This article explores the textual properties of arguably one of the most influential textual domains in contemporary society; that of mass-media discourse. Within this genre, it examines English-language hard news media reports from the United States, Great Britain and Australia focussing on the concepts of objectivity within this domain. Drawing…

Most members of the American public will never read this article. Instead, they will obtain much of their information about education from the news media. Yet little academic research has examined the type or quality of education research and expertise they will find there. Through the lens of gatekeeping theory, this mixed-methods study aims to…

Dramatistic analysis suggests that the "New York Times" portrayals of the 1985 terrorist killing of Leon Klinghoffer, the 69 year old American tourist on the Achille Laurs, may contain a mythic dimension. Through the myth of the hero, the news stories invoked the symbol of the self, inviting intense identification of the individual…

Finds that (1) each of three groups of variables (political, media schemas, and media use orientations) can predict the magnitude of third-person effects; (2) none individually has great predictive power; (3) the mechanisms by which different variables influence the magnitude of third-person effects vary; and (4) overall connections between…

Shows significantly higher levels of news exposure across all media channels during the Persian Gulf War compared to a year-and-a-half earlier. Finds that both exposure to newspaper and to cable and PBS news programming were positively related to levels of knowledge about the war. Discusses the effectiveness of information dissemination by various…

The highly selective and politically shaped portrayals of violence and terror conceal rather than reveal the actual incidence and distribution of real violence and terror. These portrayals, including the choice of labels, serve as projective devices that isolate acts and people from meaningful contexts and set them up to be stigmatized and…

The rapid pace of improving relations between the United States and the People's Republic of China during the late 1970s has been well scrutinized by mass media scholars, but most of the research has focused on the press coverage emanating from the United States, the People's Republic of China, and Taiwan, the major nations involved in…

This paper analyzes the relationship between the press and professional wrestling. It examines professional wrestling as a business and the conflicting goals of the promoters and the press. The paper focuses on how the press covered the most widely viewed professional wrestling show of all time, WrestleMania III (looking at newspaper coverage…

Interprets four news stories about Joyce Brown, a homeless women who, against her will, was institutionalized by the city of New York. Examines how television news marks boundaries between the marginal and the mainstream, between a major socioeconomic problem demanding collective engagement and a personal problem requiring private remedy. (MS)

Argues that the 1992 presidential election campaign was the first to employ nontraditional news media such as talk shows as a prevalent form of campaign communication for the candidates. Outlines the format of the study. Documents the impact of nontraditional news media on the campaign efforts for each candidate. (PA)

School reform involves the public: its expectation of participation and its support for a reform agenda. In theory, the press influences both. To explore this link, we compare education coverage in four press outlets, two each in Chicago and Cleveland. Articles and editors are interrogated for (1) style of journalism and (2) assumptions about the…

This paper examines ways in which the magnitude and critical import of the Thirteenth World Festival of Youth and Students (a week-long festival held approximately every four years, where tens of thousands of young people gather in the name of peace and friendship) was "distorted, diminished and suppressed" by coverage in the mainstream…

This paper examines the Philippine transition of power as a communication event where the role of the print and electronic media is juxtaposed to cultural and political-economic determinants. The paper attempts to describe the similarities and differences between culture and communications in the Philippines and the United States. An…

A truly diverse press not only takes seriously its political role of fostering robust debate but stands committed to its cultural role of providing a distinctively local context for the issues and discussions it reports. However, what contributes to the diminution of press diversity remains a controversial question that continues to attract…

Finds that the agenda-setting hypothesis was supported for the issue of pollution from 1970 to 1990; real-world conditions and the public agenda were not correlated for this issue; despite the overall reduction in pollution, media coverage has increased; and for waste pollution, there was a positive correlation between the media agenda and…