts, especially before a source
speaks on camera.

• Other/advanced – Any transitional effect that could not be placed in any of the
categories above was placed in this category.
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In interpretation and presentation of data, the researcher will adopt the representation of

frequency which includes the absolute frequency, which measures the number of times that the

category being analyzed will be found and the relative frequency, involving the percentages

relating to the universe to be analyzed. Tabulation for each category will then be made.

RF = ni / N
wherein: RF – is the relative frequency (percentage)

ni – is the absoulute frequency (no. of appearance)

N – total number of events

If analysis of the data shows that tabloid news stories occupy too much time in news

programs, this could stimulate deeper investigation into how the future of news will appear to the

public and the possible social and cultural effects of tabloid-style infiltration into traditional

news organizations information dissemination.

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Tabloidization of TV News
(An Analysis on the Tabloidization of News in 24 Oras and TV Patrol)
Content Analysis Coding Form
Part I. News Story topic
Direction: Select only one topic per story – sports and weather segments excluded:
Traditional journalism:
Politics
Business or economic trends
Important social trends
Government and policy
International politics and relations
Health
Education
Environmental issues
Natural disasters and weather
situations affecting a significant part
of a larger region
Science and technology
Transportation
Part II. Treatment and Formatting
1. Structure of the Story
Inverted Pyramid
Hourglass
2. Priority of story:
Story is the top story of newscast
Story is teased as an important
story
Story is not shown priority
3. Time of story (record the total
time of each story and place in
category below):
Length of story less than 30
seconds
Length of story between 30 and 60
seconds
Religion
Cultural and community events
Moral and ethical questions
War, military, national security
Other
Tabloid journalism:
A specific crime incident
A specific fire, accident or disaster
Consumer reports
Celebrities and entertainment
Human interest stories
Other
Length of story more then 60
seconds
4. Role of journalist in story:
Live journalist/anchor interaction
Journalistic stand-up/analysis
Journalist is not seen speaking in
front of camera
5. Use of transitional effects
between camera shots (count each
transitional occurrence):
Use of standard hard cut
Use of wipe movement
Use of dissolve
Use of flash frame
Use of fade
Use of slide and peel
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Use of rotation or bounce

Use of fly effect
Use of graphic transition
Other/advanced