The relationships among Black Studies as an intellectual discipline and rap music are explored. It is argued that black urban culture has provided much of the impetus for Black Studies, and that the academy and those involved in the black studies discipline should feel a responsibility to take rap music seriously as the expression of urban youth,…

This paper presents abstracts of 80 individual papers and panel discussions that deal with journalism, popular culture, mass media, "science" in public discourse, the social construction of communication technologies, factorial analysis as a research tool, and other issues in communication. Almost all of the abstracts in the paper are…

The Qualitative Studies section of the Proceedings contains the following 10 papers: "An Alternative to Alternative Media'" (James Hamilton); "A Critical Assessment of News Coverage of the Ethical Implications of Genetic Testing" (David A. Craig); "Earth First! and the Boundaries of Postmodern Environmental…

In this high tech era when nations are competing fiercely for every edge, America's educational institutions are being accused of producing an army of illiterates who cannot read their graduation diplomas or locate the United States on a world map. The most significant change over the past 30 years is surely the environment surrounding the lives…

The Magazine section of the Proceedings contains the following five papers: "The Role of Barriers to Entry in the Success or Failure of New Magazines: An Exploratory Study" (Kathryn E. Segnar and Fiona A.E. McQuarrie); "An American Title Abroad: A Cross-Cultural Study of One Popular Magazine in the U.S. and the U.K." (Carolyn…

Interviews with Latinos in the Northeast and the Southwest found that they watched Spanish-language soap operas (telenovelas) as a way of maintaining family ties and Hispanic culture, while watching American soap operas provided information about U.S. society and behavioral norms as well as opportunities to learn English. (Contains 21 references.)…

Demonstrates ways in which students can use popular media sources for the purpose of research in rhetorical and cultural study. States that students come away with a better understanding of how the media usually only take one side or the other. (PA)

Describes a college course on the sociology of sport, in which students reflect on their own experiences and practices in sport, engage in critical analysis of the taken-for-granted values and assumptions associated with sport, and do construct analysis and deconstruction of televised sport as it promotes certain interests and marginalizes others.…

Contributes to (and draws on) journalism history, mass-culture studies, and women's history in a rhetorical analysis of a series of six full-page illustrations titled "The American Woman" run in 1897 in "The Ladies' Home Journal." Reveals how class and gender issues intersected and underscored the role of the mass media in…

In this article, the author shares how media affects her as a teenager. The author says that media has such a relationship with the world today, specifically with teenagers like her. Media gives off so much information that can be valid or invalid, positive or negative. The media can persuade anyone to do something or to think a certain way.…

This article presents reflections of a ranting and raving "South Park" junkie. The church the author goes to is Unitarian Universalist (UU). UUism is the religion for people who don't believe in religion but somehow feel the need to regularly assemble in a religious tradition and affirm their nontraditional religiosity. From what the author can…

A qualitative study analyzed images of science and scientists in children's educational science programs on television to determine whether they conveyed the images found in other media. Four episodes of each of four 30-minute, non-animated programs ("Beakman's World" broadcast on CBS, "Bill Nye, The Science Guy" shown on…

The Newspaper and Magazine section of the proceedings contains the following 11 papers: "Real-Time Journalism: Instantaneous Change for News Writing" (Karla Aronson and others); "Names in the News: A Study of Journalistic Decision-Making in Regard to the Naming of Crime Victims" (Michelle Johnson); "The Daily Newspaper and…

Although previous generations have by no means been disloyal to the popular music of their youth, the tenacious attachment of the Baby Boomers to the music of the 1960s seems unprecedented. Three main reasons account for this constantly widening musical reclamation project. First, the Baby Boomers have a clearer sense of generational identity that…

This paper is an analysis of the different aspects of the music video. Music video is defined as having three meanings: an individual clip, a format, or the "aesthetic" that describes what the clips and format look like. The paper examines interruptions, the dialectical tension and the organization of the work of art, shot-scene…