TELEVISION VIEWING AND PUBLIC PERCEPTIONS OF ATTORNEYS

This investigation examines the way prime-time network television prog ramming depicts attorneys, and the influence of these images on the pu blic's perceptions of attorneys. In addition, the study examines some of the theoretical and methodological controversies identified with th e cultivation explanation of the way television shapes perceptions of social reality. The results reveal that network prime-time television programming depictions of attorneys affect public perceptions of attor neys, particularly in terms of front region behaviors. The results inv olving attorneys' back region behaviors are mixed. In addition, the re sults indicate that content-specific viewing is a more reliable predic tor than total viewing or select viewer sociodemographic variables of the public's tendency to perceive attorneys in the same way they are p ortrayed in prime-time television programming.