Examines a comprehensive model of information seeking resulting from the synthesis of three theoretical research streams: the health belief model, uses and gratifications research, and a model of media exposure. Suggests that models of information seeking from mass media should focus on purely communicative factors. (RS)

Contributes to scholarship on sexual content and gender portrayals in advertising by assessing images of women and men in magazine ads in 1983 and 1993. Finds both genders were portrayed more explicitly and through more sexually intimate contact in 1993; images of men were more explicit in the 1990s; and portrayals were most explicit in women's…

The Magazines section of this collection of conference presentations contains the following 15 papers: "'National Geographic Magazine' and the Vietnam War: Did We Just Get Pretty Pictures?" (John W. Williams); "Free Speech at All Costs: A Short History of 'The Masses'" (Chris Lamb); "Newspapers Locally Edited Magazines…

Explores how discrimination based on differences in skin complexion and physical characteristics among African Americans is conveyed by the mass media. Shows that blacks in advertisements have lighter complexions and more caucasian features than those in editorial photographs, and that the females have lighter complexions than their male…

The Magazine section of this collection of conference presentations contains the following nine papers: "Davids and Goliaths: The Economic Restructuring of the Postwar Magazine Industry, l950-l970" (David Abrahamson); "The Global Economy as Magazine News Story: A Pilot Study in the Framing of News" (Elliot King);…

The dramatic increase in the incidence of eating disorders among young women indicates a growing need for health education. However, women's magazines that perpetuate images of beauty and thinness may reinforce the disorders. Researchers have looked for strategies that encourage participation in society by those who partake of American media. One…

Despite the pervasive presence of popular music in society and the continued controversy over its effects on children and teen-agers, the recording industry has received only fragmentary (though increasing) attention from mass media researchers. To gain evidence of the level of literacy of today's music critics, a study examined the tastes,…

Noting the potential effect of print media on society, a study addressed the question of how "Time,""Newsweek," and "U.S. News and World Report" (USNWR) have presented the creation-evolution issue (particularly as taught in public schools) to its readers. Thirty-nine articles published form 1980 to 1992 were analyzed:…

Magazines are popular information sources for teens and already may have played a significant role in educating teenagers about AIDS. Many AIDS activists and health educators believed coverage of Magic Johnson's November 1991 announcement that he had contracted AIDS through heterosexual sex might help to convince teenagers about their AIDS risk. A…

To gain insight into how critical standards for broadcast drama evolved with time, this paper examines the critical response to the development of broadcast drama in the first two decades of radio (1920-1940), as reported in the periodical press. The paper is based on two underlying assumptions: (1) that the stories a society tells are indicative…

Shared conventions of the modern radio industry should allow radio announcers and other producers of radio content to distinguish "good radio" from "bad radio." To help in making this distinction, a study delineated some of the basic conventions used in the production of radio content and analyzed the frequency of their…

Patterns in the content of three commercial magazines ("Sassy,""Seventeen," and "Young Miss") oriented toward adolescent female consumers were analyzed by three trained raters. Findings are discussed in terms of print media utilization by adolescents; themes of self-improvement, identity development, and achievement;…

In a secondary analysis of the 1992 National Science Foundation Survey of Public Understanding of Science and Technology, high levels of exposure to television news are associated with lower levels of knowledge of basic scientific facts. Data were gathered through a telephone survey of a national probability sample of the United States population,…

The Magazine section of the Proceedings contains the following five papers: "The Role of Barriers to Entry in the Success or Failure of New Magazines: An Exploratory Study" (Kathryn E. Segnar and Fiona A.E. McQuarrie); "An American Title Abroad: A Cross-Cultural Study of One Popular Magazine in the U.S. and the U.K." (Carolyn…

The Media and Disability section of the Proceedings contains the following eight papers: "Disability Publication Demographics and Coverage Models" (Lillie S. Ransom); "Franklin Delano Roosevelt and His Disability: The 'Chicago Tribune' and the 1936 Election" (Darlene Jirikowic); "A Search for Indications of Disability…