Securing the middle ground: Reporter formulas in60 minutes
- 1 December 1987
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Taylor & Francis in Critical Studies in Mass Communication
- Vol. 4 (4) , 325-350
- https://doi.org/10.1080/15295038709360144
Abstract
Amid situation comedies, cop shows, and prime time “soaps,” CBS’ 60 Minutes became a hit during the mid‐1970s. Critics since have tried to account for the meaning of a popular news show. In great part, the meanings of 60 Minutes reside in its story formulas. Reporters perform as detectives, analysts, and tourists in order to mediate narrative tension and construct a mythology for Middle America. What 60 Minutes offers us from week to week is a cultural center, a sense of place. Embedded in its news is the power of metaphor and formula to both transform and deform experience, to secure a middle ground for audiences, and to build unified meanings in and for a pluralistic culture.Keywords
This publication has 8 references indexed in Scilit:
- Qualitative audience research: Toward an integrative approach to receptionCritical Studies in Mass Communication, 1987
- Television: Polysemy and popularityCritical Studies in Mass Communication, 1986
- American television criticism, 1970–1985Critical Studies in Mass Communication, 1986
- The impact of literary criticismCritical Studies in Mass Communication, 1985
- On the dialogic aspects of mass communicationCritical Studies in Mass Communication, 1984
- Television as a cultural forum: Implications for research∗Quarterly Review of Film Studies, 1983
- Adventure, Mystery, and RomancePublished by University of Chicago Press ,1976
- The Mission of Metaphor in Expressive Culture [and Comments and Reply]Current Anthropology, 1974