Reports on how computerized broadcast stations prepare the news. Discusses implications for news and education, pointing out ways teachers can prepare students for computerized newsrooms.

What passes for considered judgment in public discourse today is often little more than "unearned opinion"--the received opinion offered by others who have the power to shape the news. So students must develop consistent intellectual standards for routinely evaluating the news media which so frequently provide the empirical stuff about…

A pragmatic approach may be used in teaching undergraduate courses in political communication. The design of such a course takes account of departmental, university, and community contexts, and focuses on the following six approaches: single figure or single issue; genre; media exploitation; print media; electronic media; and candidate image. The…