This discussion of agenda setting reviews early theories of mass communication and traces the beginnings of agenda setting theory to the 1968 United States presidential campaign, during which researchers found a high correlation between what the media were saying about issues and what the people thought were important issues. The results of more…

Agenda setting provides an analysis strategy for linking press coverage and voter perceptions of front runners, and underscores the importance of studying the primaries early in an election year. Two studies were undertaken in 1976. The first study, in Onandaga County (New York), involved telephone interviews of 335 registered Democrats in late…

Although empirical research on the agenda-setting function of mass communication dates only from the 1968 presidential election, historically there has been long-standing concern over the control of communication because of its assumed influence. Early communication research shared this concern and assumption, focusing on the ability of the media…

A study focused on how the broadcasting and advertising industries dealt publicly, through the medium of the trade journal, with political pressures shortly after the end of the Second World War. Was blacklisting and the political screening of talent acknowledged in the trade press? If so, did the publications approve or disapprove of the methods…

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

This teaching guide on global awareness contains 15 media-related activities for students in grades 6-12. The objective is to help students see how the media affect their opinions and the roles the media plays in world affairs. The activities are divided into five sections. The first section contains a general survey of the students' knowledge of…

Because modern terrorism threatens democratic values such as personal liberty, free expression, and the limitation of institutional authority, it raises ethical problems for journalists who are drawn into a symbiotic relationship with those who threaten or use violence against a community. Recent terrorist incidents in the United States involving…

The purpose of this study is to present systematic findings concerning bias in TV news coverage of the 1972 presidential campaign and to describe the kinds of coverage that the candidates and parties received during the campaign. News about the election was analyzed from weekday network evening news programs, AP day and night wire coverage, a…

The essential nature of political structures of developing nations appears to generate an opposition to criticism. Since most of the developing nations see no alternative but to regard freedom of the press as an antithesis to industrial development, many such nations suppress press freedom. The relationship between developmental efforts and…

The relative credibility of media is measured and compared over a 16-year period by the Roper Organization for the Television Information Office. Sources of information and trends in viewing habits and hours of viewing are described; the relative desirability of media as viewed by various population groups is reported. Changes in opinion as to…

A study examined the influence of national political and economic interests, culture, and history on the portrayal of Arabs in two weekly news magazines. Sample articles from the American weekly "Time" magazine and the British weekly "The Economist" were examined for coverage of the October 1973 Arab-Israeli war and the June…