Unlike most of the regulatory constraints which have impact on the media, libel, slander, and invasion of privacy are common law concepts developed from the precedents of previous court decisions and from reasoning employed in the written judicial opinions of appellate courts. Since common law is thus both traditional in nature and subject to…

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…

Intended for non-professional groups trying to make inputs into the political system but having limited access to the mass media, this manual reviews and criticizes the current status of power in the communications industry, especially in regard to ownership and control of the flow of information. Government/media relations are discussed,…

Broadcast and print journalism are interrelated in this book's coverage of the functions and status of the "fourth estate". A first part discusses journalism's magnitude and significance, with separate chapters offering a profile of the press, a discussion of the people's need to know, and a brief history of American journalism. The second part…

All areas of mass communication are surveyed. Man's earliest efforts as a communicator are considered, and what is known about the development of speech and writing is explored. Various theories (including mathematical ones) are reviewed which attempt to explain the processes of both personal and mass communication. Separate chapters focus on the…