How Much Americans Say They Watch?
According to the General Social Survey conducted in 1993, more than 96 percent of Americans say that they watch television for at least one hour on an average day. About half claim to watch more than three hours of television a day. Heavy users of television tend to be less well educated and working in occupations of lower prestige; however, people who are more well off financially are increasing the amount of time they spend watching television, probably because they have access to diverse programs through cable and satellite transmissions.15 For example, in spring 1994, 40 percent of television homes with incomes over $75,000 had Clearance MBT Shoes pay cable whereas fewer than 25 percent of homes with incomes of less than $30,000 had this service. More than 95 million, or 98.3 percent, of U.S. homes have at least one television set; an average television household has 2.28 sets; 6 and 16 percent of U.S. households with television have four or more sets.’ Of U.S. homes with television, 65.9 percent use cable services.9 As of 1999, approximately 91 percent of U.S. households owned a VCR. Again, income influences the rate of ownership of media technology. Nearly all people with incomes over $75,000 own a VCR in comparison with 60 percent of people with in-comes under $20,000.
General Social Surveys, 1972-1993: Cumulative Code Book, conducted for the National Data Program for the Social Sciences at the National Opinion Research Center, University of Chicago. The Roper Center for Public Opinion Research, University of Connecticut, August 1993, p. 280. “Xiaoming Hao, “Trend: Television Viewing among American Adults in the 1990s,” Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, vol. 38, no. 3 (Summer 1994): 359.”Cable Penetration by Demographic Segments,” TV Dimensions ’95, ed. Ed Parazian (New York: Media Dynamics, Inc., 1995), “Television—Households,” Marketer’s Guide to Media, Spring/Summer 95 (New York: BPI Communications, 1995), “Television Sets,” Marketer’s Guide to Media, spring/ Summer 95, ‘Simmons Market Research Bureau, 1993 Study of Media
& Markets, as reported in TV Dimensions ’95, “Growth of Cable TV Penetration,” Marketer’s Guide to Media, Spring/Summer 95, Joel Brinkley, “Downtime: A step toward a versatile High-Definition VCR,” New York Times, 16 September 1999, sec.
BOX 1*2 Rhetoric
The faculty of discovering, in any given case, the available means of persuasion. Aristotle.
That art or talent by which discourse is adapted to its end. George Campbell.
The use of language as a symbolic means of inducing cooperation in beings that by nature respond to symbols. Kenneth Burke
BOX 1-3 Rhetoric Is Unavoidable
Even if a given terminology is a reflection of reality, by its very nature as a terminology it must be a selection of reality; and to this extent it must also function as a deflection of reality.3
Kenneth Burke, Language as Symbolic Action (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1966), p. 45.
BOX 1-4 Participation/Identification
To participate is to take part, to join in, or to share with others. To participate is to be actively involved. Participation refers to Cheap MBT Shoes the active role of the audience in creating meaning and sharing experience. When participation occurs, source and audience jointly create the message.
To identify is to associate or affiliate yourself closely with a person or group or with their values. In this process you see yourself as like someone else, imagine yourself in another’s position, or empathize with others’ problems and rejoice in their successes.
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