Summary
Contents
The SAGE Key Concepts series provide students with accessible and authoritative knowledge of the essential topics in a variety of disciplines. Cross-referenced throughout, the format encourages critical evaluation through understanding. Written by experienced and respected academics, the books are indispensable study aids and guides to comprehension. Key Concepts in Journalism offers a systematic and accessible introduction to the terms, processes, and effects of journalism;a combination of practical considerations with theoretical issues; and further reading suggestions. The authors bring an enormous range of experience in newspaper and broadcast journalism, at national and regional level, as well as their teaching expertise. This book will be essential reading for students in journalism, and an invaluable reference tool for their professional careers.
Minimax Programming
Minimax Programming
The emergence of the ‘minimax’ programming philosophy reflects the increasingly competitive markets in which television and radio broadcasting operate, which foster a relentless search for audiences and, in the commercial sector, advertisers (Golding and Murdock, 1973).
When competition was limited to the BBC and ITV (the ‘comfortable duopoly’ which preceded the emergence of Channel 4 (1982) and BSkyB (1989)), broadcasters believed competition would serve to enhance programme quality, i.e. competition would oblige broadcasters to raise their game. But in the deregulated, multi-channel broadcasting ecology of the new millennium, competition has the opposite effect and encourages a minimax programming philosophy in which the broadcasting of low budget popular programmes such as quizzes, bought-in American sit-coms and repeat programmes, minimizes programmes costs while maximizing potential audiences ...