Outlines five types of studies that seem most significant and discusses problems of and proposals for future news media research. (PD)

Researchers have put forth the idea that the mass media have an "agenda setting" function, that the more coverage an issue receives, the more important the public perceives that issue to be. A study tested the hypothesis that the campaign agenda presented by the media would have a stronger agenda setting effect than the aggregate media…

Discerns issues of the 1980 presidential primary campaigns through content analysis of issues presented in televised political spot advertisements created for nine presidential primary candidates. Results indicate Democrats were most concerned with the economy, energy, foreign policy, and national security, while Republicans focused on federalism…

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…

Reports on a study that tested the applicability of drive-reduction and exposure learning models for gratifications received across three sources of political information. Concludes that the exposure learning model was more efficient for both newspaper and television news. (FL)

Uses log linear analysis to show that political activity is a potent predictor of media use. (FL)

Research in the field of political communication has traditionally reflected a behavioral approach which has focused largely on the influence of mass communication on the public's political behavior. The role of the individual in selecting, interpreting, and processing political information has received significantly less attention. The…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 15 titles deal with the following topics: (1) Robert Kennedy and the American press; (2) objective reporting, muckraking, and the "New Journalism" from 1950 to 1975; (3) the coverage of welfare by the New York press;…