A study examined the changes that have occurred in the content of cigarette advertising in magazines from 1945 to 1985 in the context of changes in the product itself, in advertising science, and in government regulation. Specifically, the study examined how advertisements had changed in terms of format, brand segmentation, major sales point or…

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,…

Observing that most adults' present conceptions of the computer have been shaped by media images, a content analysis was conducted of 169 articles on computers published in six popular magazines from the 1940s through 1969. The articles were coded in terms of their themes and topics, and the specific terms used to refer to computers in each…

Many typographers have already decided that sans serif type is more pleasing to readers and more functional than traditional roman type. The findings of this study, which was designed to assess the readability of, and reader preference for, these two styles, lead to the opposite conclusion. To determine preferences, 200 subjects of various ages…

A content analysis of prestige press articles about the Middle East between 1966 and 1974 reveals a shift toward a more favorable image of Arabs, which is paralleled by a decline in public support for Israel and a slight increase in support for the Arab states. (GT)

A study examined how four news magazines in North America and Western Europe covered British public reaction to the 1982 Falklands War. The news magazines--similar in format--represented four nations with varying degrees of closeness to Great Britain: the United States ("Time"), Canada ("Macleans"), West Germany…

A study of news refraction was conducted to determine how well the press has functioned in popularizing scientific views and findings on a subject with direct implications for a controversial social issue. In reporting the marijuana question, the press produced a certain amount of refraction or news-slanting. For example, science articles…

The topic of agenda setting has been one of the most researched fields in mass communication since its introduction in 1972. M. E. McCombs and D. L. Shaw (1972) began a research collection of over 200 projects by upholding the hypothesis that the media cannot tell viewers what to think but it can tell them what to think about. The question arises…

Defining agenda-setting as the ability of the mass media to influence the level of the public's awareness and perceptions of political issues, a study was conducted to examine the agenda-setting power of the black periodical press in the United States. Survey responses collected by the University of Michigan Center for Political Studies were…

An examination of the portrayal of women in popular magazine advertising from 1942 to 1945 suggests that the mass media played a major role in calling women out of the home and into the factory and machine shop to assist in the war effort. Discouraged from working during the Depression years when jobs were scarce, in the 1940s women were eagerly…

This paper discusses the issues involved and presents an overall picture of attempts to censor the April 11, 1938 issue of "Life" magazine featuring a four-page spread of 35 pictures from the film "The Birth of a Baby." It examines contemporary news accounts from newspapers published in New York, Boston, Chicago, St. Louis, New…

Noting that the 1984 presidential campaign was the most heavily polled election in United States history, a study examined the use and abuse of opinion polls by five print media ("Newsweek,""Time,""U.S. News and World Report," the "New York Times," and the "Washington Post") and by the three major…

The miscellaneous studies section of the proceedings includes the following 14 papers: "The News Shapers" (Lawrence C. Soley); "Journalism and Mass Communication Journal Reviewers: Their Standards and Perceived Roles in the Research Process" (Stanley T. Wearden and Fred F. Endres); "Celebrity Advertising: Perception,…

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…

A UNESCO-sponsored study was conducted to systematize, analyze, and evaluate the research about the interrelationships between mass media and the status of women on the basis of currently available international literature. The study sought to determine which aspects of women's media roles have been frequently researched, on which continents and…