Beniger, J. R. (1983). Does television enhance the shared symbolic environment? Trends in labeling of editorial cartoons, 1948-1980. American Sociological Review, 48, 103-111.

The diffusion of television may increase the proportion of a population that recognizes various public figures and more abstract cultural symbols. This hypothesis is tested with time series of the labeling used in 1,154 editorial cartoons of five leading U.S. metropolitan newspapers. The sample includes at least a hundred cartoons published in each of the nine presidential election years, 1948-1980. Both the proportion of actual persons labeled and the mean number of labeled symbols per cartoon decreased by one-half to two-thirds over the period; both trends were downward with a high degree of statistical significance. Several explanations other than the hypothesized increase in the shared symbolic environment are considered and rejected. Temporal correlation and other indirect inference suggest that television is at least a partial cause of the change. Television's influence on shared images is also noted by the cartoonists themselves. The findings suggest that television may increase the likelihood that cultural symbols can be used to direct a nation's attention, to manipulate public opinion, and to mobilize behavior.