Reveals that the direction of a review can have a significant effect on audience interest in and evaluation of a film. (FL)

Bloomington, Indiana citizens and 19 members of the editorial staff of the "Herald-Telephone" were surveyed to determine whether the audience for news had the same notion of news value as those who decide what news will be available on any given day. The respondents were asked to list the events most important to them in 1981, on the…

A study was conducted to determine the extent to which content of business-related news stories was related (1) to the performance of the officials responsible for media relations, and (2) to the quality of the relationship between reporters and company officials. Eighty-nine stories pertaining to six businesses were selected from four newspapers…

Concludes that whether a newspaper carries mostly good news or mostly bad news affects the image of the paper, with bad news having negative effects and good news having positive effects on readers' perceptions of the newspaper. (FL)

Searched articles (n=387) in German magazines with highest circulation rates for attitudes about alcoholism. In 55 percent of articles, alcohol dependence was described as illness, but only 4 percent included definitions of condition. Found articles about alcohol dependence were so simplified reader could mistake condition as being self-inflicted…

First Amendment students were unhappy to see Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart retire because his voting record demonstrated a favorable attitude toward freedom of speech and press. His replacement, Sandra Day O'Connor, was predicted to be a conservative or moderate who probably would vote consistently with Stewart in other areas, but her…

A study was conducted to determine whether the "New York Times" news coverage given India between 1973 and 1980 was consistent with trends in United States foreign policy toward India during those years. The period under study was characterized by four alternating periods of tense and relaxed relations between India and the United…

Concludes that voters need a frame or a point of reference for determining the campaign relevance of issues and that, therefore, framing is a crucial consideration in the media agenda-setting process. (FL)

Summarizes research dealing with (1) the handling of controversial newspapers columns, (2) media exposure and attitude consistency about immigration, (3) alcohol advertising and magazine editorial content, (4) headline readability, (5) crime news in Black weeklies, (6) city magazine problems, (7) coverage of Vietnam veterans, and (8) researchers'…

Reporters' perceived concern for their editors' news priorities and their own role self-concepts were examined for their effects on how reporters covering the Indiana State Assembly used diverse sources of information. Subjects, 34 reporters and 39 state senators, were surveyed concerning their contacts with each other during the 1982 legislative…

Presents a study examining current network television newscasts to determine the extent to which "helplessness" models are depicted. Concludes that there is little variation between the networks and that, in some ways, the rendering of the story rather than the event itself produces the "helplessness" model. (JMF)

A study was conducted to examine newspaper readers' responses to front page design and to explore the perceived differences among traditional, modern, and modular formats of newspaper design. Slides of the front pages of 10 pairs of competing daily newspapers were shown to 91 journalism students. After viewing three slides for each paper, subjects…

A study examined the role of the mass media in the development of people's conceptions about a neo-Nazi march planned for Skokie, Illinois, in 1978. The purpose of the study was to determine whether or not and in what respects different types of people had developed common conceptions about the event and what role the mass media played in that…

A study tested the hypothesis that highly unrepresentative news stories about foreign nations would have a more damaging effect on the accuracy of inferences formed by United States audiences if the stories concerned developing countries than if they were about developed nations. Subjects, 76 college students, answered questions concerning a…