Proposes that newspaper journalists' demographic and attitudinal characteristics help to maintain distance between them and the public they serve. Claims that this distance may be directly related to the public's perceptions of newspaper credibility. (MM)

Reports on an analysis of data in two Houston daily newspapers, which indicates that the distribution of crimes reported in the press is markedly dissimilar from the distribution of crimes reported to the police; concludes that newspaper readers are given a distorted view of the reality of crime. (GW)

Results of a Wisconsin study and a national study indicate that media richness of a community is associated with greater diversity in the public problems agenda held by the citizens of that community. (GW)

Indicates that a series of television programs succeeded in improving public attitudes toward mental retardation and retarded people. (KS)

Compares the way in which various news media covered a specific political event and examines the correlation between the agenda of issues stressed by the media and the agenda of issues recalled by the public. (GW)

Attempts to document the attitudes of the public--especially the black, poorly educated, and powerless sub-groups of the public--concerning the need for minority ownership of radio stations that feature minority programming. (Author/GW)

Investigates whether the relative amount of bad, neutral, and good news on television has corresponding effects on viewers' image of the community depicted and of the carrying newscast. Concludes that bad news creates a bad image for the community but that good news does not produce a more favorable image than neutral news. (MM)

A study of 150 residents of a small southern Illinois city suggests that there are significant correlations between local daily newspaper content and what people in the community report reading and talking about, but that there are only nonsignificant partial correlations between the newspaper's and the residents' agendas about local news. (GW)

Describes an urban mass media campaign that had a direct impact on changing public opinion regarding the privacy issue. (GW)

Data from a comparative study of media use and preferences in two Tennessee towns reveal significant differences in media preferences and challenge some lingering stereotypes about the homogeneity of a small town's use of its daily newspaper. (GT)