Briefly reviews research on the effectiveness of CAI in instruction, and describes a study comparing the performance of students using one program for basic marketing--TRMP (Tutorial Review of Marketing Principles)--with or without a study guide, the study guide alone, and a traditional class. (BBM)

Focuses on the organizational use of transcendent appeals to redefine "sin" into a "virtue." Analyzes Johnson Controls' apologia after critics charged that its "fetal protection policy" was discriminatory. Examines the redefinitions and ultimate terms invoked by the company to justify its choice of policy. (PA)

Compares interpretive media research with traditional media research. Suggests that interpretivism's distinctiveness from earlier work is not always entirely clear and that, through an analysis of the challenges that interpretivism poses to preceding traditions, these challenges may be illusory. (MG)

Analyzes the Federal Communication Commission's (FCC) assignment of renewal expectancy to existing broadcast licensees within the framework of the Commission's ongoing inquiry into the comparative renewal process. Discusses and analyzes the rationales given by the Commission to justify its current policy. Finds only the criteria of excellent…

This paper contends that the failure of the St. Louis "Globe-Democrat" raises questions not only about whether the United States Justice Department's Antitrust Division should have worked harder to keep the St. Louis joint operating agreement (JOA) alive, but also about the efficacy of the Newspaper Preservation Act in preserving…

Discusses the World Wide Web (WWW) as a multimedia delivery system, sources of variation in WWW art sites, pioneers on the electronic frontiers of art, and dimensions of electronic exhibition space. Discusses characteristics of early and of second-generation WWW art sites, how they compare, and evolution of the art site on the WWW. (SR)

Examines the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) public relations efforts concerning the Hubble telescope. Proposes that NASA's poor public relations exacerbated problems: NASA oversold the telescope before it was deployed, failed to develop a plan for release of images, provided misleading flight reports, and reported…

Argues that, in terms of demography of attention, broadcast economics, the excitation of wide public commentary, and First and Third World media dependency issues, American Olympic television is a worthwhile object of scrutiny for mass communication researchers. Appraises two studies by Thomas Farrell and Eric Rothenbuhler (same issue). (SR)

Examines the often attacked television commercial, its messages, and its effects. Considers commercials a contemporary art form, positing that they are deeply linked with the structure of poetry, and compares the TV director with the poet. Suggests that commercials are a "perfect" expression of the television medium--short, intensive,…

This paper argues for a synthesis between the major competing paradigms of empirical positivism and critical theory, into a multiperspective methodology. Citing recent efforts to incorporate such a merger, the paper concludes that, though such a copula appears necessary, it remains problematic when considered within the context of an immutable…

A study examined the extent to which the violation of any one of more than 20 deleted Federal Communications Commission "underbrush" rules or policies (minor rules and policy statements) might result in a threat to the violator's broadcast license. All of the deleted policies and regulations, the criminal codes of California, Florida,…

Describes a study that indicated that readers of college newspapers prefer a front page style that is contemporary and emphasizes a horizontal layout to either an avant-garde style that features an entirely horizontal layout or a traditional layout having a vertical page. (TJ)

Many recent studies on computer-mediated communication (CMC) have addressed the question of orality and literacy. This article examines a relatively recent subgenre of CMC, that of written online sports commentary, that provides us with written CMC that is clearly based on firmly established oral genres, those of radio and television sports…

This paper explores three audience models which have traditionally animated American communications policy: the Effects Model, in which the audience is victim; the Marketplace Model, in which the audience is consumer; and the Commodity Model, in which the audience is a coin of exchange. In separate sections, the models are defined, their varying…

A study explored whether ethnographic research is appropriate and feasible for Hispanic consumer research. Subjects, 41 Hispanic advertising executives (out of an original group of 80) in advertising agencies listed in the Standard Directory of Advertising Agencies from New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, and San Antonio, answered a 23-item…