Presents summaries of research dealing with (1) foreign correspondents in Washington, D.C., (2) legal protection for magazine article ideas, (3) the influence of training on taking and judging photographs, (4) the impact of cable television on library materials borrowing, and (5) the law that first led to a free press. (FL)

Concludes that the coverage of health issues in the British press is modest and lacking in information, making health less of a concern than illness among the public. (FL)

Concludes that newspapers outdistance television as sources of state government news and that those selecting newspapers are more knowledgeable. (FL)

Brief research reports discuss (1) the Greek mass media, (2) media use and student knowledge of current events, (3) brand credibility in advertising, (4) the accuracy in news magazines' forecasts, (5) camera bans in court rooms, (6) education reporting in the Los Angeles "Times," and (7) loneliness, depression, and the uses of…

Summarizes research reports dealing with newspaper and television as news information media, media agendas, and political participation; the dimensions of advertiser credibility; the correlation between media variables and birth rate; reader comprehension of verb and subject headlines; media credibility; and New York reporters' coverage of J.…

Outlines opposing theories of the role of the commercial mass media in national economic development; reports on a survey of the attitudes of 636 adult residents of Barquisimeto, Venezuela, with respect to consumption, advertising, and national development, and shows how the results relate to the theory proposed by Daniel Lerner. (GT)

A Florida experiment demonstrated that cameras can operate in a courtroom without causing the disruption experienced in previous courtroom cases. The more difficult question--whether the more subtle effects of the camera hamper a fair trial--is open to debate. (GT)

A survey of 481 individuals from a major southwestern metropolitan area suggests that a newspaper audience is not monolithic but rather a collection of numerous subsegments with different attitudes and needs regarding newspapers. (GT)

Reports the results of two studies revealing that, except for television viewing, there was little mass media use by patients in a mental hospital and that patients' television viewing was of a passive nature. (GT)

Surveys 82 Alabama legislators and finds officials' views of the press as adversary or agent of consensus relates to perceived value of media for job-relevant information. Suggests a dysfunction of the "watch-dog" role because those believing the consensus model found the press more useful than those seeing the press as an adversary. (MG)

Studies the importance of both debate discussion and general political discussion in predicting political cognition. Finds that political conversations with others leads to much learning, controlling for effects of education, gender, political interest and media use. (MG)

Finds that community pluralism predicted both exposure to sources of heart disease prevention information and diversity of source exposure in three upper Midwest cities. Notes that community differences in both outcomes narrowed. Suggests that the sheer amount of information about the topic of heart disease prevention and the proliferation of…

Provides a selected annotated bibliography of articles on mass communication published in January, February, and March 1987 in trade, scholarly, and general publications in the U.S. and abroad. Includes the topics of advertising, editorial policy and methods, history and biography, women and media, and visual communication. (MM)

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

Analyzes a number of articles and advertisements in 16 magazines and concludes that the ads neither set nor followed the country-western trend of the late l970s and early l980s. (FL)