In an attempt to understand nonreader attitudes toward the daily newspaper, 576 non-newspaper reading adults were queried in three waves about their reasons for avoiding newspapers. In the first wave, the major findings were that nonreaders avoid newspapers because of lack of time, preference for another news medium, newspaper cost, and lack of…

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…

The editorial page of the newspaper is of recognized importance both to the newspaper itself and to public life. Data from a survey taken of 178 newspaper editors in four circulation categories support the following recommendations for improvement of the editorial page: take stands on important issues, emphasize local issues, improve the thinking…

This paper presents a rationale for studying the effect of a community's news media resources on the diversity of topics that the public considers important (the agenda). Research on media effects has followed a model that implicitly assumes that the important effects consist of the persuasion of individuals to adopt specific positions. This paper…

A survey of persons who wrote letters to the Cleveland public television station regarding the Watergate hearings revealed that presentation of the Senate hearings improved PTV's image in the minds of some viewers. A content analysis of the letters written to the station indicated that 49 percent of the writers specifically stated support for…

Reports on a study of the agenda-setting function of the media in a rural central Illinois city, during an off-election year. (GW)

A survey of Detroit daily newspapers shows that there has been dramatic improvement in the reporting of methodological information on polls. (FL)

Content analyses of a Massachusetts and an Oregon daily newspaper revealed that the newspapers covered causes of death in very similar ways, overreporting violent, often catastrophic causes of death and underreporting diseases. These biases in coverage corresponded closely to people's judgments of causes of death, as determined in a previous…

Presents a study concerned with relating the understanding of the functioning of mass media, particulary television and newspapers, to the formation of public opinion regarding economic issues. Concludes that frequent exposure to news develops a false impression that the public understands more than they really do. (JMF)

Investigates the "third-person effect" (people believing that there are important effects of mass media on others but not on themselves) in terms of the ABC-TV miniseries "Amerika." Finds evidence for the third-person effect among those who perceive themselves to be political experts. (RS)

Concludes that high media users consider themselves less informed, view themselves as less serious, and prefer less personal solutions to problems. (RB)

To conceptualize public opinion as something other than "mere aggregation" of individual opinions requires systemic models that identify component parts of public opinion and their structural/functional relationships. Operationalization requires asking respondents not only their individual opinion, but also their perception of public…

Adults in 309 households in the Orlando, Florida, area were surveyed by telephone in a study that investigated the public's perceptions about journalists and the media. The subjects were asked 20 questions that elicited their knowledge about ownership of daily newspapers, including the name of the owner of the local daily, as well as their…