The Medium in the message: Self-reference in broadcast television

Abstract

The mass-media, whose traditional functions were «to inform, educate and entertain», are giving increasing prominence to self-reference. Self-reference is a form (overt or covert) of self-advertising, so that the medium devotes spaces (in press) or time (audiovisual media) to advertise itself. The media compromises spaces (in press) or time (audiovisual formats) to advertise itself. In this way the media reduces space and time dedicated to showing reality (or fiction) outside the medium itself, forgetting its social and civic function. The work analyzes this phenomenon on television, with empirical studies on the record of 24 continuous hours of programming of the three channels with the highest audience share. The most important contributions of this work are 1) the analysis of the self-reference also within programs (and not only in continuity self-promotion segments: promotions, transitions, intros, etc.) and 2) the attention to selfreference as a strategy for cross-promotion between medias of the same multimedia group.