A return to excellence and ethics can end the bashing of the press and earn it respect. H. L. Mencken was an outstanding press-basher. One problem he identified is that journalists see themselves as professionals, when they are no more than "hired hands" unable to control admission to the craft. A solution Mencken offered was to improve…

Discusses the difficulties of publishing in the antebellum South, and describes the demise of "Uncle Remus's Magazine" in 1913 after a long struggle to keep it alive. (RB)

A content analysis of selected print media examined press coverage of the shuttle Challenger explosion. Press sources identifying and explaining technological causes were tabulated for two major newspapers, three popular newsmagazines, and one trade magazine, during the 30 days following the event. Results revealed (1) a failure to provide timely…

Through a case study of Minnesota daily newspaper editorials, this paper examines the extent to which one state's newspapers championed the freedoms of speech and press during the national crisis of World War I. The historical relationship of the press and First Amendment defense is briefly reviewed. Guided by the question "How did the…

To assess the roles of TV news commentators during times of crisis, a study examined network news commentary during the 10 days following each of three crises--Spiro Agnew's resignation (October 10, 1973), the Saturday Night Massacre (October 22, 1973), and the seizure of the American merchant ship "Mayaguez" by Cambodians (May 11,…

To measure the editorial advocacy of influential newspapers concerning the membership of the Supreme Court, a study analyzed editorials from such newspapers concerning the last five Supreme Court nominees of President Ronald Reagan (William Rehnquist, Antonin Scalia, Robert Bork, Douglas Ginsburg, and Anthony Kennedy). A telephone survey of 100…

Virtue in journalism implies a clearsighted expansion of outlook and requires determined attempts to cross boundaries separating the journalist from society, journalist from subject, journalist from journalist, journalist from ideas, journalist from sentiments and feelings, and journalist from "inner abundance." Some of the requirements for the…

The predicament of journalism as both an objective observer and a subjective participant is examined in this paper. Among the topics discussed are some basic ethical entanglements involved in the dilemma; regional newspapers that have been legendary for personal-involvement journalism; current evidence that journalistic performance is being…

The objective reporting of news is discussed in this paper as a moral obligation for professional journalists. Russian journalists' disparagement of objectivity is described briefly, and three basic assumptions to which journalists in the United States should subscribe are listed: (1) there is such a thing as objective reality, (2) that reality…

This paper examines treatment by the U.S. press of the Mexican, Cuban, and Chilean revolutions from a historical perspective, both using original research and synthesizing the research of others. On balance, the U.S. media have reported or commented on Latin American social revolutions mainly by exploiting sensation and ridicule. Economic…

Reports on an investigation of the amount and partisan direction of editorial space that ten leading newspapers devoted to foreign affairs in the 1976 presidential election, and of the way in which the newspapers dealth with foreign policy issues. (GW)

Suggests that issues prominent in the news during the 1960s did not necessarily deserve the attention at the times they received it. (TO)

Discusses sex discrimination in the campus press editorial and advertising policies. (RB)