Investigated local television programs that devote regular time to "soft news"--features on ordinary people, lifestyles, and the arts. Observed that these programs portray the arts and ordinary people as upbeat and interesting but, at the same time, as fragmented and having little relationship to political or economic issues. (PD)

Studied the nuances of perceived media bias by examining the television reporting of the 1976 Presidential election campaign by comparing the adjudged positivity of the facial expressions of network anchorpersons as they named or referred to either of the two candidates. (JMF)

Reviews three major roles identified for the press in the foreign policy process: observer, participant, and catalyst. Claims that these roles circumscribe the structural relationship of media to foreign policy and provide a framework for some general propositions against which the particulars of the Iran case may be interpreted. (JD)

Compares minutes of TV coverage of natural disasters outside the U.S. to the number of deaths officially reported in the country affected. Finds that Western European disasters receive most coverage and Asian disasters receive least. (MS)

Constructs a model of the narrative structure of television news items by categorizing types of events, story subjects, actors, acted upon, narratives, themes, and symbols for a week of network and local news broadcasts. (JMF)

Analyzes the frequency of cliches used by television sports announcers in order to understand better how the mind processes information under stressful situations. Finds some support for capacity theory and asserts that, under pressure, sports announcers may divert some of their attention away from communication and toward processing information.…

Finds that 37% of a random sample of children had been frightened by a news story on television; percentage of children frightened by news increased from kindergarten to the elementary school years, whereas the tendency to be frightened by fantastic, unreal content showed a decreasing trend; and tendency to respond with fright to violence between…

Reports the results of two sets of large-scale national studies on the effectiveness of television as a means of acquiring news information. Concludes that those who derive news information from television have less comprehension of events and issues reported than do those who obtain information from other sources. (SG)

Shows that greater exposure to TV entertainment content is associated with beliefs that African Americans enjoy a relatively higher socioeconomic positions with respect to average income, social class, and educational achievement, whereas higher exposure to TV news was associated with perceptions that, in comparison with whites, African Americans…

Studies how network television news responded to three 1983 news stories on the nuclear threat: (1) the theory of nuclear winter; (2) the fictional film "The Day After"; and (3) discussion by members of the Reagan administration of the possibility of fighting and prevailing in a limited nuclear war. (MS)

Studies the effects of the visual component of television news upon viewer recall of content. Asserts that story brevity, background information scarcity, and the combination of visual and verbal information in television news militate against learning by viewers. Concludes that visual elements tend to be more memorable than verbal ones. (SG)