著者

村上 淑恵

出版者

甲南女子大学

雑誌

甲南女子大学研究紀要. 人間科学編 (ISSN:13471228)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.40, pp.139-152, 2004-03-18

---

In this paper, I criticize a theory of "the similarity" between news-shows and waido-shows, or entertainment information shows, by investigating their differentiation and mutual reference through the news of the Aum-Shinrikyo incidents in 1995. I compare materials taken from "News 23 (hereafter, 23)" as examples of the news-shows and "Supa-waido (hereafter, Waido)" of the waido-shows. The results of my examination on the differences of the two information shows are as follows : (1) "23"-process explanation/"Waido"- condition explanation (2)"23"-logical, evidential/"Waido"-emotional, personal featuring (3)"23"-the Aum as terrorist organization/"Waido"-the Aum as group of insane people in delusion (4)"23"-the Aum as a dangerous threat to the nation-state and the legal system/"Waido"-the Aum as a bizarre threat to the civil society "23" focuses on the Aum's criminality and "Waido" on the Aum's strangeness through various details they have obtained. It has been pointed out that the news-shows describe the "anti-social" aspect of the Aum, while the waido-shows stress the "a-social" aspect of the Aum. However, this seeming differentiation tacitly gives the audience more "information plausibility" through the mutual reference mechanism that I would emphasize. News-shows make the audience believe that "such bizarre people would commit those crimes", at the same time the waido-shows strengthen the impression that "those crimes would be committed by such bizarre people". This may not be done by an apparent intention of the mass media, but by the consequence of mutual reference that occurs among massmedia.