Discussion of comprehension and attention processes of children viewing television programs highlights a study that was conducted to examine the potential impact of sound effects on children's visual orientation to television programs which varied in the rate of program pace. Results for four treatment groups of preschool children and fourth…

Discussion of mood management strategies focuses on a study of pregnant and non-pregnant women and new mothers, that was designed to examine television program preferences as a function of the physiologically induced affective stages of pregnancy. Television viewing habits are examined and affective dispositions are ascertained. (29 references)…

Describes a study of nine year olds in Ireland, Australia, the United States, and Norway that investigated their attitudes to television advertising and the connection to buying patterns in their families. Highlights include enjoyment of television ads, parallels between television programs and ads, and perceived influence of ads on parents.…

The radio-television journalism section of the proceedings contains the following nine papers: "The World Outside: Local TV News Treatment of Imported News" (Raymond L. Carroll and Charles A. Tuggle); "Changes in Local TV News Content: Checking the Critics" (Mark D. Harmon); "Tabliod Television Exposed: The Architectural…

The teaching potential of videocassettes and videodiscs are reviewed, together with an indication of when mass access is likely to rival that of broadcast television. It is argued that videocassettes and videodiscs, with their focus on small groups of viewers and interaction, have far ranging consequences for instructional television design, and…

Although multimedia technologies offer a great potential, educators and decision makers need to see evidence regarding the instructional effectiveness of multimedia in order to integrate it into the educational processes. The main purposes of this paper are: (1) to identify and discuss the main criticisms of media research, including the research…

This booklet shows parents and other adults how to use entertainment television to spark discussions with children and adolescents about sexuality, values, responsibility, communication, and other sensitive subjects (personal relationships, race and culture, drug use). First published in 1989, this booklet has been updated annually. Discussion…

Comparison of data gathered in the late 1970s to data gathered in the early 1990s indicates that while communication researchers remain convinced that effects of intercultural mass media exist, they also acknowledge that no clear, useful theoretical framework exists. Data were analyzed, compared, and reported in the late 1970s from three…

This study, the first phase of a 2-year longitudinal investigation of television-viewing patterns of preschool children, examines family characteristics, parent/child interactive patterns, and aspects of the home environment associated with young children's television viewing. Participating were a group of 320 children within 3 months of their…

Designed for media specialists and educators, the four articles in this issue focus on television's effects on children. Following a brief editorial reviewing current directions of research in this area, the first article compares the American pre-school educational television program "Sesame Street" with its Australian counterpart.…

To explore the portrayals of Americans in Japanese television commercials and Japanese in American television commercials, and how those portrayals are perceived by each nationality, a two-part study examined 745 American commercials and 956 Japanese commercials. Researchers first coded the number of American males and females who appeared in the…

A study examined the responses of Canadian and American subjects in their approval of, and attraction to, specific television and film characters exhibiting aggressive behavior, and in their evaluation of the realism and saliency of the characters and situations observed. Subjects, undergraduate students at the University of Windsor in Windsor,…

A previous study of the perceived social realism of television series featuring families was both replicated and extended with a sample of 1692 second, sixth, and tenth graders in 42 schools in southern California. The "Viewing Frequency" instrument and the "Realism" instrument took children 10-15 minutes to complete. Content…

In Japan, the production and broadcasting of television (TV) programs for children began in 1953. After the first few years of trial and error, children's programs gradually rose in popularity with the introduction of TV animation, dramas, special-effects photography, music/variety and quiz shows, comedies, and action dramas. Since the inception…

This discussion of the audience for European television argues that satellite television has taken an upside-down approach, i.e., it has begun by focusing on the hardware, and then the software, before checking to see if there would be a user at the end of the line willing to pay for the whole operation. "European television" is then…