This handbook, intended for journalists and others in the field of communication, examines the evolving law of libel in the United States and discusses the effects of recent trends. By placing libel law in the context of American History and by using over 500 court cases as specific examples, the author demonstrates not only its historical…

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…

Contemporary journalism, although claiming to be politically objective and neutral, has become a powerful critic of the conduct of the government, often seeming to be a force for the reordering of national priorities along leftist lines. This "adversary journalism" of the past 15 years has strayed a long way from the neutral journalism…

As jazz music found its way onto the public agenda between 1921 and 1929 the "New York Times" became a major forum for the controversy surrounding the new music form. Although jazz was played mostly by black musicians, this fact was seldom reflected in the newspaper's stories, and the specter of racism loomed just beneath the surface of…

The workers' movement has long recognized the importance of the press and other cultural institutions in developing and sustaining class consciousness and the movement itself. Hundreds of workers' newspapers were established throughout the United States by labor unions, working-class political organizations, and sympathetic editors. These papers,…

This monograph examines how bias affects the perception of journalists and discusses factors which might exacerbate or mitigate such bias. The book recommends the study of journalistic decision-making from perspectives developed in the field of social psychology. The book includes the following chapters: (1) "Media Bias, Cognitive…

The rejection of the "Great Forces" and "Great Man" theories of newspaper history allows a middle-range view that seeks to discover the uniqueness of the newspaper business and to explain how that uniqueness shaped the business values of the editors and proprietors. An examination of three Chicago, Illinois, newspapers--the…

The 11 articles in this collection deal with theoretical and practical freedom of speech issues. The topics covered are (1) the United States Supreme Court and communication theory; (2) truth, knowledge, and a democratic respect for diversity; (3) denial of freedom of speech in Jock Yablonski's campaign for the presidency of the United Mine…

The role of the black journalist in South Africa is contradictory, precarious, and permeated with politics. There is little freedom of expression for blacks in South Africa, yet white-owned newspapers have expanded their coverage of black news, and some have special editions for black readers. As a result, the English language press is using more…

The essential nature of political structures of developing nations appears to generate an opposition to criticism. Since most of the developing nations see no alternative but to regard freedom of the press as an antithesis to industrial development, many such nations suppress press freedom. The relationship between developmental efforts and…

Editorials in the "West African Pilot", an English-language newspaper published in Lagos, for the years 1945, 1957, 1960, and 1963 (years of crucial importance to Nigeria) were studied to determine the effects of modernity, tradition, fluctuating socioeconomic conditions, and particularly political influences exerted on the press. Each…

A journalism writing course which trains students in techniques of newsgathering and reporting, emphasizing objectivity, accuracy, clarity, and journalistic style, is described. The objectives of the course include: (1) recognition of nonverbal cues transmitted by a speaker; (2) description of conveyed meanings of emotive language in news articles…

Examines news coverage of the Soviet attack on KAL 007 (Korean Airlines Flight 007) that establishes and legitimizes Russia's viewpoint. Analyzes the twin processes of selection and structuring giving the text coherence. Notes that such cultural analysis challenges scholars to explore how the synchronization of government and media viewpoints…

The Newspapers section of the proceedings contains the following 11 papers: "News Items in the 'Shrinking Foreign Newshole': The Case of the New York Times" (Daniel Riffe and others); "Newspaper Coverage of Gays and Lesbians: Editors' Views of Its Longterm Effects" (Marilyn Greenwald and Joseph Bernt); "Effects of Staff…

Between the years of 1916 and 1918 southern blacks began populating the urban centers of the north in a movement known as the "Great Migration." This movement was significant to the development of the black press, for it was during this period that the black press became a protest organ and rose to its greatest level of prominence and…