ABSTRACT
In the past decade a new form of television programming has emerged, startled into existence primarily by Rupert Murdoch’s Fox Broadcasting Company. Sex and violence in scandalous proportions were served up in an effort to launch a fourth TV network made up of independent stations. The heart of this format included video news magazines such as “A Current Affair” and crime shows such as “Cops” and “America’s Most Wanted.” These shows were quickly imitated by other networks because of their profitability and popularity. They were relatively inexpensive to produce and attracted reasonable audience interest at the time slots into which they were placed (Fennell 1992; Sauter 1992). Soon the airwaves were inundated with reality-based police shows such as “American Detective,” “Top Cops,” and “True Stories of the Highway Patrol.” Other news magazines such as “Hard Copy” made frequent use of the same common themes utilized by “A Current Affair”—sordid sex crimes and bloody murders.
