States that although the influence of fashion advertising on women's relationships with food and their bodies has received considerable attention, the role of food advertising in women's magazines has been virtually unexplored. Argues that food advertisements reflect and contribute to the primary precursors of eating disorders: body…

Finds that exposure to fat-character television, thin-ideal magazines, and sports magazines predicted eating-disorder symptomatology for adolescent females, especially older ones; exposure to fat-character television also predicted body dissatisfaction for younger males; and that relationships remain significant when selective exposure based on…

This 1997 study explored in depth the views and experiences of women with breast cancer concerning disease-related mass media information. Results of focus group discussions indicate advantages and disadvantages of mass media information, and its impact upon individuals may depend on their disease status. Suggests implications for mass media…

Examines the "media effects" debate-whether media in and of itself affects learning-and presents an analysis of various arguments from a learning theory perspective. Proposes a dynamic process of instructional design where assessments are aimed at instructional practices as well as learning outcomes, and instructional media and method…

Although many campus radio stations try to copy or emulate their commercial counterparts, determining who is listening to the station is often difficult. It is not odd for stations to undertake in-house listener surveys, which are often conducted by classes studying audience research. Results of the 1995 College Radio Survey highlight significant…

The Advertising and Public Relations section of this collection of conference presentations contains the following 17 papers: "Using the FCB Grid and the 'Lost Quadrants' to Write Advertising Strategy" (Johan C. Yssel); "Antitrust and the Marketplace of Ideas: The Continuing Problem of Issue Advertising Access to Broadcast…

As literature designed specifically to help young adults make appropriate career decisions, vocational guidance books explain what background, experiences, and personal traits are necessary to succeed in various careers. They are of interest to researchers because of the attitudes they reveal about journalism as a field. A review of 30 journalism…

A study investigated the impact of "thought over time" as a variable that may influence recall of discrepant information encountered in the media. Earlier studies indicated that human subjects are capable of improving their recall of "consistent" sets of news information over time without the benefit of additional exposure to…

A study examined the mass media research literature to determine if there was a dominant paradigm in the field. The mass media research published in eight communication journals from 1965 to 1989 was content analyzed to identify paradigm, orientation (focus and theory), data (type, source, and sample), methodology (type and manipulation), and…

Commodification is one of the media mechanisms that shape and proliferate images of femininity which result in the disempowerment of women and of female athletes. The method of homology is used to analyze commodification, one of the formal structures or mechanisms of patriarchy. After a description of this mechanism, the discussion focuses on how…

Issue management oriented public relations provides an excellent pedagogical device for anyone interested in the application of argumentation. This can be illustrated by a case study in which a commercial metals company was wrongly accused of improperly disposing of toxic waste at a particular site. To counter the bad publicity that followed the…

A reliable "news morbidity" scale was developed to measure the prevalence of bad and good news on radio and television; the scale was then used in a pilot study of one city's news output. The news morbidity scale is a seven-step scale ranging from "extremely bad" to "extremely good" news. A sample of 945 television…

A study explored the attitudes of professors of advertising toward well-known advertising practitioners, and the effect these famous practitioners have had on the teaching of advertising. Four influential and famous advertising practitioners were selected from a preliminary list of 10. Six statements reflecting each practitioner's advertising…

A study was conducted to determine if brand names that begin with consonants called "plosives" (B, C, D, G, K, P, and T) are more readily recalled and recognized than names that begin with other consonants or vowels. Additionally, the study investigated the relationship between name length and memorability, ability to associate names…

The right of publicity is based on an individual's right to be free from the appropriation of his or her name or likeness by another for the other's financial benefit. As the courts' conception of the right of publicity was exapnding, so was the development of newsworthiness as a defense for media defendants. In "Zacchini v.…