Examines criminal defendants' perceptions of the free press/fair trial issue with respect to perceived influences of media coverage on the disposition of criminal cases and the outcome of criminal trials. Concludes that the press' influence on trials is generally perceived as minimal and fair. (MM)

The purpose of this paper is to express the importance of visual/media literacy and the teaching of critical television viewing. An awareness of the properties and characteristics of television--including camera angles and placement, editing, and emotionally involving subject matter--aids viewers in the critical viewing process. The knowledge of…

Media content analysts seldom observe the principle that editorial omissions are as telling as what is published or broadcast; hence, the purpose of this paper is to explore, and thus stimulate debate about, editorial omissions or "strategic silence." It is observed that as a concept, strategic silence embraces both tact and…

An analysis of press support for computer literacy gives insight into how and why the news media influence the public towards universal acceptance of computers for educational purposes. This article focuses on how information dealing with science and technology is presented by the media. (DF)

Examines how investigative journalists work within the unresolved tension between detached observation and active moral agency. Concludes that investigative journalism may oversee the reinforcement of dominant moral values, but may also preside over the definition and development, as well as the debasement and dissolution, of those values. (MS)

Uses the metaphor of the election report as a political conversation among journalists and their sources to expand research on sound bites in United States presidential campaign coverage. Finds that journalists have become more dominant, increasing their share of air time in more tightly controlled, faster paced reports. Notes a significant shift…

Discusses the historical development of the media. Describes the U.S. media as beginning with colonial newspapers and development of the concept of a public sphere. Suggests that the rise of a market economy and the Industrial Revolution transformed the press from partisans to professionals concerned with presenting all sides of issues. (DK)

Media in democratic societies are generally assumed to have a responsibility to provide a forum for the articulation of diverse ideas, including radical discourse. Research on media coverage of groups which challenge the status quo, however, shows the limitations of the media in the democratic exchange of ideas. To evaluate the coverage of one of…

A study was conducted to test the hypothesis that the mass media act as agents of social control by varying the coverage of political groups in relation to how deviant they perceive the groups to be. Editors from the 100 largest daily newspapers in the United States were asked to rate 11 political groups on four scales thought to measure political…

A study of the wartime press suggests that the plan to incarcerate Japanese Americans (under Executive Order 9066) was government-initiated, that the public and the press initially disapproved of such treatment, and that events emanating from the government influenced shifts in press and public opinion that allowed implementation of the plan.…

Reviewing the historical development of media agenda-setting theory suggests that topics emphasized by the mass news media become the topics people think are most important. The vast majority of agenda-setting studies, however, rely on aggregate measures of media and public agendas, and produce very little support for the original theory as there…

To clarify numerous points of contention surrounding Elizabeth Noelle-Neumann's spiral of silence theory, according to which individuals' media-influenced perception of their congruence or incongruence with dominant opinion determines their willingness to speak out in public, a study examined the relationship between opinion expression, perceived…

Determines that the elements that make information or events newsworthy include (1) the effect on our lives or community; (2) timeliness; (3) human interest; (4) the unusual; (5) proximity; (6) personalities; and (7) controversy. Examines how a reporter or editor's background, including culture, ethnicity, and education, can influence the news.…

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…

The attention of Americans and their mass media to the lengthy hostage-taking episode known as the "Iran Hostage Crisis" was unprecedented, especially in light of the apparently limited significance of the hostage-taking as a geo-political event. A study used fantasy-theme analysis of print news coverage (news stories, editorials,…