One area of health promotion research rich with potential for both theoretical and empirical investigation is the "entertainment-education" (EE) strategy. Though a growing body of evidence points to the effectiveness of the EE strategy, further investigation is needed to explore the underlying cognitive and affective processes that make EE an…

Concludes that supermarket tabloid readers are not one homogeneous group with one set of needs and wants from newspapers. (FL)

Reports that changing the cutlines of 22 controversial photographs significantly affected the response of readers for only four of the pictures. (FL)

Residents in a southern California city were surveyed by telephone about their attitudes toward the telecast of the motion picture "Academy Awards" presentations. Of the 141 respondents, 71 had not watched the telecast, 42 had watched some of the broadcast, and 28 had watched all of it. Less than one third of the survey questions were specifically…

Reports on the reaction of long-term subscribers to two newspapers when those papers merged into one paper that adopted a format and content that were designed to attract new readers. Concludes that by reaching out for a younger audience, the new newspaper put less emphasis on local news, which alienated some long-term subscribers. (FL)

There has been little valid and reliable research of the motion picture audience. Specific reasons for the movie industry's own inattention to audience research include the early popularity of films and the fact that since the industry does not sell advertising it does not need to account for its audience size and preferences. Some researchers…

Defines "mobilizing information" as information provided in a news story that helps readers turn their attitudinal reactions into behavior. Concludes that such information can increase reader involvement. (FL)

A study analyzed the attitudes of newspaper subscribers and nonsubscribers to determine whether the two groups were truly distinct, homogenous segments of the public or whether there were "atypical" subscribers and nonsubscribers. Data were gathered through telephone interviews with more than 1,000 adults in the southeastern United…

Since broadcasters are mandated by the Federal Communication Commission to ascertain community needs prior to applying for or renewing licenses, their concern for finding effective audience-analysis tools is generally great. This paper briefly surveys the research conducted on expression of opinion through viewer and listener letter-writing and…

Concludes that audiences tend to evaluate a radio newscast more positively and to perceive it as more immediate when it contains words that suggest timeliness. (FL)

A study surveyed newspapers that print religious news to determine the kinds of coverage their religion journalists provide and to determine the type of audience for which they write. Mail surveys were completed by 141 daily newspapers with circulations ranging from under 10,000 to over 100,000. All but 13 respondents provided a working definition…

This paper reports the successive steps in the development of an adjective rating scale for measuring audience responses to short previews of coming films. Seven filtering steps were used to reduce an original list of 600 adjectives and adjectival phrases into a final rating scale with 101 words. From factor analyses of the responses of college…

Of all the mass media, radio is the most abundant, both in terms of the number of radio stations in operation and the number of radio receivers in use. Unfortunately, given the dynamics of a competitive market and the Federal Communications Commission's reluctance to interfere with a licensee's discretion in the choice of format, format…

Discusses the subjective meaning of television news watching in terms of five factors: surveillance-reassurance, cognitive orientation, dissatisfactions, affective orientation, and diversion. (JMF)

Offers a clarification of the original uses of the word "stereotype" and argues that the current failure to account for evaluative and historical aspects of stereotypes has diluted the usefulness of the concept for critics and teachers. (MS)