To Be or Not to Be in the TV World: Ontological and Methodological Aspects of Content Analysis

<jats:p> This article is concerned with certain ambiguities inherent in the way much research on television content conceptualizes the `world' of television. A number of distinctions are suggested, which should be considered in conceptualizing the world of cultural or symbolic systems, and we show the methodological consequences of these distinctions for content analysis. Our arguments and conclusions are supported by data from an ongoing research programme, Ideas and Images on Television, but the conceptual and methodological considerations also apply to inquiries into cultural systems other than television. </jats:p>