Regions in TV news broadcasting: Selected aspects on the example of the Czech Republic

Abstract

The presented contribution evaluates the role of mass media within territorial development. The purpose of the paper is to analyze and evaluate regionally bound TV news reporting in the Czech Republic between years 2005-2011. The attention is focused on the information about economies of self-governing regions (NUTS III) broadcasted in the news reporting of main television stations in the Czech Republic. A combination of research methods was used. Due to the character of dataset, empirical research is based on the contingency tables. Afterwards Pearson's chi-square test and Cramer's V were used. Correspondence analysis was applied for the evaluation and visualization of virtual reflection of economic information about regions. Development potential of the territory could be suppressed or supported by the mass media, as virtual portrayals may (not) correspond to the real character of the territory. One single event can distort the entire portrayal of a particular territory. We find also differences in the structure of information between public and commercial televisions. Content structure of concrete TV broadcasting substantially affects audience opinion.