Bad Business? A Reexamination of Television's Portrayal of Businesspersons

Abstract

In 1981 the Media Institute published an analysis of television characters in business occupations. Its fundamental finding was that these characters are typically shown perpetrating various sorts of evil behavior and that this behavior tends to paint a negative picture of American business and the capitalist system. This article challenges that assertion through a new content analysis and reexamination of the original Media Institute data. Analysis of the role of social class in portrayals of television characters shows that television stigmatizes wealth, not business.