Home media and science performance:A cross-national study

This study examines the effects of media resources in the parental home on the science performance of 15-year-old students. It employs data from the 2006 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) containing information on 345,967 respondents from 53 countries. Results show that media assets in the family home are indeed meaningful for children’s science performance, as a beneficial resource but also as a disadvantage. A positive reading climate in the parental home and the availability of computers benefits science performance. However, a television-rich home seems to hinder children’s school success. Furthermore, results indicate that, compared to less developed countries, in more modernized societies parental reading investments are even more beneficial to their children’s science performance, whereas a television-rich parental home is even more disadvantageous

Research note: Sensationalism in Dutch current affairs programmes 1992-2001

Item does not contain fulltextBoth news critics and scholars often contend that increasing competition in the news market urges journalists to sensationalize their stories. Starting from this hypothesis, this article investigates changes in the level of sensationalism in three Dutch current affairs programmes that merged in 1996 as part of a strategy to fight increasing competition. A content analysis of these programmes in 1992 and 2001 shows a partial trend towards greater use of sensationalism.12 p