Effects of anchors as television stars on news watching within the context of culture industry

Magazine, occupying an important place in both verbal and visual media, also shapes other serious discourses. The evening newscast as the main part of a channel?s identity can not be considered independent from the magazine discourse. Magazine discourse has taken its place in evening newscasts for a while not only as an entertainer but also as an emotional manipulator. The theory of ?culture industry? provides a solution to the question of how the news presenters have been turned into television stars performing as a magazinal extention of the newscast.The main objective of this dissertation is to analyze the factors which contribute to the process of turning the news presenters into television stars within the context of culture industry and to determine their effects on the rating of newscasts. In this dissertation, which employed the qualitative paradigm, the first five evening newscasts with the most rating were determined according to AGB data by evaluating the average rating of evening newscasts of television channels in October-November 2006 and particularly the weekday anchors in the period of December 2006 formed the working set of the study. Besides the anchors, two audience representatives for each anchor were included in the working group as well.The parts of evening newscasts, which were announced by anchors, were analyzed by narrative analysis. In order to procure diversity along with verbal data in speeches, the body language of anchors, sizes of shot, camera angles and movements were also considered as visual sources of data. The points of view of the audience and of the anchors were displayed by semi-structured interviews; additionally, the interviews broadcasted on the Internet and television programs were also used. The parts of evening newscasts announced by anchors were analyzed according to Gerard Genette?s concepts, while semi-structured interviews and other sources of data were analyzed in accordance with the categories based on the existing literature.When the findings are evaluated according to the basic concepts of the theory of culture industry, it can be proved that the anchors influence the newscasts with their personality as ?storytellers? and they are positioned as ?flâneurs? as well as the creators of a kind of ?aura? even if artificial. Hereby, anchors become more powerful, more responsible and more reliable television stars by assuming themselves additional identities such as editors, correspondents, reporters and documentary makers. They also play a more important role beyond functioning as mere announcers. The news presenters, who have started to be called also as ?anchor? in parallel with their star identity, serve the culture industry as significant instruments in the competition among television channels, and humanize the process of consumption.Keywords: Magazine, creating television stars, culture industry, media star, storyteller, flâneur, aura, anchor