Sex-Stereotyping as Factor in Children's Comprehension of Television News

An investigation of the impact of gender of newscaster & sex-role stereotyping of news content on children's comprehension of TV news spots. Ms & Fs (N = 48 each) in grades 5-7 watched a 20-minute newscast consisting of 12 news briefs produced commercially for child audiences -- 4 masculine, 4 feminine, & 4 neutral stories. For 50% of the children, a M newscaster read the news script, & for the other 50%, a F newscaster delivered the news. Immediately after viewing, the children completed a 36-item multiple choice test of factual information contained in the program & a 13-item questionnaire assessing their liking of the news spots. A three-way analysis of variance revealed that children learned equally well from a M or F newscaster. By contrast, thematic content of the story influenced comprehension, with neutral stories generally easier to understand. There was a significant interaction between S's gender & sex-stereotypic content: boys showed poorer comprehension of the feminine spots & girls poorer comprehension of the masculine spots. Although the children voiced no preference for gender of newscaster, they did voice a preference for thematic content of the spots, with boys preferring masculine spots & girls feminine spots. The results are discussed in terms of the cultivation of differential expectations as to the relevance of news programming for boys & girls & in terms of a general policy recommendation to ensure a more balanced audience appeal than currently exists in broadcast news for children. 2 Tables. Modified AA