https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2805-5148
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ABSTRACT
On television news, exemplification is almost inevitable, as newscast cannot represent reality but through a particular object that is caught on camera: the only way to signify something abstract on television is precisely through a concrete particularity. The present study analyzes the main stories in a sample of national broadcast news in Chile, where broadcast news remains the most important source of information. Based on a content analysis, results show that particular case reports are widespread in Chilean television news, especially in hard news stories about the economy and crime. They also further evidence on the homogenization of television coverage between commercially run private and public broadcasters. Findings are linked to past research in the Latin American theoretical tradition that underscores the relevance of vivid and emotional representation on television.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
ORCID
Ingrid Bachmann http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2805-5148
Constanza Mujica http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8003-1576
Notes
1 Further, there is evidence that visualizations can support learning. Not surprisingly, people often say “I see” to suggest they understand something (see Deignan and Cameron Citation2014, and McCrudden and Rapp Citation2017).
2 This figure that has to do with the limited offer: until 2009, BBC Mundo (the Spanish service of the British corporation) and the Atlanta-based CNN en Español were the only cable news networks available in Chile. At the end of that year, CNN Chile and 24 Horas (a cable news service from the national public network) were launched to moderate success.
3 In their training, coders were instructed to distinguish human cases by determining whether it referred to a flesh-and-bone individual or a subject capable of speaking. Non-human cases were identified as objects, abstract notions and overall inanimate beings.