The purpose of this book is to explore the effects of public opinion on governmental policy making, with a special focus on the role of the mass media in this process. Specific areas covered include political campaigning, the President and the press, blacks and the media, and cable television. Topics of discussion in the ten chapters are: linkage…

This book presents a history of journalism in the United States. The opening chapters discuss the European roots of American journalism and cover the time-span ending with the Civil War; the primary concern is an exposition of the principles of the American press. The remaining chapters examine the mass media--newspapers, television, radio,…

This classroom text is intended to assist teachers in educating students as consumers of the mass media, especially in messages from abroad. The subject has two major aspects: 1) the student's own limitation, and 2) the effects of human frailty in gathering and presenting the news. The newspaper is emphasized over other news media in this book.…

This handbook, intended for journalists and others in the field of communication, examines the evolving law of libel in the United States and discusses the effects of recent trends. By placing libel law in the context of American History and by using over 500 court cases as specific examples, the author demonstrates not only its historical…

Broadcast and print journalism are interrelated in this book's coverage of the functions and status of the "fourth estate". A first part discusses journalism's magnitude and significance, with separate chapters offering a profile of the press, a discussion of the people's need to know, and a brief history of American journalism. The second part…

Contemporary journalism, although claiming to be politically objective and neutral, has become a powerful critic of the conduct of the government, often seeming to be a force for the reordering of national priorities along leftist lines. This "adversary journalism" of the past 15 years has strayed a long way from the neutral journalism…

This monograph examines how bias affects the perception of journalists and discusses factors which might exacerbate or mitigate such bias. The book recommends the study of journalistic decision-making from perspectives developed in the field of social psychology. The book includes the following chapters: (1) "Media Bias, Cognitive…

The essential nature of political structures of developing nations appears to generate an opposition to criticism. Since most of the developing nations see no alternative but to regard freedom of the press as an antithesis to industrial development, many such nations suppress press freedom. The relationship between developmental efforts and…

Editorials in the "West African Pilot", an English-language newspaper published in Lagos, for the years 1945, 1957, 1960, and 1963 (years of crucial importance to Nigeria) were studied to determine the effects of modernity, tradition, fluctuating socioeconomic conditions, and particularly political influences exerted on the press. Each…

Examines news coverage of the Soviet attack on KAL 007 (Korean Airlines Flight 007) that establishes and legitimizes Russia's viewpoint. Analyzes the twin processes of selection and structuring giving the text coherence. Notes that such cultural analysis challenges scholars to explore how the synchronization of government and media viewpoints…

To investigate the role of the press in the agenda-setting process, a study examined the evolution of Harry Truman's policy on Palestine from November 29, 1947 through May 14, 1948--the 6-month period before Israel declared its nation-state status. Using a model which views the formation of public policy as a multidirectional process among the…

To provide a better understanding of the depictions of countries by the news media, it is necessary to determine whether similar portraits are presented in all types of reporting or whether there are different, or even contradictory, portrayals of foreign countries within individual newspapers considered nationally influential. A study examined…

The free press/fair trial controversy hinges on two distinctions: "decorum" (the general manner in which a trial is comported) vs. "substance" (the actual content of information relating to a trial, including both evidentiary and nonevidentiary information), and behavior within vs. behavior outside of the courtroom. Four major Supreme Court…

Notes that relationships between the media and the presidency have been written about extensively, yet some conclusions have been misapplied and overvalued, while other potential conclusions have been overlooked or denied. Presents 10 propositions providing corrective hypotheses and new focus for presidential communication researchers. (SKC)

Given the perspective of news as a significant cultural form, a study examined the symbolic world constructed by American newsmagazines, particularly investigating the dominant media frames (defined as consistent patterns of cognition and selection by which symbol handlers routinely organize discourse) employed by these news organizations. The…