When affective and cognitive scores were used as measures, the attractiveness level of the endorser of a product in an advertisement appeared to have a significant effect on the scores with the high attractiveness level producing the most favorable evaluations. When cognitive scores were used, however, the attractiveness level had no significant…

A study conducted analyses of metro and regional daily newspaper penetration in 87 Minnesota counties and examined readership for metro and regional daily newspapers and small-town weekly and semiweekly papers in 28 communities. Among conclusions reached was that in outlying communities, education was associated more with reading the metro paper…

Presents experimental tests of assumptions about the ways in which readers distinguish fact from opinion in a defamatory context. Examines differences in impact on readers based upon their perceptions of whether a report is fact or opinion. Finds that opinion causes more harm to reputation than does fact. (MM)

Examining the role of service journalism in association magazines (magazines focusing on technical and educational information relating to specific practices of association members), a case study of the "Angus Journal" (a monthly magazine devoted to the beef breeding industry) investigated the problem of determining the amount of service…

A study analyzed the relationship between reading in various community structures and where people shop for goods and services, and whether this relationship differs by the type of community in which individuals reside. Telephone interviews were conducted with samples of 100 or more subjects in each of 10 Minnesota communities, including a small…

Examines letters to the editor of two Chicago newspapers between 1912 and 1917, to explore the strategies that readers used to make sense of what they read. Discusses cuing and linking, the new journalistic methodology of objectivity, and the mobilization of bias. Argues that reader response was often not idiosyncratic, but rather guided by…

Noting that the impressions left by the large, bold type of newspaper headlines have frequently resulted in libel suits, a study explored the individual and interactive roles played by defamatory headlines and news articles in a reader's perception of the contents. Four separate versions of a news article and its headline were prepared by the…

Two hypotheses in a study examining the influence of a dominant piece of art on the salience of a news story for readers, thus affecting their agendas, were as follows: (1) a story with dominant art will increase a reader's issue salience more than a story without dominant art; and (2) a story with balanced art will increase a reader's issue…

Concludes that reader enjoyment is related to both syntactic and semantic unpredictability. (FL)

Examines the Hall-Mills murder case and the Browning separation--two events extensively covered by the press in the l920s--to see how they were shaped by the media into morality plays. (FL)

A study investigated whether newspaper mug shots are perceived by readers as being positive or negative in tone and whether the mug shots that are selected match the roles of their subjects in accompanying stories. Twenty-three news and feature stories with associated mug shots were clipped from seven daily newspapers. Pictures and stories were…

Persuasion theories typically attempt to account for attitude change, but mass media reviews influence more ephemeral variables, the chief of which is "interest" in attending or otherwise consuming a cultural event or object. Reviewing and other forms of "evaluative journalism"--including much sports, consumer, and political…

Examines undergraduate students' imaginative processes (i.e., spontaneous imagery and emotional response) to newspaper articles. Finds that, as in previous studies with literary texts and feature journalism articles, imagery and affective responses (i.e., emotional response and story interest) were moderately to strongly related. Finds that both…

Concludes that perceptions of causes of crime vary markedly depending on which news medium is used most. (FL)

A study explored the effects of both prior knowledge of acronyms and their form of presentation (cued or uncued) on reader recognition of acronym meaning. Among the hypotheses tested were that (1) a reader presented with an acronym ranked as familiar is more likely to recognize that acronym than one ranked unfamiliar, and (2) that a reader…