A study reviewed coverage in 13 newspapers during 1989 of the issue of spraying the pesticide Alar on apples. Using VU/TEXT, a newspaper database, 297 articles in 13 newspapers that included the specified code words "Alar" with or without "apple" or "apples" were retrieved and analyzed using a 33-question coding…

Unlike her energetic predecessor, Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady Bess Truman sought to remain outside the public spotlight. While Mrs. Roosevelt held weekly press conferences for women reporters, Mrs. Truman held all press conferences somewhat under protest, and in absentia, with questions filtered through her social secretary. As she consequently…

A study surveyed the religion news reporters at daily newspapers in all circulation classes to assess the current state of the religion beat. Mail surveys were completed by 141 newspapers. Information concerning the following areas was solicited: (1) demographic characteristics (respondent's age, sex, religious preference), (2) staffing…

A descriptive mail survey extended two earlier studies done in the 1970s on "all-news" stations (or "news radio") and compared characteristics of stations using all-news with those of stations using extended news or news/information formats. Specifically, the previous studies were updated by exploration of how the following…

Studies of newspaper reading in three communities in North Carolina were undertaken in light of the fact that newspaper reading has declined relative to population growth since World War II. In each instance, the respondents had available a relatively small local afternoon daily and a larger morning metropolitan daily. Results of the study showed…

In a study of the effect of crossownerships of newspapers and television stations on citizen access to mass media for the discussion of public issues, information was analyzed about television circulation, advertising costs, and market sizes for 208 crossownership market areas. Results were as follows: crossownerships are all located in the larger…

To investigate the nature, content, and validity of criticisms of the news media and to determine whether these criticisms are made objectively, a study surveyed 550 members of the Mass Media and Society Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC). Response rate was 41%. Questions examined statements…

Using media content data produced by Issues Management of Alexandria, Virginia (also known as "The Conference on Issues and Media"), a study examined agenda-setting for network television news, newspapers with broad syndication, and national weekly news magazines. Issues Management bi-weekly publishes the combined content for all three…

Choosing six Mexican newspapers representing an ideological range from liberal to conservative, a study analyzed the content of the newspapers' editorials and political columns from 1951 through 1980. Data established that Mexican newspapers, contrary to many critics' judgments, criticized government policies and political figures. They did,…

Noting that past local media coverage of environmental topics, including those dealing with radiation topics, has often been superficial, a study assessed press coverage of the radon problem in the Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania during the first nine months of 1985. The study explored whether local media coverage of radon--a colorless,…

A study analyzed the coverage by 15 American newspapers of a single foreign news story, the assassination of Sweden's Prime Minister Olof Palme on February 28, 1986. Issues of the newspapers for the first week after the murder were examined and total coverage of the event, measured in number of words, was calculated for each paper. In addition,…

Through an examination of the appearance of the front pages of separately owned, competitive newspapers in 10 cities in the United States, a study explored the extent to which these newspapers have become modern in their use of graphic devices. Specifically, the study investigated (1) the relationship between a market's newspaper circulation gap…

An effort was made in this study to determine whether the absence or presence of news film in a television news segment influences a believability or preference judgment made by a respondent when comparing a television report directly with a newspaper report of the same event. One hundred eight students at Temple University viewed one of two…

The purposes of this study were to identify the directors of the Associated Press (AP) since 1892, to examine geographic and journalistic representation of the board since then, and to assemble a composite profile of directors' backgrounds and civic involvement, utilizing "Who's Who" sketches and computer analysis of biographical data…

A study investigated the impact of "thought over time" as a variable that may influence recall of discrepant information encountered in the media. Earlier studies indicated that human subjects are capable of improving their recall of "consistent" sets of news information over time without the benefit of additional exposure to…