A Comparative Study on the Forms and Social Ethics of Chinese and American Talk Show

Abstract

Talk show has existed for nearly 70 years. In China, it has been developed for almost 20 years. Yet what are the differences in program form between Chinese and American talk show? And what can we learn from those differences?

This thesis employs broadcast journalism theory as theoretical foundation and adopts content analysis and case study as research methods, mainly focusing on understanding the differences in program form between Chinese and American TV talk show. In the meantime, the paper discusses the differences of social ethics between eastern and western society. It first analyzes the differences between Chinese and American TV talk show from four aspects, which are the characteristics and status of the host, guests and audience selection, program running strategy and the usage of humor element in the show. At the same time, the paper also talks about the improvement that Chinese talk shows should make in the future. After that, the paper discusses social ethics difference reflected from the differences of the programform, specifically the collision between “individualism” and “collectivism”.

This paper not only analyzes the differences in talk show form between two countries, but also focuses on the social ethical reason behind them in order to provide a better reference for us to improve our talk show quality by learning from other countries next time.

Key words: talk show, program format, social ethics, individualism, collectivism