This study explored the relationships between school superintendents and local managers of major news media and compared the various news managers in their relationships with the superintendents. Questionnaires on the reporting of school news were mailed to school superintendents, newspaper editors, radio station managers, and television station…

Explains how differential coverage of politics, policy, and personality regarding the same two events in three different media--a local newspaper, an elite newspaper, and television network news--reveals three different portraits of presidential concerns and actions. (MM)

The First Amendment protects editors of school newspapers. Accordingly, school policy should offer students due process rights, and the newspaper adviser, who is instrumental in controlling the content of student publications, should be chosen with care. (TE)

The 17 papers in this collection all deal with 20th-century journalism, journalists, and mass media. The papers and their authors are: "Building One's Own Gallows: The Trade Publications' Reaction to a Federal Shield Law, 1972-1974" (Karla Gower); "The Useful Ogre: Sweden's Use and Views of American Television, 1956-62" (Ulf…

In January 1983, the American public read or saw hard-hitting allegations of leftist bias by the National Council of Churches (NCC) in the largest circulation magazine, "Reader's Digest," and on the top-rated television program, "60 Minutes." A study examined the extent to which the media set the agenda for debate on this…

By scrutinizing the extensive and growing literature on media ethics and media codes, as well as the current history of litigation in libel cases, this paper analyzes the risks presented by journalistic social responsibility in the context of expanding tort liability for what might loosely be called journalistic malpractice. Following a review of…

Recognizing that writing suicide stories is hard for reporters, a study examined 1,010 suicide stories from the 1879-1900 era published in 12 newspapers from around the United States to determine how American journalists at other times carried out similar assignments. The newspapers examined were the Atlanta "Constitution," Arkansas…

Since gatekeepers have the ability to inform the public about international affairs, it is important to understand gatekeepers' news values and perceptions of the role of the press in society. A study hypothesized that these problems could be subsumed under two dimensions, freedom of the press and development. In a mail survey, subjects, 118…

To outline the development of smoking as a health issue as it was covered by magazines, a study tested the hypotheses that (1) the pattern of media attention to the issue would begin in professional and scientific journals, expand into books and government publications, and then appear in consumer magazines; and (2) the distribution of subtopics…

An analysis of five mid-nineteenth century women's suffrage periodicals ("The Lily,""The Genius of Liberty,""The Una,""The Revolution," and "The Woman's Journal") suggests that the papers succeeded in creating, sustaining, and inspiring the suffrage community as it developed and matured, and in dramatizing and debating alternative versions of a…

The 1971 police search of a newspaper office led to the United States Supreme Court's "Zurcher v The Stanford Daily" decision that newspaper offices can permissibly be searched if it is believed that they contain materials that relate to an ongoing criminal investigation. This decision has been viewed by the press as an attack on First…

The question of whether publishers' news preferences affect the performances of editors and reporters is examined in this paper. The first section reviews studies of ways the newsroom environment has affected reporters' role assumptions; it then notes that previous studies have generally been monadic (focusing on only one person) and have provided…

The way in which Drew Pearson--who was involved in more than 100 libel actions during his nearly 37-year reporting career--fared in the courts and was affected by the ever-evolving libel law is considered in this paper. Among the topics discussed are the 1964 "Sullivan" decision, which held that a public official must prove "actual…

In November 1901, "Country Life in America," an illustrated monthly magazine aimed at readers interested in suburban living, was introduced to the public. Although initially intended for the rural population, it soon concentrated its appeal on city folks who had the disposable income to purchase the automobiles and other products of the…

This selection of readings, primarily intended for a college journalism course, discusses the strengths and weaknesses of the major sources of the public news--the wire services, newspapers, and television. The first part of the book deals with the context of mass news and serves as an introduction to some of the crucial ideas shaping thinking…