One of ACTE's goals is to improve the image of career and technical education (CTE) through outreach to the media. As media relations manager, the author receives calls from reporters asking questions about the types of students who participate in CTE. Reporters often have a misconception that CTE students are troubled or "at the bottom of the…

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…

The response of the magazine "U.S. News and World Report" to criticism of its college ranking methodology included changes in the determination of indicators and reporting of data. However, the research still relies on subjective information, and its conclusions, therefore, are questionable. (Author/MSE)

A study was conducted in the Washington, D.C., area to test mass media effects in a community controversy. Five possible theories were hypothesized to explain the effects media have on a community: indirect and direct effects, null effects, agenda setting, reverse effects, and reverse agenda setting. During the 16-month test period of the British…

The interplay that exists between the mass media and political activity provides the topic for this report of an informal dialogue between William R. Carmack, from the University of Oklahoma, and Joseph S. Foote, press secretary to Carl Albert, Speaker of the House of Representatives. The first section of the report relates Carmack's opening…

A panel discussion on politics and the press was held at the convention of the American Political Science Association in September 1971. This volume contains an essay delivered at that panel on the various functions or activities of the press--adversary, surrogate, sovereign--and remarks of the three discussants. In addition, an essay especially…

Presidential candidates in the United States tend to seek consensus rather than to try to discover new answers to problems and to convince voters that they should be elected to implement those answers. Reporters in the mass media emphasize objectivity and fairness in their reporting. This emphasis produces an intense interest in the…

Since the 1974 Supreme Court dicta in "Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc.," many courts have held that statement of opinion is constitutionally protected. However, statements that appear to be opinion based on undisclosed facts or knowledge not generally known to the public can be an exception. For instance, courts have protected specific…

This book is devoted to a critical examination of magazines in America. It analyzes the current state of the magazine industry, the changes that have occurred in the past several decades, and the performance of the various types of magazines, in addition to forecasting the future of the magazine industry. The ten chapters examine (1) the forces…

This report considers the feasibility of establishing a press council or councils in the United States. The purpose of this council would be to report to the public both on the accuracy of news coverage and on threats, real and potential, against the freedom of the press to fulfill its responsibility of providing information to its readers and…

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

This study investigated the priorities for coverage of law enforcement news, of three groups: 146 citizens from the St. Louis, Missouri, metropolitan area, 60 of the 68 police officers serving their communities, and 33 media personnel from the area. Subjects from all three groups were asked to rank stories about law enforcement in terms of their…

The main objective of this constituency study was to determine the level of awareness and corresponding opinions of constituents with regard to three issues. Thirty-three Wisconsin state senators served as subjects along with 1,650 Wisconsin citizens who were interviewed via telephone regarding their views. The political public relations…

In every advanced culture, there exists some kind of understanding between a profession and the people it serves. In the case of mass communication, such an understanding is for the most part an informal compact whose terms are understood more or less tacitly. As the terms of this agreement are renegotiated from time to time--disagreements…