A study was conducted to analyze religion news coverage in three metropolitan newspapers. While no formal hypothesis was tested, it was thought that coverage would reflect the general news policy at each particular paper to the extent that the religious beat has lost its stigma as a second-class beat. Twenty-eight religious stories from the…

A qualitative study designed to elicit the widest possible range of responses was conducted to determine the attitudes of journalists toward ethics. The study's three questions asked respondents (1) if they encountered ethical decisions in their jobs; (2) if not, why not; and (3) if so, how frequently and in what types of situations. Subjects were…

A study investigated how news photographs in "Time" and "Newsweek" have portrayed the world to their readers. News photographs about foreign nations were selected from 60 issues of each magazine for the years 1971, 1976, and 1980. The picture's subject, size, country, and source, and the section in which it appeared were…

Supports the hypothesis that the news values of journalism students are strongly influenced by instructors in the course of only a single newswriting class. (Author/RB)

A study was conducted to compare "Time" and "Newsweek" magazines' fairness and coverage in the various presidential campaigns of the three Kennedy brothers. Researchers examined every story the two magazines published about John Kennedy's primary campaign, beginning January 1, 1960, and ending with his nomination at the…

A survey of editors of (1) the 100 largest newspapers in the United States, and (2) 50 newspapers in state capitols was conducted to examine their policies concerning the use of unnamed sources and unattributed information in news stories, and to measure the effects of the incident in which a "Washington Post" reporter fabricated a major…

In addition to investigative and interpretative reporting, journalists might adopt a new approach to the news--preventive journalism. Preventive journalism would concentrate on news and information that could be used to prevent crises and conditions upon which the mass media thrive. In one area, public health, preventive journalism could be used…

Among the possible results brought about by the reduction from 1970 to 1980 of the overseas staffs of American newspapers were (1) increased reliance upon official or state media as news sources; (2) a nation underinformed despite its heavy worldwide political, economic, and cultural involvement; and (3) a lack of coherent reporting of the…

The first of two articles in this report offers a survey of how community ties lead to various psychological needs that are the motivation for newspaper reading. It identifies three distinct audience segments: the traditional audience, with permanent bonds to the community, whose need for information, guidance, and community surveillance leads to…

An effort was made in this study to determine whether the absence or presence of news film in a television news segment influences a believability or preference judgment made by a respondent when comparing a television report directly with a newspaper report of the same event. One hundred eight students at Temple University viewed one of two…

The purposes of this study were to identify the directors of the Associated Press (AP) since 1892, to examine geographic and journalistic representation of the board since then, and to assemble a composite profile of directors' backgrounds and civic involvement, utilizing "Who's Who" sketches and computer analysis of biographical data…

This study examines two psychological variables that could erode journalistic objectivity--the reporter's attitude toward his source and his expectation of future meetings with the source. Seventy student reporters were randomly assigned to conditions by instructions contained on assignment sheets. The hypotheses tested were that a positive…

Suggests that various complex social processes determine what constitutues news as well as how news should be reported. (MH)

Finds that, although reporters and legislators in Colorado have similar views, reporters recognize this fact and legislators do not. (KS)

Reports on a study of the way in which three newspapers covered the Supreme Court decisions of the 1974 term. (Author/GW)