Reviews four major criticisms of media coverage of social science--oversimplification, premature closure, lack of concern with the methodological and theoretical competence of the social science reported, and biased selection--and concludes they are largely justified. Argues that such shortcomings are explicable, given the structure and operating…

Suggests that issues prominent in the news during the 1960s did not necessarily deserve the attention at the times they received it. (TO)

Coverage of Mamie Eisenhower as First Lady illustrates difficulties that the media have in projecting images of women. Like many women in the news, she was noteworthy because of her satellite status in relation to a man. Exercising some control over her public portrayal--if only to refuse to see the press to the extent it desired--she deliberately…

An essay on the responsibilities of news media discusses the priorities of network news coverage, distorted editing, and the need for consumer awareness and concern about mass media inadequacies. (FG)

A study was conducted in the Washington, D.C., area to test mass media effects in a community controversy. Five possible theories were hypothesized to explain the effects media have on a community: indirect and direct effects, null effects, agenda setting, reverse effects, and reverse agenda setting. During the 16-month test period of the British…

The interplay that exists between the mass media and political activity provides the topic for this report of an informal dialogue between William R. Carmack, from the University of Oklahoma, and Joseph S. Foote, press secretary to Carl Albert, Speaker of the House of Representatives. The first section of the report relates Carmack's opening…

The agenda-setting concept in mass communication asserts that the news media determine what people will include or exclude in their cognition of public events. Findings in uses and gratification research provide the foundation for this concept: an initial focus on people's needs, particularly the need for information. The agenda-setting concept…

Behavioral research suggests that communication between two individuals is affected by such factors as their orientation toward a topic, the importance of the topic, and interpersonal attraction. Seven hypotheses were formulated to determine if these factors--originally discovered in a discussion setting--were operative in an information-seeking…

Suggests that the Campaign Act of 1971 may be in conflict with the First Amendment because restrictions and criminal penalties apply to media as well as to politicians. (TO)

Presidential candidates in the United States tend to seek consensus rather than to try to discover new answers to problems and to convince voters that they should be elected to implement those answers. Reporters in the mass media emphasize objectivity and fairness in their reporting. This emphasis produces an intense interest in the…

This report discusses the background, advantages, and disadvantages of the televised presidential press conference, citing the opinions of numerous newspaper and magazine writers. After presenting a brief overview of the presidential press conference from the administration of Theodore Roosevelt to that of Eisenhower, the report discusses the type…

This paper presents a conceptual analysis of bias and outlines the complexity and subtlety of the questions engulfing bias by sorting out views of bias that have been implicit in debates about the media, assessing the scientific value of these competing views in identifying and understanding bias in the media, offering an alternative view which is…

Examines the media depiction of the political climate in the 1970s as increasingly conservative, despite insubstantial evidence for the claim. (PD)

Reviews research on the role of scientists, mass media and journalists, audience interests and habits, information content and design on the dissemination of scientific information. (JMF)

This study investigated the priorities for coverage of law enforcement news, of three groups: 146 citizens from the St. Louis, Missouri, metropolitan area, 60 of the 68 police officers serving their communities, and 33 media personnel from the area. Subjects from all three groups were asked to rank stories about law enforcement in terms of their…