Aspects of Quality in TV Programming: Structural Diversity Compared over Time and Space

The quality of the output from various television channels and systems is often discussed but seldom rated or measured in any systematic way. However, due to a Japanese initiative undertaken some years ago, an international group of scholars met and decided to undertake comparative studies of television quality in terms of a characteristic often regarded as basic to overall channel quality: the diversity of a given television channel. An instrument of measurement was designed by a member of the international team and applied to television content from Canada, Great Britain, Japan, Sweden and the United States. This article presents a follow-up study, comparing diversity in Swedish television and radio channels during 1992 to 1995. The results show that Swedish Television increased its diversity during this period, while Swedish Radio decreased its diversity. At the end of the article, a short discussion of potential developments with regard to digitalized television is presented.