Consonance in local television news program content: An examination of intermarket diversity

This study examined whether television news program decision makers in stations across the U.S. provide diversity in what is presented to viewers. Stories dealing with human interest and sensationalistic topics, including crime, accidents, and human interest, accounted for 60% of consonant, or duplicated, stories. Stations in medium sized television markets exhibited the highest level of diversity, although these differences were not great. Moreover, medium market stations gave significantly greater emphasis to video reports originated outside the market. Thus, no indication that large market stations are more active in news gathering was forthcoming. Overall, the farther the geographic origin of the story from the market, the higher the level of consonance.