To measure the editorial advocacy of influential newspapers concerning the membership of the Supreme Court, a study analyzed editorials from such newspapers concerning the last five Supreme Court nominees of President Ronald Reagan (William Rehnquist, Antonin Scalia, Robert Bork, Douglas Ginsburg, and Anthony Kennedy). A telephone survey of 100…

Although libel has remained the major legal problem of the press for 40 years, little empirical research has been conducted concerning its impact. Various methods for conducting this type of needed research include traditional legal research, surveys of practitioners, and surveys of persons outside the media who are directly affected by mass…

To determine whether newspapers are equally responsive to threats to freedom of speech and to freedom of the press, the news and editorial coverage by ten daily newspapers of 40 United States Supreme Court decisions concerning free expression was analyzed. The 20 free-press and 20 free-speech cases were randomly selected from over 70…

An analysis of the coverage by ten newspapers of 20 United States Supreme Court decisions concerning freedom of the press and 20 decisions concerning freedom of speech revealed that the newspapers gave significantly greater coverage to the press decisions. (GT)