Onderzoeksartikel

Het nieuwsaanbod van NOS en RTL4 en wat kijkers ervan leren

---

Abstract

This article adresses two questions. The first question is whether the political diversity of Dutch spoken television news is enhanced by the news broadcasts of the commercial television station RTL4. Until 1989 the provision of Dutch spoken television news was a monopoly of the NOS, a cooperation of non-commercial broadcasting license holders, content analysis (october 1990 -January 1991) demonstrates that devotes attention to a larger variety of countries. RTL4 news is more complex than NOS news. Political evaluations of R.TL4 resemble those of the NOS, the most important difference being that RTL4 takes a slightly less black-and-white pro-US-stand in world affairs than the NOS. The second question is whether Dutch television news contributes to political knowledge. Survey research (october - december 1990) suggests that political knowledge is enhanced by education and an interaction of political involvement and regular reading of a newspaper, but not by watching television news of either NOS or RTL4. The fairly complex RTL4 news watched most frequently by viewers with a comparatively low predisposition to learn (less education, less political involvement, less time spent reading newspapers). Variance analysis shows that such viewers might acquire a bit more political knowledge when they would attend to less complex news programming.

How to Cite:

Kleinnijenhuis, J., Peeters, A., Hietbrink, N. & Spaans, D., (1991) “Het nieuwsaanbod van NOS en RTL4 en wat kijkers ervan leren”, Massacommunicatie : Wetenschappelijk Kwartaaltijdschrift voor Communicatie en Informatie 19(3), 197–226.