After World War II, the United States was the champion of communications as an international issue, but it has since become disenchanted with its formulation and debate. (PD)

Reviews four major criticisms of media coverage of social science--oversimplification, premature closure, lack of concern with the methodological and theoretical competence of the social science reported, and biased selection--and concludes they are largely justified. Argues that such shortcomings are explicable, given the structure and operating…

Coverage of Mamie Eisenhower as First Lady illustrates difficulties that the media have in projecting images of women. Like many women in the news, she was noteworthy because of her satellite status in relation to a man. Exercising some control over her public portrayal--if only to refuse to see the press to the extent it desired--she deliberately…

An essay on the responsibilities of news media discusses the priorities of network news coverage, distorted editing, and the need for consumer awareness and concern about mass media inadequacies. (FG)

The response of the magazine "U.S. News and World Report" to criticism of its college ranking methodology included changes in the determination of indicators and reporting of data. However, the research still relies on subjective information, and its conclusions, therefore, are questionable. (Author/MSE)

Surveys the author's contribution to the Center for Social Studies Education curriculum on the Vietnam War. Focuses on "How the War Was Reported," a unit which raises four questions concerning the responsibilities of the government and the press for keeping the public informed. Encourages use of the curriculum in teaching about the…

Presidential candidates in the United States tend to seek consensus rather than to try to discover new answers to problems and to convince voters that they should be elected to implement those answers. Reporters in the mass media emphasize objectivity and fairness in their reporting. This emphasis produces an intense interest in the…

The United States is a major exporter but a minor importer of films and television programs; this situation has been described as a one-way flow of information from the United States to other nations. Although the official United States position is one of dedication to the two-way flow of communication, the "majority" view is that the…

Examines the media depiction of the political climate in the 1970s as increasingly conservative, despite insubstantial evidence for the claim. (PD)

Using as an example the relations between the state and the mass media in Kenya in the 1960s and 1970s, this paper asserts that in regard to state/media relations, a theoretical middle course exists between the two most common perspectives, the structuralist-functionalists/chroniclers of history and the Marxists. The paper claims that this middle…

In every advanced culture, there exists some kind of understanding between a profession and the people it serves. In the case of mass communication, such an understanding is for the most part an informal compact whose terms are understood more or less tacitly. As the terms of this agreement are renegotiated from time to time--disagreements…

The effective use of public relations by educators is the general topic addressed by these 18 articles collected from past issues of the "Journal of Educational Communication." The first section stresses planning and management with articles on opportunities made available by crises; the combination of effective communication with efficient…

Analysis of the Wisconsin woman suffrage campaign of 1910-1920 suggests that public relations belonged not only to political or business practices, but was equally a process by which the masses achieved their own best interests in nineteenth and early twentieth century social reform movements. Woman suffragists were led by women, and the public…