Examines the potential of the inoculation message strategy to deflect the persuasiveness of comparative advertisements. Indicates modest potential for inoculation, confirming that inoculation pretreatments confer resistance to a comparative ad's influence on consumer attitudes, especially on behalf of high-involving products. (SR)

Presents an ideological critique of media histories to illustrate how the dominant liberal pluralist perspective influenced journalism historiography, particularly as it related to the history of newsworkers from 1919 to 1938. Finds that, although they are central to understanding the political and economic development of the media, reporters…

Investigates the influence of negative advertising in political campaigns. Concludes that negative advertising reduces the image evaluation of the targeted politician. (SRT)

Analyzes questionnaires and dream reports of 241 undergraduate students for the presence of media figures in their dreams. Finds that media figures appear as friends, collaborators, or associates rather than as celebrities. Suggests that viewers do not enter television scripts in their dreams, but incorporate media figures into their own life…

Describes the results of preliminary experiments to investigate the effects of communications medium (face-to-face and two-way closed circuit television) on the fundamental frequency of speakers in a dyadic communications situation. (JMF)

Examines the audience experience with home video cassette recorders (VCRs) from the perspective of the active audience concept. Finds the orientation of Israeli VCR owners to VCRs is selective, somewhat involved, and generally productive of gratifications. Also finds the kinds and levels of activities associated with VCR use are moderately…

Investigates the relationship between individual differences in "arousability" and the tendency for college students to report enduring negative reactions from exposure to frightening media. Finds that arousability was related to both enduring and immediate fright reactions. Notes that physiological indicators were associated with arousability for…

Stresses that understanding the impact of interaction with mass media requires conceptualizing media as an institutionalized social form. A critical feature of this process is the grammatical character of media interaction in the form of rhythm and tempo, because these rhythms and tempos become established in everyday routine. (SKC)

Presents a new approach to attitude measuring that provides a comprehensive index of favorability and salience, the primary attributes relevant to the study of any attitudinal issue. The new technique effectively separates indifferent research subjects from those who are neutral toward attitudinal issues. Discusses methodological advantages and…

Found that parents' social class was the best predictor of adolescents' perceptions of the importance of the debates. The best predictor of students' ability to attribute victory to one of the candidates was interpersonal communication prior to and immediately following the telecast. (PD)

Contributes to scholarship on the role of discursive rhetoric for providing a context for visual messages. Analyzes how the American print media, in the summer of 1963, contextualized M. Browne's photographs of a Vietnamese Buddhist monk's self-immolation in two competing frames of either religious oppression or a war for freedom against the…

Considers the attempts of some rhetors, when accused publicly through news media, to shift blame onto the reporting media by questioning their coverage. Defines this strategy as a "role imbalance attack" that deflects criticism away from a rhetor. Discusses the factors influencing the success of this strategy. (HB)

Addresses the relevance of cognitive research in memory processes and auditory information processing for the resolution of policy issues concerning the regulation of popular music. Offers several assumptions regarding music listening, and suggests appropriate research methods for resolving questions surrounding music listening and regulation.…

Notes that relationships between the media and the presidency have been written about extensively, yet some conclusions have been misapplied and overvalued, while other potential conclusions have been overlooked or denied. Presents 10 propositions providing corrective hypotheses and new focus for presidential communication researchers. (SKC)