Viewing Race in the Comfort Zone: Acceptance and Rejection of Black-Centered TV Programming via Nielsen Ratings 1964-1994

SAGE Open

Brenda L. Hughes¹ 

关键词: communication;    culture;    technology;    communication technologies;    mass communication;    social sciences;    radio/TV/film;    journalism;    media;    society;    media consumption;    sociology of race;    ethnicity;    sociology;   

DOI  :  10.1177/2158244014549151

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Sage Journals

【 摘 要 】

Carter suggests the concept of a “comfort zone” to explain the inability of dramatic African American programs to be successful on television. He argues that a workable formula has been developed for successful African American series, “portray black people in a way that would be acceptable to the millions of potential purchasers (whites) of advertised products. That is, non-threatening and willing to ‘stay in their place.’”. Using a data set constructed from television ratings and shares, this study examines “black-centeredness” within the context of program success and failure. The comfort zone concept argues Black-centered television series are only successful in a comedic genre because White audiences, who have the majority of the ratings power, will only watch Black-centered series with which they are comfortable. The findings suggest that, in general, race, that is Black-centeredness, did not negatively influence program ratings or shares.

【 授权许可】

CC BY