Concludes that the press may not be successful in telling people what to think, but it is successful in telling its readers what to think about. (RB)

A study compared information made available to the media by the White House with information provided to the public by the media to examine the extent to which the White House information agenda influenced the media's agenda. Content analysis was used to compare information disseminated by the White House between June 1 and June 28, 1986 with news…

A study examined the relationship between newspaper coverage of issues and public concern about them at the neighborhood and community-wide levels in an urban area. It was hypothesized that (1) newspaper coverage of issues would be more strongly related to concern about perceived community than neighborhood issues, (2) newspaper coverage would…

The idea that mass communication effects may decrease diversity among people or societies exposed to it arises constantly. However, discussions of mass media effects do not highlight differences between mass communications that "affect" people uniformly and messages that members of audiences "respond to" in similar ways. A…

A study examined how the diversity of media sources affected the structure of social issue cognitions. Interviews with 239 adults produced data concerning (1) the need for cognition, (2) issue domain salience, (3) source reliance, (4) source diversity, (5) source exposure, (6) issue domain differentiation, and (7) domain integration. Support was…

Photography editors from three major newspapers and three former presidents of the National Press Photographers Association were surveyed to establish a framework for discussion of ethical questions concerning digital retouching of photographs and its impact on the credibility of photojournalism. Although photographs have been repaired, spliced or…

Continuing an inquiry into what variables explain audience trust in media, a study drew upon two theoretical areas in attitude research to propose a curvilinear relationship between attitude extremity and trust in media--namely that individuals who feel fairly neutral toward an issue and those who report strongly held attitudes see the media as…

A study examined whether public perceptions of media institutions and products are multidimensional and whether the public's image of media matters. Subjects, 512 randomly selected adult residents of Dane County, Wisconsin, were surveyed by telephone. Results revealed that public perceptions of the media are complex, multifaceted, and include more…

In 1972, M. McCombs and D. Shaw introduced the idea that the mass media have the ability to tell the public which issues are of major importance in a political campaign by virtue of the amount of coverage they give each. This they termed the "agenda setting" function of the media. A study was conducted to investigate various aspects of…

To determine the relationship of referent group characteristics and communication variables to the public opinion process, interviews were conducted with 297 Madison, Wisconsin adults, located in 31 neighborhoods. Working within selected topics, opinions were measured through the use of a series of short statements about various controversial…

News and editorial coverage of the Ponca controversy of 1879 was investigated in an effort to discover why and how this particular Indian story became a national crusade. The Ponca campaign helped promote reform-minded legislation which conferred new rights on the Indians and promised to speed their assimilation into mainstream society. The Dawes…

Patterned after a 1976 study, a study examined voters' decision making during the 1980 campaign for the presidency of the United States. Data from a survey of 183 registered voters indicated that partisan voters were likely to be precommitted to a candidate choice and thus relatively immune to mass mediated campaign effects. However, those voters…

To determine consumer preference regarding four forms of mass communication, an 18-item questionnaire was devised that asked individuals where they sought information on national and world affairs, local events, entertainment, and shopping (advertising). Results from the 108 respondents in the random sample indicated the following: newspapers…

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 categories of news flow research and the objectives of readership studies were combined in a pilot field experiment in audience reaction to and interest in foreign news. Using both projective and behavioral measures, the study explored media use patterns and story preferences. In particular, it investigated the effect on reader interest of…