A contribution to the debate on the journalism of opinion. (Author)

While Caribbean countries complained during the 1970s about negative coverage at the hands of Western journalists, scholars have observed that local Caribbean media were not providing adequate news coverage from the region either. A study examined 245 news stories sent by English-speaking Caribbean journalists to CNN World Report over a five-year…

A study was conducted for the President's Commission on the Accident at Three Mile Island to analyze coverage of the accident by ten news organizations: two wire services, three commercial television networks, and five daily newspapers. Copies of all stories and transcripts of news programs during the first week of the accident were examined from…

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)

The author applauds the CBS special "Is Anyone Out There Learning?" as a tempered, comprehensive, and serious attempt to throw light on the American educational malaise. All articles in this journal issue comment on this CBS television program, aired in August, 1978. (SJL)

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…

In an interview at a Speech Communication Association conference in 1975, Walter Cronkite of CBS news was asked a number of questions on the role and characteristics of television news. Among the items discussed with Mr. Cronkite were the following: the degree to which events are shaped by their being reported on national news programs; the news…

This book, the seventh in a series surveying broadcast journalism, provides behind-the-scenes details of news coverage during 1978-79, evaluating the growth and sophistication of the news media. The first section of the book discusses the treatment of major issues and news events, including the "odd couple" of politics and broadcasting,…

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…

The voices of photographers and other visual-crafts workers rarely are heard in public discourse about local television news. All rank-and-file newsworkers potentially face reprisals resulting in shortened or blighted careers if they participate openly in assessing and criticizing the medium. A fresh examination of these newsworkers' views and…

Local newspaper coverage of the Three Mile Island (TMI) nuclear power plant accident was examined in a study to determine what changes, if any, were made by local media and what lessons they had learned from it. Data were collected through interviews with 21 media representatives. TMI coverage in the six newspapers was examined using each…

This manual for school board members identifies the basic factors to take into account when dealing with the news media. These factors include knowing what kinds of media offer what kinds of coverage in the school district's local area and how to channel the right information to the media representative who can make the best use of it. Divided…

This critique of the television special "Is Anyone Out There Learning?" emphasizes three points: (1) CBS presented its own biases disguised as research; (2) television cannot teach literacy; and (3) CBS made education the scapegoat for our social crisis. All articles in this journal issue concern this television program. (SJL)

The responsibilities and role of the broadcast media in reporting acts of terrorism are examined in this paper. The paper first discusses such topics as new types of television equipment that permit easy and instantaneous coverage of fast-breaking news; television coverage of two 1977 cases in which persons were held hostage by terrorists; and…

Explains how differential coverage of politics, policy, and personality regarding the same two events in three different media--a local newspaper, an elite newspaper, and television network news--reveals three different portraits of presidential concerns and actions. (MM)