Examines the events surrounding the Bay of Pigs coverage in the "Times" and concludes that the editors did not hold back the story. (FL)

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…

A study examined the relationship between newspaper coverage of issues and public concern about them at the neighborhood and community-wide levels in an urban area. It was hypothesized that (1) newspaper coverage of issues would be more strongly related to concern about perceived community than neighborhood issues, (2) newspaper coverage would…

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)

Concludes that newspaper endorsements have stronger effects than political party identification when available information about a candidate is minimal. (FL)

Presents summaries of research dealing with (1) news coverage of Africa, (2) diffusion of information about cyanide-laced Tylenol, (3) gender representation in elite newspapers, (4) agreement between reporters and editors in Mississippi, (5) monopoly metropolitan dailies and intercity competition, and (6) the effect of endorsements on the…

Recent history textbooks have conspicuously removed references to religion and religious publications, providing a distorted view of American and world history. One such neglected publication, the Boston "Recorder," was founded by Nathaniel Willis in 1816. A Christian newspaper, it was based on three principles: (1) to show theological…

Two unrelated studies investigated issues in newspaper journalism. The first, a replication of an earlier study, examined whether the priority given by newspapers to reporting local news was warranted. Respondents in three areas of the country were asked to rate their interest in various types of news on a five-point scale. Results indicated that…

A content analysis was conducted of 203 editorials from the "Daily Oklahoman" from the first six months of the 1980 presidential campaign. The analysis was based on two assumptions: (1) the tone of the 1980 presidential campaign essentially was set after only six months of official campaigning, and (2) the "Daily Oklahoman"…

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…

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…

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…