bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Alternate Methods of Measuring Public Radio Audiences: A Pilot Project
Authors: Williams Wenmouth , LeRoy David J.
Published: December 2011

General sample survey found more valid and only slightly more expensive than mail survey, phone survey and mailing list survey.
Printing Technology as a Barrier to Multi-Column Headlines, 1850–95
Authors: Everett George
Published: December 2011

This department is devoted to shorter reports on research in the communications field. Readers are invited to submit summaries of investigative studies interesting for content, method or implications for further research.
A Content Analysis of Metropolitan Newspaper Coverage of Social Issues
Authors: Ryan Michael , Owen Dorothea
Published: December 2011

Papers devoted 8.8% of newshole to coverage of social issues. Most stories were staff written and oriented to issues rather than events.
Government-Press Relations in Peru
Authors: Alisky Marvin
Published: December 2011

New regime eased its guidance of the media in 1975 but then tightened controls in 1976 as street rioters protested inflation.
The Journalist as Diplomat: E.J. Dillon and the Portsmouth Peace Conference
Authors: Johnson Paul William
Published: December 2011

American newspaper opinion was shrewdly influenced to help end a bloody war.
Images of Arabs and Israelis in the Prestige Press, 1966–74
Authors: Belkaoui Janice Monti
Published: December 2011

Content analysis of news magazines and New York Sunday papers shows shifting images of Arabs and Israelis. Poll data show corresponding shifts in Public opinion, toward increasing support for Arabs
A Profile of Newspaper and Television Reporters in a Metropolitan Setting
Authors: Ismach Arnold H. , Dennis Everette E.
Published: December 2011

Twin Cities reportersfeel restricted by ‘straight’ news concept, but many confess to weaknesses in their performance
Managing Editors and Their Newsrooms: A Survey of 208 APME Members
Authors: Trayes Edward J.
Published: December 2011

Most managing editors operate without written job description and with considerable freedom. Types of activities vary considerably with size of paper.
Editorials and the Economy in the 1976 Presidential Campaign
Authors: Myers David S.
Published: December 2011

In I0 major newspapers, the economy was the most frequent subject of editorials by wide margin
Retraction Statutes and Their Constitutional Implications
Authors: Dickerson Donna Lee
Published: December 2011

This department is devoted to shorter reports on research in the communications field. Readers are invited to submit summaries of investigative studies interesting for content, method or implications for further research.
Pricing a Medium Out of the Market: The 25-Cent Daily Newspaper
Authors: Riffe Daniel , Shaw Eugene F.
Published: December 2011

At a time when 15 cents was the most common price, an increase to 20 cents would have produced more revenue, but an increase to 25 cents would not.
Desirable Communication Behaviors for Broadcast Journalism Graduates
Authors: Ware P. Dale
Published: December 2011

Personal character, crusadingness and assertiveness emerge as most important in survey of broadcast news directors.
Media Coverage and Information-Seeking Behavior
Authors: Toggerson Steve K.
Published: December 2011

This department is devoted to shorter reports on research in the communications field. Readers are invited to submit summaries of investigative studies interesting for content, method or implications for further research.
Media Orientation and Television News Viewing
Authors: McDonald Daniel G.
Published: December 2011

Based on a survey of 364 households in a small northeastern city, this study used factor analysis to compare the surveillance role and communication utility of television and newspapers. The study, reflecting a uses and gratifications approach, defines surveillance as meeting readers'/viewers' need to know about community and world events, and communicatory utility as providing readers/viewers with information to use in social interaction with others. The study finds much variance explained by these two uses, plus finds those who seek hard news on television also seek hard news in newspapers. News information-seeking behavior held across television and newspapers.
Contractual Offers in Advertising
Authors: Stevens George E.
Published: December 2011

Advertisements are not normally considered a binding contract, but this summary of recent cases finds that when there is “commitment,” and no error in the advertisement, the seller may have to pay up. Copy writers should be cautious in using such words as “guarantee” and “offer.” Advertisers can revoke one advertisement with another one in the same mass medium.
Perceived Informativeness of and Irritation with Local Advertising
Authors: Pasadeos Yorgo
Published: December 2011

This survey of more than 400 mall shoppers in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, finds that shoppers ranked newspaper advertisements as most informative with radio commercials next, and television commercials least. But sampled shoppers — similar in demographic makeup to the community — also tended to be somewhat more irritated by newspaper than by radio and television advertising. Those older and financially better off were more likely to express irritation with advertising.
Crime News in the Lousiana Press, 1980 vs. 1985
Authors: Windhauser John W. , Seiter Jennifer , Winfree L. Thomas
Published: December 2011

This study, using content analysis to study 24 dailies in 22 Louisiana cities, finds that crime news increased in 1985 over 1980. But the study did not find a clear relationship between actual crime and crime coverage, as other studies have not. In 1985, crime tended more often to be on the front pages, and there were many more stories about arrests for driving under the influence of alcohol or crime stopper type stories, reflecting recent trends. Recently there has been more emphasis on stories of violent crimes, including terrorist crimes committed elsewhere in the world.
Thematic Coverage of the 1988 Presidential Primaries: A Comparison of USA Today and the New York Times
Authors: King Erika G.
Published: December 2011

The “horse race” aspect of political coverage of primaries was by far the most emphasized in this content analysis of two major newspapers during January-June 1988. By contrast, only about one-tenth of the coverage highlighted campaign or policy issues. This study is based on analysis of sentences.
Community Structure and Editor Opinions about Planning
Authors: Olien C.N. , Tichenor P.J. , Donohue G.A. , Sandstrom K.L. , McLeod D.M.
Published: December 2011

This research focuses on the role of editors as community news gatekeepers. It surveys more than 150 editors from Minnesota, Iowa, North and South Dakota, and Wisconsin, comparing findings for two time periods, 1965 and 1985. The 1985 period was characterized by increased planning, especially in large, complex communities. This study finds that nearly all surveyed editors, as community elites, favored community planning, but by 1985 saw this planning as an aspect of community growth more than an instrument of community control. Yet editors from complex, pluralistic communities did tend to see planning as part of maintaining community social order and control more than did editors from smaller communities.
Children's Television Programming and the “Free Market Solution”
Authors: Kerkman Dennis D. , Kunkel Dale , Huston Aletha C. , Wright John C. , Pinon Marites F.
Published: December 2011

This study tests the recent FCC ruling that marketplace forces will provide sufficient high quality broadcast programming available in a medium-sized midwestern city during the 1981 through 1983 period. An analysis of more than five thousand programs, involving more than twenty thousand program hours, during six sample points of two weeks each showed that children's programming actually declined, except for public broadcast stations, where it somewhat increased. While commercial broadcasters presented less children's programming, cable channels did not fill in the gap, as some had expected. Some high quality cable programs for children did become available during the 1981–1983 period, but they remained out of financial reach for many poor children. The marketplace, the study argues, does not favor children.
Trends in Journalism Quarterly: Reflections of the Retired Editor
Authors: Stempel Guido H.
Published: December 2011

Looking back over a 17-year editorship of JQ, Professor Stempel cites several trends, such as the increase in female authorship (from roughly one in ten to one in three articles today), in multiple-authorship (now about 40% of published articles), and increase in use of tables and computers. But there is a strong consistency in subject matter researched, submitted, and published, although some areas, like law and ethics, show recent increases. People seem to research what they teach and there is a consistency in our curricula programs over the past 17 years, judging from submissions. JQ reflects the strength and diversity of our collective field, an ongoing challenge for editors.
How Journalists Describe Their Stories: Hypotheses and Assumptions in Newsmaking
Authors: Stocking S. Holly , LaMarca Nancy
Published: December 2011

Interviews with newpaper reporters showed that journalists, like scientists, usually had hypotheses in mind in working a story. Unlike those of scientists, however, journalists' hypotheses were both explicit and implicit. About half the time, journalists articulated definite competing hypotheses, haf the time not. Alll journalists going into their reporting harbored assumptions about their story subjects. Future research would do well to determine if, and how, such hypotheses and assumptions bias subsequent information gathering.
Power Prose: The Syntax of Presidential News
Authors: McAdams Katherine C.
Published: December 2011

This study compared news coverage of Presidents Carter and Reagan at times of crisis. Using content analysis to examine stories sampled from the New York Times and Washington Post, this study found news stories became more wordy in crisis times. For Carter this was when Iran captured hostages in November 1979, and for Reagan it was the revelation of arms sales to Iran in November 1986. The study found news stories were not especially readable before or after crises, but these stories did tend to use action verbs. The study found that in crisis the president tends more often to disappear while spokesmen, such as press secretaries, speak for him.
Recent and Future Economic Status of U.S. Newspapers
Authors: Udell Jon G.
Published: December 2011

This study, using economic measures, finds that newspapers have held up well in competition with radio, television, videotex, and other media. Using newsprint consumption as a measure, the study finds that newspapers grew faster than the U.S. economy in general in 1976–84. Since then, the rate of growth has declined somewhat. Using advertising carried as a measure, newspapers expanded 279% in the 1975–1988 years—a period in which U.S. GNP increased 205%. People are working longer today, with less time for reading, but the study suggests several trends that are likely to contribute to continued newspaper economic growth.
Energy in the Eighties: Education, Communication, and the Knowledge Gap
Authors: Griffin Robert J.
Published: December 2011

A four-wave panel study of West Allis, Wisconsin, homeowners, conducted from 1981 to 1986, found some evidence of a relationship between education and knowledge of energy issues, especially among the more educated readers of newspaper energy stories. There was some tendency—although not strong—for an intitial knowledge gap: the more educated seemed to learn more than did the less educated at first. This difference diminished over the period of the study, a pattern that appears consistent with decreasing media attention to the energy issue during that time. Some other results of this study suggest that further research is warranted into the effects of audience information processing capabilities and techniques on memory for mass mediated information.
The Press as an Elite Power Group in Japan
Authors: Akhavan-Majid Roya
Published: December 2011

A lengthy field study in Japan using interviews and other sources and focusing on the nation's five leading national newspapers and Tokyo's major television stations finds evidence of much overlap between industry and the news media, through interlocking directorships and social club memberships, for example. Also journalists and other industrial leaders tend to be educated at the same exclusive universities and journalists also belong to professional clubs in which common values are shared. There already is a concentration of ownership of Japanese mass media and, through the mean sketched in this study, one can find how the mass media are integrated with other power centers of Japanese society.
Intellectual History, Social History, Cultural History… and Our History
Authors: Nord David Paul
Published: December 2011

This essay explores the links among intellectual history, social history and cultural history. It suggests that the recent turn in American historiography to cultural history is vitally important for communication studies because communication has now been thrust to center stage in virtually every subfield of history. But it warns that communication historians should not rashly and heedlessly jump into cultural history before an adequate foundation has been laid in the economic and institutional social history of mass media.
Terrorists in the News, as Reflected in Three News Magazines, 1980–1988
Authors: Simmons Brian K. , Lowry David N.
Published: December 2011

A content analysis of 185 articles sampled from Time, Newsweek, and U.S. News and World Report in the 1980 to 1988 period finds that the “terrorist” label is used in two-thirds of the stories. “Gunman,” “guerrilla,” and “attacker” are among the other terms used, but less frequently. The “terrorist” label is more often used when Americans are caught in events, or when people opposed to American foreign policy are involved in events.
Portrayal of Journalists on Prime Time Television
Authors: Stone Gerald , Lee John
Published: December 2011

Journalists appear frequently in prime time, with television journalists more often playing an ethical role than do newspaper journalists. This content analysis of 1987 programs from three networks finds that 19 of 20 journalists portrayed are white and that they are mostly between the ages of 30 and 50. There are more male than female newspaper journalists portrayed; as television journalists portrayed, however, males and females appear about equally as often. A semantic differential measure, using students as evaluators, finds journalists to be articulate, brave, and competent, among other traits. In general, those portrayed as television journalists came off better than did those portrayed as newspaper journalists.
Primary News Source Changes: Question Wording, Availability, and Cohort Effects
Authors: Basil Michael D.
Published: December 2011

This reanalysis of Roper public opinion data from the 1937–1987 period reflects the answers of approximately 45,000 randomly selected Americans. The study compares the effects of question wording, media availability, and birth year in surveys that ask about preferred media. Between 1937 and 1987 the U.S. public's primary news source shifted from newspapers to radio and then to television, according to Roper data. This analysis finds that a high percentage of the variance can be accounted for by question wording, availability, or birth year. Findings suggest that television has displaced radio more than newspapers, compatible with the idea of a functional equivalence between TV and radio.
Information Subsidy and Agenda-Building in Local Television News
Authors: Berkowitz Dan , Adams Douglas B.
Published: December 2011

A study of subsidized information received by an Indianapolis television station over a four-week period in 1987 found less than one-fourth of news releases and other subsidies survived the first cut by producers and assignment editors. Information from non-profit organizations and interest groups was kept most frequently, while that from government and business was kept least frequently. It is suggested that two levels of agenda building operate simultaneously in local TV news—the relationship between journalists and local sources, and the less purposive level where non-local sources haphazardly attempt to get on the local agenda.
Effects of Color and Complexity in Still Photographs on Mental Effort and Memory
Authors: Gilbert Kathy , Schleuder Joan
Published: December 2011

Experimental findings suggest that exposure to images with color or complex elements results in different viewer responses in than black and white or simple images. Study images were taken from popular magazines. Experimental subjects did find it easier to remember images with color and—opposite to general lore—more complex elements. Contrary to one study hypothesis, complexity did not result in more (reported) mental effort.
Effects of Personal, Interpersonal and Media Experiences on Issue Saliences
Authors: Lasorsa Dominic L. , Wanta Wayne
Published: December 2011

Three sources of issue salience are examined simultaneously through a survey in Austin, Texas. Three hypotheses are tested: 1. Media experience will enhance conformity to the news media's agenda; 2. Interpersonal experience will inhibit conformity to the news media's agenda; and 3. Personal experience with an issue will inhibit conformity to the news media's agenda. The study concludes that the strongest predictor of media conformity is media exposure and attention. Personal experience, however, while also a significant predictor, produced a positive effect on media conformity, suggesting that personal experience sensitizes individuals to important issues. Individuals then seek out additional information on these obtrusive issues from the news media and in turn become more susceptible to agenda-setting effects. Interpersonal communication, while producing a negative coefficent, was not a significant predictor of media conformity.
Channel Effectiveness over Time and Knowledge and Behavior Gaps
Authors: Snyder Leslie B.
Published: December 2011

More than one thousand women living in 20 villages in Gambia, West Africa, were the target over a two year period of a radio, print, and interpersonal effort to get them to use oral rehydration solution (ORS), an effective countermeasure to widespread diarrhea. Controlling for differences in SES, among other variables, the study found that all channels helped with first learning of the formula, with few initial differences among those with different SES status. After that, however, gaps grew, with a tendency for those of lower status to forget. Interpersonal contacts seemed to be helpful in the learning, but did not prove helpful in preventing forgetfulness of the formula. A small handout was the only channel that helped promote knowledge and behavior over time
Winning Newspaper Pulitzer Prizes: The (Possible) Advantage of Being a Competitive Paper
Authors: White H. Allen , Andsager Julie L.
Published: December 2011

As newspaper competition increases, the likelihood of producing quality journalism—as measured by winning Pulitzer Prizes—also increases. This study, using log-linear methods, analyzed the relationship between categories of newspaper competition and winning of certain types of Pulitzer Prizes. As newspaper competition increased, the likelihood of winning Pulitzers in several categories increased. But that was not true for local reporting, the mainstay of all newspapers. Thus this study concludes that newspaper competition has less effect on the quality of local reporting but more on inducing newspapers to produce a greater variety of excellent reporting in other areas.
Information Seeking and Information Processing: Newspapers versus Videotext
Authors: Zerbinos Eugenia
Published: December 2011

A sample of people representing a wide range of jobs and professions was randomly divided into two groups and compared according to what subjects in each used and learned from either reading the Wall Street Journal or the Dow Jones News/Retrieval Service. As hypothesized, the study found that subjects used the retrieval service more for searching for specific information—i.e., checking on airline schedules or looking up an encyclopedia reference—and remembered more of what they saw, as compared with those who read the newspaper.
Assessing Public Opinion in the 1930s-1940s: Retrospective Views of Journalists
Authors: Herbst Susan
Published: December 2011

A survey of 44 journalists whose careers spanned all or much of the 1930s and 1940s found that journalists developed a variety of innovative strategies for understanding public opinion — both systematic and unsystematic. This period was a transitional one for journalists who depended on traditional measurement techniques yet were also interested in quantifying the public sentiment.
Motives for Ethical Decision-Making
Authors: Singletary Michael W. , Caudill Susan , Caudill Edward , White Allen
Published: December 2011

A Q-analysis of 13 motives for ethical decision-making by 17 professional journalists and 49 mass communications students showed that most were “mainstream” ethicists whose ethical concerns centered on credibility, their personal sense of morality, the public's need to know, and the standards of their field and their employer. A small number of respondents in each of the two samples seemed motivated by knowledge as power and were mildly unconcerned about knowledge of ethics. They were willing to use their work in a punitive way.
Price Discrimination as Evidence of Newspaper Chain Market Power
Authors: Busterna John C.
Published: December 2011

This study compares costs charged to advertisers by a sample of 51 Gannett newspapers, as compared with a matched set of independently-owned newspapers, controlling for circulation and other variables. The Gannett group charged a national advertising markup of about 10% more than did the independent newspapers, providing evidence of the power of a strong, well managed group to influence national marketplace prices. There is evidence that power is more important than managerial ability in setting prices. The study suggests that the narrow, local focus of most antitrust law cases involving big media groups should be broadened to reflect a national perspective.
Corporate Structure and Emphasis on Profits and Product Quality at U.S. Daily Newspapers
Authors: Demers David Pearce
Published: December 2011

Editors at a sample of U.S. daily newspapers rated the importance that their organizations place on profits and product quality. Drawing on economic and Weberian theory, this study finds group newspapers are more profit-oriented than independently-owned newspapers and that larger newspapers emphasize product quality more than do smaller newspapers. But the data also show that larger newspapers may emphasize profits less than do smaller newspapers, supporting John Kenneth Galbraith's argument that large organizations pursue a variety of goals, not just maximum profits.
Media Coverage of Disasters: Effect of Geographic Location
Authors: Singer Eleanor , Endreny Phyllis , Glassman Marc B.
Published: December 2011

A content analysis of a sample of major newspapers, magazines, and network news for periods in 1960 and 1984 reveals that both the number of deaths in natural disaster, such as an earthquake, and its geographic location affect the amount of coverage it gets. News about U.S. natural disasters is given disproportionate attention in the U.S. press, but there are no consistent biases in favor of other parts of the world.
Product-Related Programming and Children's TV: A Content Analysis
Authors: Eaton B. Carol , Dominick Joseph R.
Published: December 2011

A content analysis of 16 hours of children's cartoon television programs, sampled from 1988 network and syndicated shows, found that all programs studied contained some violence, but especially those programs that had a link with toy merchandisers. These programs also used more theme music. There were few black characters shown, while males predominated and females were victims more often than were men.
Roots of the Space Race: Sputnik and the Language of U.S. News in 1957
Authors: Lule Jack
Published: December 2011

When the Soviet Union launched Sputnik in October 1957, it also launched the space race. A qualitative assessment of the coverage given this event by the New York Times, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and Los Angeles Times finds depictions of Sputnik in dramas of defeat, of national mortification, and of doom and dread. This study concluded that a 23-inch aluminum ball able (only) to send radio signals to earth was not in itself significant, but the language of reaction and interpretation was.
Inclusion of “Useful” Detail in Newspaper Coverage of a High-Level Nuclear Waste Siting Controversy
Authors: Rossow Marshel D. , Dunwoody Sharon
Published: December 2011

In nearly three of four opportunities, newspapers covering a local high-level nuclear waste siting controversy in Wisconsin provided enough enabling information (details about people, places or things) to enable readers to follow up on the information. However, in only one-fourth of the opportunities did newspapers provide such complete information that a reader could act immediately. This content analysis of 12 daily and weekly newspapers, combined with interviews with editors, also found that newspapers in less pluralistic communities provided a greater proportion of detailed enabling information in their stories than did papers in more pluralistic communities. Greater proportions of enabling information were also associated with legitimized sources and with editors who identified the siting issue as a major concern both to themselves and to their readers.
Video Movies at Home: Are They Viewed like Film or like Television?
Authors: Krugman Dean M. , Shamp Scott A. , Johnson Keith F.
Published: December 2011

Individuals who rent films to watch on their videocassette player at home can be divided into viewers who think what they do is like watching television versus those who think of it more like theater film viewing. The difference affects the types of activities they think are normal—such as eating or answering the telephone—during viewing. This study, based on both focus group and mail survey information, shows that income and certain activities during viewing are associated with individuals who think of home video as film.
Political Outspokenness: Factors Working against the Spiral of Silence
Authors: Lasorsa Dominic L.
Published: December 2011

Tested here is the argument that political outspokenness is affected not only by one's perception of the climate of opinion and one's gender, age, education and income, as Elizabeth Noelle-Neumann argues, but also by one's interest in politics and level of self-efficacy, the obtrusiveness of the issue, extent of media use, and by certainty of views held. A 1987 survey of 624 individuals in Austin, Texas, suggests that people may not be as helpless in the face of public opinion as Noelle-Neumann's “Spiral of Silence” theory would hold, and that there are certain conditions under which it is possible to buck the spiral to express opinions.
Learning from News: Effects of Message Consistency and Medium on Recall and Inference Making
Authors: Wicks Robert H. , Drew Dan G.
Published: December 2011

The authors hypothesized that information consistent with an evoked knowledge structure will tend to reinforce the structure. However, inconsistent information will tend to produce greater amounts of free recall because the inconsistencies will become salient. Finally, inconsistent information in text form will tend to produce more recall than inconsistent information presented on television or on the radio. The authors gave subjects consistent and inconsistent information on two topics, forest fire (harmful or medicinal to the environment) and population growth (good or bad for the society). These factors were also varied by medium of presentation used. Subjects were tested for recall and willingness to make inferences. Subjects receiving consistent information were most willing to infer while those receiving inconsistent information were more likely to remember more facts from the stimulus. Mode of presentation had little effect.
Applying Situational Communication Theory to an International Political Problem: Two Studies
Authors: Atwood L. Erwin , Marie Ann
Published: December 2011

Two Hong Kong telephone surveys, in 1983 and 1985, assess the applicability of Grunig's situational theory of publics, developed in organizational and environmental contexts, to a political problem, the return of Hong Kong to China in July 1997. Theses studies also explore the relationship between instrumental utility and opinion publics. In 1985, but not in 1983, the theory consistently predicted which publics would talk about the “1997 problem,” but those patterns did not hold for media use. Extrinsic utility discriminated between levels of involvement but not opinion publics. Information relevance was situation specific and discriminated among publics and between levels of involvement, although somewhat inconsistently. The problem-specific measures appear to function better within the theory's context.
Japanese-American Relocation during World War II: A Study of California Editorial Reactions
Authors: Chiasson Lloyd
Published: December 2011

When approximately 70,000 Japanese-Americans were removed from their homes and businesses to camps in the interior of the United States in early 1942, there was an ideal opportunity for newspapers to protest on the basis of civil liberties violations. This content analysis of the editorials of the San Francisco Chronicle, San Diego Union, and Los Angeles Times for the period immediately before the February 19, 1942, relocation order, and period immediately after, found little support for Japanese Americans, even though there was never evidence of disloyalty and Secretary of War Henry Stimson tried to allay fears. Concerns of the moment outweighed both public and, with some early period exceptions, press support of freedom for Japanese Americans. This study concludes the sampled press did not play a watchdog role and, instead, “served as a government publicist.”
Advertising Practitioners Look at a Ban on Tobacco Advertising
Authors: Crowley John H. , Pokrywczynski James
Published: December 2011

A two-city (Milwaukee, Minneapolis) survey of advertising practitioners did not find clear support for or against a sometimes-discussed total ban against tobacco advertising. The survey did find that smokers are somewhat more resistant than nonsmokers to the idea of a ban but that advertising specialists have not been especially swayed by trade publications' strong resistance to a ban. Most believed, contrary to the tobacco industry position, that advertising entices young people to smoke. These specialists report their views shaped as much by the general press as by the specialized trade press.
The Use of Nostalgia in Television Advertising: A Content Analysis
Authors: Unger Lynette S. , Mcconocha Diane M. , Faier John A.
Published: December 2011

Nostalgia was used by means of theme, copy, or music about 10% of the time according to a content analysis of more than a thousand commercials sampled from ABC, CBS, and NBC. Nostalgic references were to family activities or to the “olden days,” among other themes, and were most likely to be used with food and beverage commercials. The study suggests nostalgia may be especially important in a changing world because it connects us with our past.
Fairness and Balance in the Prestige Press
Authors: Lacy Stephen , Fico Frederick , Simon Todd F.
Published: December 2011

A comparison of nine prestige newspapers, such as the New York Times and Washington Post, and a sample of large circulation, but less prestigious, newspapers finds prestige newspapers are more likely to cover both sides of community controversy, with better balanced news. Newspapers demonstrating best balance were the Times, Post, and St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Findings are presented in the context of the social responsibility theory of the press.
The Effects of Editorials on Audience Reaction to Television Newscasters
Authors: Krueger Elizabeth , Fox James D.
Published: December 2011

Except in major markets, few radio or television stations still editorialize. This study asks: does audience reaction to an editorial affect evaluations of adjacent newscasters? This study experimentally tests effects of strong to weak television editorials on audience members and finds that strongly-worded negative editorials (editorials against a national 55 mph speed limit) did cause a lowering of the judgment of competence of the adjacent newscaster if the audience members disagreed with the editorial position. Those agreeing with the editorial were less judgmental, and weakly-worded editorials had less effect than did strongly-worded ones.
The Emotional Use of Popular Music by Adolescents
Authors: Wells Alan , Hakanen Ernest A.
Published: December 2011

This study follows up on some recent calls for study of music as a mass medium. An intensive study of high school teenagers finds that music serves as a powerful communication medium, speaking directly to emotions. Here, both men and women most often associated these emotions with music: excitement, happiness and love. Women were somewhat more likely to associate emotions with music and to use music for “mood management.” Social class, race and ethnicity generally did not discriminate among emotions felt by men and women. Cluster analysis allowed these youths to be sorted into different types of listeners: “mainstreamers” “heavy rockers,” “indifferents” and “music lovers.”
Colorization and Moral Rights: Should the United States Adopt Unified Protection for Artists?
Authors: Cooper Roger
Published: December 2011

The recent trend to colorize early, often classic black and white films has created controversy as a result of the clash of artistic creativity, copyright laws, and technology. This study cites efforts by Congress and some state legislatures to protect creative rights, along with allowing for market forces. The study summarizes perspectives of film directors, producers, and others, and suggests policy guidelines.
Standards and Perceived Roles of JMC Journal Reviewers
Authors: Wearden Stanley T. , Endres Fredric F.
Published: December 2011

The average reviewer for a journalism and mass communication scholarly journal sees four to six manuscripts per year, is male, white, 46 years old, holds a doctorate and senior rank, and is widely published. This survey of 215 reviewers of 11 JMC journals (including Journalism Quarterly, Journalism Monographs, and the Journal of Communication) finds that about one-third of the polled reviewers feel they help set the agenda of the field, although more gave that power to journal editors. About seven of ten review for more than one journal, suggesting that the criteria used in evaluating manuscripts—for example, clear conceptualization and strong evidence—are widely spread across the journals of our field.
Criminal Libel after Garrison
Authors: Stevens George E.
Published: December 2011

Criminal libel traces its history to ancient Babylonia where it was designed to prevent insults to women. As criminal libel law evolved, it has often been applied against the press, until the Garrison case in which application of the New York Times' “actual malice” rule allowed a prosecutor reasonable freedom to criticize judges. Today, only 21 states have criminal libel statutes, and some of these are of dubious constitutionality. Is the criminal libel threat to the press dead? Perhaps; perhaps not, this study finds.
Effect of Support and Personal Distance on the Definition of Key Publics for the Issue of AIDS
Authors: Cameron Glen T. , Yang Jian
Published: December 2011

Situational theory predicts that those with a high problem recognition, high involvement and low constraint recognition will be active information seekers. A telephone survey of 493 individuals in a Southwestern city finds knowledge of AIDS is high among all groups and, as hypothesized, distinguishing audiences according to personal and impersonal levels of problem recognition, involvement and constraint recognition provides a useful extension of James Grunig's situational theory. The addition of valence of support as a predictor is also found to enhance the use of the situational variables in identifying target audiences for communication campaigns.
Communication and Community Integration: An Analysis of the Communication Behavior of Newcomers
Authors: Stamm Keith R. , Guest Avery M.
Published: December 2011

Community integration for newcomers was more strongly related to general information seeking than to specific use of newspapers. Four hundred newcomers in Seattle were polled by phone. When newcomers arrive in a community, they need to fill many information gaps, and this study found that newspapers (which made no special effort to reach newcomers in the city studied) did not fill them especially well. People who were reluctant to leave their old community were most interested in becoming integrated into the new one, in terms of gaining information.
Counting Items versus Measuring Space in Content Analysis
Authors: Al-Enad Abdulrahman H.
Published: December 2011

Measuring stories by space produced better results than sorting and counting them by individual rank order categories in this content analysis. A study of eight daily Saudi Arabian newspapers employed both factor analysis and Pearson correlations to compare coverage of five subjects. Measuring the amount of space allocated to stories produced both high correlations among newspapers and accounted, in factor analysis, for a high amount of variance.
Personal Computers and Media Use
Authors: Schweitzer John C.
Published: December 2011

About one in five people own a personal computer but not many of these owners spend much time with the computer. Of owners, only about 20% spend as much as 1–2 hours per day. This study, based on a telephone survey of a Southwestern city, finds that owners are more affluent than non PC owners and read the local morning paper more. But PC owners and nonowners differed little in amount of television news viewed. Ownership of a personal computer apparently did not lead to radical changes in use of traditional news media.
Scientists' Reasons for Consenting to Mass Media Interviews: A National Survey
Authors: DiBella Suzan M. , Ferri Anthony J. , Padderud Allan B.
Published: December 2011

Eight of 10 of 255 scientists polled had conducted interviews with the mass media, most often with newspapers. But many also had been interviewed by television, radio, and magazine reporters. Most scientists reported a willingness to allow media interviews in order to educate the public and to engender interest in the scientist's own specialty. This study finds differences between university and private industry scientists, but in general all agree that to educate the public is a respectable endeavor and to seek publicity for monetary gain is not.
Minorities in the Newsroom and Community: A Comparison
Authors: Haws Dick
Published: December 2011

Since the American Society of Newspaper Editors set minority hiring goals in 1978, the number of minorities working in newsrooms has crept up from about 4% to nearly 8% by 1990. But the goal of racial “equivalency” to be met by year 2000 finds the minority community growing so fast that gains are being wiped out. Comparing individual newspaper minority news staffs with the actual minorities in the circulation area, this study finds successes and failures for a large sample of newspapers for which data are available. Daily newspapers that achieve minimum minority hiring goals are in communities with, proportionately speaking, small numbers of minorities. When communities have minorities of at least 15%, newspapers, whether large or small, cannot seem to match that percentage on news staffs.
The Effect of Leadership Behavior on Job Satisfaction and Goal Agreement and Attainment in Local TV News
Authors: Powers Angela
Published: December 2011

A study of local news staff members from competitive television markets in the Midwest compares effects of leadership styles on whether workers are satisfied with their jobs, achieve organizational goals or agree with news managers on goals. News managers emphasized both relationships and task accomplishment, but relationship-oriented managers were more often associated with job satisfaction and accomplishment of newsroom goals. Respondents (to a survey questionnaire) said they were more satisfied with their work when they reached department goals and when they agreed with their news directors on the priority of those goals.
Unlicensed Broadcasting and the Federal Radio Commission: The 1930 George W. Fellowes Challenge
Authors: Phipps Steven P.
Published: December 2011

An unlicensed station in St. Louis, Missouri, that rebroadcast material from other, licensed, stations soon came to the attention of the Federal Radio Commission, and owner George W. Fellowes found himself forced to challenge the right of the state to control the air. Fellowes' court-appointed attorney argued the government should not restrict the right of citizens to use airwaves; a U.S. District Court found differently, based on the Radio Act of 1927. Fellowes was given the choice of a year in jail—a stiff sentence to set an example—or deportation. He choose deportation. The argument of free citizen access to airwaves surfaces from time to time, but never for long.
Democracy's Guardians: Hollywood's Portrait of Reporters, 1930–1945
Authors: Vaughn Stephen , Evensen Bruce
Published: December 2011

Reporters in films of the early 1930s were often portrayed as drunks or as less than glamorous, as evidenced by the 1930 film “The Front Page.” By the end of the decade, pressure from the American Newspaper Publishers Association, American Society of Newspaper Editors, and other professional organizations, plus film-makers' need for good press, caused a change in the way reporters appeared, as evidenced by “His Girl Friday,” the 1940 remake of “The Front Page.” World War II films often portrayed reporters as searchers for truth in a free democratic system, a striking contrast to fascist control of information abroad. This study is based on the recently opened files of the Production Code Administration plus the viewing of 35 key films of the period.
The Indeterminate Future of the First Amendment
Authors: Simon Todd F.
Published: December 2011

The position of the First Amendment within the hierarchy of values held important in our constitutional system may be challenged as the Bill of Rights enters its third century. In fact, there is evidence the values are already being challenged. The investigation of recent decisions of the Rehnquist Court finds the justices restricting expressive freedoms through the use—and abuse—of legal precedents. This review suggests that, before long, government arguments for restrictions of expression will rather routinely win Supreme Court support, while arguments for increased freedom will find it difficult to build a majority.
Media Coverage of the Supreme Court's Caseload
Authors: O'Callaghan Jerome , Dukes James O.
Published: December 2011

Citizens hold the Supreme Court in high regard, and this esteem necessarily, for most, must be based on mass media news coverage. Content analysis of Supreme Court coverage by three networks, three news magazines and three major newspapers finds the press is selective in type of cases covered. The best coverage fit to actual types of cases decided was in the New York Times. All sampled news media gave more coverage to civil rights cases than the number of these cases would justify. First Amendment issues also received close news media attention, but economic and other issues did not. High public esteem of the Supreme Court is based on an incomplete look at the court's workload.
Roscoe Dunjee: Crusading Editor of Oklahoma's Black Dispatch, 1915–1955
Authors: Sullins William S. , Parsons Paul
Published: December 2011

After founding a weekly newspaper in 1915, Roscoe Dunjee spent the next four decades taking leading stands on civil rights issues. He spoke out editorially, and he also took personal risks to test discriminatory laws. He supported others who fought to integrate public transportation and schools. An activist, he sought to use peaceful methods to encourage change. In World War II he pointed out the incongruity of condemning Nazism for its treatment of Jews when blacks suffered continuing discrimination. Such protest earned the attention of the FBI's J. Edgar Hoover, who was not able to get Dunjee prosecuted during the war. Dunjee is one of twelve black leaders, including W.E.B. Du Bois and Frederick Douglass, recognized as “giants in American journalism” by the National Newspaper Publishers Association.
Accuracy of Visual Perception of Quantitative Graphics: An Exploratory Study
Authors: David Prabu
Published: December 2011

How accurately do quantitative graphics in the news media convey data? Eight quantitative graphics that seemed to violate theoretical principles of accuracy of perception were selected as test stimuli. The same data presented in the media graphics were represented as simple bars and pies, which were used as controls. Five out of the eight test graphs were perceived less accurately than the controls. However, the surprise finding was that two of the test graphs were perceived as accurately as their controls. These findings indicate that some of the principles of graph-making that are held as conventional wisdom should be reevaluated.
Mug Shots and Reader Attitudes toward People in the News
Authors: Lain Laurence B. , Harwood Philip J.
Published: December 2011

This experimental study links research about use of newspaper mug shots with facial expression research in nonverbal communication. There were significant differences in the personal attributes ascribed by readers to the source of a news story based on the nature of the mug shot (positive, neutral, or negative) which accompanied the story, particularly readers' views of the source's congeniality and integrity. Credibility factors were less affected. Women generally responded less favorably than men toward the source. Readers rated a source more congenial when the story was accompanied by a photo.
The Uses and Gratifications of Rerun Viewing
Authors: Furno-Lamude Diane , Anderson James
Published: December 2011

Even from the earliest days of commercial television in the 1950s, viewers have been able to pick betweeen first-run or rerun television programs. One way or the other, about half of today's television menu involves rerun material. This survey of viewers finds a number of motivations associated with the viewing of each type of program. For many viewers, nostalgia or pure enjoyment is associated with viewing reruns more than with viewing first run programs. But those with time to kill are more likely to watch first run programs; rerun viewing seems to require more motivation.
Hard News/Soft News Content of the National Broadcast Networks, 1972–1987
Authors: Scott David K. , Gobetz Robert H.
Published: December 2011

In recent years there has been a slight tendency for television network news programs to increase the amount of soft news presented mostly during the last one-third of the newscast. Content analysis of the Vanderbilt Television News Abstracts from 1972 through 1987 shows that, although all networks did increase the amount of soft news, this type news remained a small part of the newscast. Soft news is defined as stories that focus on a human interest topic, feature or nonpolicy issue.