A return to excellence and ethics can end the bashing of the press and earn it respect. H. L. Mencken was an outstanding press-basher. One problem he identified is that journalists see themselves as professionals, when they are no more than "hired hands" unable to control admission to the craft. A solution Mencken offered was to improve…

A study was conducted to explore the influence of newspaper editorial campaign endorsements. The study examined the Louisville (Kentucky) "Courier-Journal," which tends to endorse Democratic candidates, and the Chicago "Tribune," which tends to endorse Republican candidates. It was hypothesized that readers would show higher…

A study was conducted for the President's Commission on the Accident at Three Mile Island to analyze coverage of the accident by ten news organizations: two wire services, three commercial television networks, and five daily newspapers. Copies of all stories and transcripts of news programs during the first week of the accident were examined from…

This volume presents the findings of several research studies related to jury verdicts in felony cases and pretrial publicity. The studies include: "Trial Judges' Opinions on Prejudicial Publicity" by Fred Siebert, an attempt to learn whether or not judges thought that pretrial publicity had ever resulted in miscarriage of justice in…

Reports on a study of people's perceptions of the way in which their voting choices, and those of others, were influenced by media editorial endorsements of candidates. (GW)

This paper is based on a review of the literature that included reports from the Inter-American Press Association's general assembly in Los Angeles in October 1984, the mid-year meeting of the Inter-American Press Association in Panama City in March 1985, and the 1983 world press freedom review of the International Press Institute. Other material…

Local newspaper coverage of the Three Mile Island (TMI) nuclear power plant accident was examined in a study to determine what changes, if any, were made by local media and what lessons they had learned from it. Data were collected through interviews with 21 media representatives. TMI coverage in the six newspapers was examined using each…

This manual for school board members identifies the basic factors to take into account when dealing with the news media. These factors include knowing what kinds of media offer what kinds of coverage in the school district's local area and how to channel the right information to the media representative who can make the best use of it. Divided…

The nature and extent of the news media coverage of political advertising in the presidential campaign of 1972 was shallow and spotty at best. The candidates' political advertising strategies received limited coverage by reporters and commentators. Even the "prestige" press--16 major newspapers--provided limited coverage to the nature…

Explains how differential coverage of politics, policy, and personality regarding the same two events in three different media--a local newspaper, an elite newspaper, and television network news--reveals three different portraits of presidential concerns and actions. (MM)

This selection of readings, primarily intended for a college journalism course, discusses the strengths and weaknesses of the major sources of the public news--the wire services, newspapers, and television. The first part of the book deals with the context of mass news and serves as an introduction to some of the crucial ideas shaping thinking…

After discussing the need for message pluralism in a democracy, this report focuses on a three-stage research strategy conducted to study the effects of newspaper/television cross-ownership on news homogeneity. The three stages consist of: an analysis of questionnaire data obtained from 214 newspaper managing editors and television news directors;…

This volume contains all of the material published in American Newspaper Publishers Association (ANPA) News Research Bulletins during 1968. The 49 studies included are arranged under the following chapter titles: "Some Audience Characteristics,""Headlines and Makeup,""Content,""Some Communication Behavior,""Readership,""Readership by…

This volume is a compilation of the summaries of news-editorial research reported in the American Newspaper Publishers Association News Research Bulletins during 1967. Of the 44 studies reported in this volume, twenty were done by universities, ten by individuals, nine by research agencies, and five by other organizations. The studies are arranged…

Covered in this handbook is the craft of reviewing from multiple points of view: the established critic on a metropolitan newspaper, a national magazine, or a television station; the newcomer who is trying to review all forms of entertainment for a small-town daily paper; the New York drama critic; and the freelance reviewer whose work appears in…