Research on the news media's reporting on suicide and mental illness is understudied in Australia despite the controversial nature of much coverage and its possible consequences for a variety of audiences. This paper critiques the underlying assumptions of most international research in this area, which follows a media imitation or contagion…

Oprah Winfrey is one of the wealthiest and most powerful entertainers operating in the media today. More than mere celebrity, however, she represents the notion of the heroic for her fans. In a sense, she operates as a television evangelist offering advice on secular issues of the day. This paper explores Oprah's role in influencing audiences to…

Utilizes a theoretical framework of the media's role in reporting conflict and uncertain science, and feminism and science in a thematic analysis of magazine coverage given Rachel Carson and "the Rachel Carson of '90s," Theo Colborn. Notes that Carson and Colborn's identities as women, scientists, and agitators led critics to charge that…

Defining videotex and teletext as the most revolutionary innovations in communication since the invention of movable type, this paper describes The Interactive Videotex Project of public television station KPBS in San Diego, California. Following a brief overview of videotex and teletext technologies, the paper discusses (1) the development of the…

A telephone survey of a random sample of operators of mid-to large-size farms in Virginia was used to identify informational needs of the Virginia farm operator, to evaluate farmer perception of Virginia Cooperative Extension Service programs, and to gather data on the publications read and other media used by farmers. A total of 334 20-question…

To illustrate the relevance of critical communication history and theory to media ethics, this paper examines a crucial episode in the history of public relations: the American electrical industry's cooperative advertising and public relations efforts in the 1920s to sell the "electrical idea" to consumers. The paper first enumerates…

The relationship of older Americans to the new media culture of society is the focus of this Technical Committee Report. The work of two committee-appointed subcommittees on stereotypes and new media technology are explained with a special emphasis on the influence of television. Age stereotyping is examined in prime time television, daytime…

This study compared childrens' apprehension of an unfamiliar story either read to them from an illustrated book or presented as a comparable televised film. Subjects were 48 children, 24 of them six to seven years old, and 24 nine to ten years old, who were randomly assigned to one medium condition and individually presented the story. Response…

This study, to determine whether complexity of detail, scale, and background help subjects to learn technical information, demonstrated no significant difference between groups. One group used the existing self-contained learning package with many complex visuals; the other group used lessons identical in the audio portion but containing…

Discusses research issues related to using cognitive learning and instructional theory to design technology-based learning environments such as hypertext and hypermedia. A "Theory-to-Design" framework is described, and the framework is then used to analyze theoretical and design issues raised in a hypermedia research project. (Contains…

Argues that the debate about media attributes versus instructional methods should be shifted from instruction- and media-centered to a learner-centered conception of learning. Learning with media should be explored on the macro level (where learning is situationally dependent) and on the micro level (where design should support, instead of…

The two reports presented here describe an 18-month project intended to review and evaluate the first year's activities of the Office of Telecommunications Policy's (OTP) Telecommunications Demonstration Program for the delivery of social and health services; develop approaches for evaluating individual demonstration programs in the future;…

This study assesses problems and possibilities associated with production and use of radio, television, computers, and various other technological delivery systems for instruction, and evaluates those already in place. Sources for data included commissioned papers; structured interviews with users, producers, and shapers of instructional…

A study constituted the fifth phase of a programmatic research effort designed to develop and test a model of international communications media exposure and appraisal. The model posits that three variables--editorial tone, communication potential, and utility--have positive determinant effects on these dependent variables. Research was carried…

This exploratory study of children's use of electronic text systems drew upon site visits, interviews, and data compilations for an overview and synthesis of issues. Systems studied included Green Thumb (videotext, Kentucky); Channel 2000 (videotext, Ohio); KCET (teletext, California); WETA (teletext, Washington, D.C.); QUBE (interactive cable,…