Media in democratic societies are generally assumed to have a responsibility to provide a forum for the articulation of diverse ideas, including radical discourse. Research on media coverage of groups which challenge the status quo, however, shows the limitations of the media in the democratic exchange of ideas. To evaluate the coverage of one of…

The black press has a long history of service and struggle in the United States. The young black journalists of today, employed in mainstream media, owe a great debt to their predecessors in black newspapers that date back to 1827. A brief history describes their development. (SLD)

To investigate the role of the press in the agenda-setting process, a study examined the evolution of Harry Truman's policy on Palestine from November 29, 1947 through May 14, 1948--the 6-month period before Israel declared its nation-state status. Using a model which views the formation of public policy as a multidirectional process among the…

To see whether the subject matter of magazines of general circulation and the subject matter of public concern coincide, a study examined the volume of coverage of United States-Soviet relations, communism, and issues of nuclear warfare between the two nations in twentieth century popular magazines. The "Reader's Guide to Periodical…

The ability of the "Amsterdam News" to mold public opinion out of all proportion to its size is replicated by black newspapers all over the country. This discussion of major black newspapers, namely weeklies, shows how they are an important outlet for black urban communities. (SLD)

Much has been written about the power of media to influence the public through instruments of advertising and a variety of venues (Considine & Haley, 1999; Cortes, 2000; Kilbourne, 1999). In this chapter, the author has chosen to use a singular media focus--news--to support the critical importance of teaching media literacy skills to students. She…