Text-picture correspondence in television informative genres: news and reports

Abstract

A research about text-picture correspondence in news and reports show that redundancy between audio and visuals together with the predominance of the verbal code are the more usual ways to elaborate informative messages on television news programs. Direct observation of news and reports broadcasted in generalist television channels along with a series of interviews with television journalists confirm these results. The study also reveals that the degree of text-picture correspondence in different types of news and reports is clearly influenced by the passing of time. Furthermore, a sixty participant experiment show that the audience seems to be perfectly able to identify diverse associations of verbal and visual codes as well as different degrees of coordination between audiovisual items.