To investigate the reaction of the public to being photographed on the street, a study was devised whereby seven photojournalists approached people on the street, photographed them, and requested identification for a questionnaire follow up. Of 102 people approached, 87% cooperated fully with the photographers and 81% of that group returned the…

Findings from a 1971-72 North Carolina statewide survey focusing on the newspaper nonreader were compared with results from a similar statewide survey taken in 1961-62 in Wisconsin. Although there were limits to how precisely the two sets of data could be compared, the findings demonstrated that the type of person who chose not to read a newspaper…

Secondary analysis of 1971 and 1977 surveys by the Newspaper Advertising Bureau suggests that newspaper editors underestimate public interest in sicence news. (GT)

More letters to the editor are being written to daily newspapers than ever before, and more of them are being published in ever-expanding letters columns. However, many letters go unpublished because of the letter's unsuitability, lack of space, or the writer's view having already been expressed. A study examined--by combining the methods of…

A study tested the hypotheses (1) that reporting of methodological information needed to gauge the accuracy of public opinion poll stories in metropolitican daily newspapers improved significantly during the presidential election years from 1968 to 1980, and (2) that these newspapers were more likely to report this information in their own inhouse…

Supports the hypothesis that political caricatures are not static but can evolve over a relatively short period of time to reflect more positively or negatively on the person being caricatured. (RB)

Presents a critical discussion of two news value indices and makes some suggestions for considering social psychological variables in the development of such indices. (TO)

Reports a study devising a constructive treatment for news of violence that has higher reader interest than a conventional straight-news approach. (TO)

This study was undertaken to test the hypothesis that the media emphasis of issues serves to set the agenda of public awareness of those issues. Data were obtained from telephone interviews during the 1976 United States Presidential campaign from 658 voters in Pennsylvania and California. The issues of unemployment, inflation, and crime were…

A content analysis of "McClure's Magazine," often cited as initiating the muckraking era, was undertaken to assess whether muckraking content constituted the dominant element in the appeal the magazine had for its readers. The publication period 1903-1905 was chosen for the study; each monthly issue was examined; and each article,…

Presents a case study of the presidential election campaign television debates of 1960. (TO)

Finds that base-rate information (general statements about the range or importance of a problem) had little impact whereas exemplars (less valid but more vivid individual cases) had a strong effect on the perceived distribution of public opinion about news story problems, and also had a moderate impact on undergraduate students' personal opinions…

Finds that the journalist and the public frequently differ on issues regarded as important to the well-being of the press and society. (RB)

Telephone surveys were conducted in Detroit and Grand Rapids, Michigan, to assess both the relative credibility of news presentations by the local news media and respondents' reasons for using these media. The results supported previous research on local news credibility, suggesting that television was the more believable medium, even in a local…

Explores the possible relationship among issue involvement, argument strength, and the third-person effect. Finds that undergraduate students tend to believe that "others" will be more affected than themselves by a persuasive message that contains weak argumentation but that "others" will be less affected than themselves by a…