PRIME-TIME STEREOTYPING ON THE NEW TELEVISION NETWORKS

This content analysis examines portrayals of women in prime-time promo tional announcements broadcast on five television networks (ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, and UPN) during one week in 1995. Findings supported the hyp otheses that (1) women are underrepresented in all television networks ' promotional announcements, and that (2) stereotypical portrayals of women in these announcements varied due to the television network's ta rget audience. Specifically, television program promotional announceme nts on networks that seek a younger male audience contained more stere otypical female characters than other network programming produced for a more general audience.