Proposes that newspaper journalists' demographic and attitudinal characteristics help to maintain distance between them and the public they serve. Claims that this distance may be directly related to the public's perceptions of newspaper credibility. (MM)

To determine how journalists at two metropolitan newspapers view good writing and writing coaches, questionnaires were distributed to all full-time newsroom personnel (including journalists and editors) involved in preparation of news at two large dailies under the same ownership in the same city, in July, 1986. The total number of respondents was…

Determines whether a relationship exists between type of newsroom management style--authoritarian or democratic--and journalists' attitudes toward their newspaper supervisors, jobs, readers, and community. Finds that differences in management style do not appear to influence the relationship with editors or attitudes toward their audience. (RC)

Investigates how editors and reporters view writing coaches and identifies factors that affect those views. Finds that coaches are considered most effective in one-on-one work with reporters. (RS)

A study was conducted to explore attitudes toward the credibility of individual media and news media in general. The first phase of the study was a series of focused group discussions, while the second involved a national representative sampling of 1,469 adults interviewed by telephone, 875 of whom were then surveyed by mail. Credibility scores…

Results of the 1985 American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE) survey--to determine public attitudes toward media credibility--are reported in this paper. Discussion is categorized according to the 12 issues explored: (1) the believability of media when news reports conflict; (2) geographic scope of topics; (3) reliability of reporting and…

Psychographic analysis--combining demographic and attitudinal characteristics into groups and looking at variations in those characteristics--is useful in newspaper research to expand theories of media publics. One effective segmentation strategy (used at Minnesota Opionion Research Incorporated--MORI) is to divide the population into four groups,…

Found that (1) neighborhood leaders' agendas and definitions of issues compared highly with those of residents, especially the most educated residents, while (2) neighborhood papers' agendas and definitions were much less related to those of residents. (PD)

Reports on research that investigated the magnitude of knowledge gaps under varying levels of neighborhood newspaper publicity and organized group activities in an urban neighborhood. Concludes that high levels of group activity relate to both higher knowledge levels and greater knowledge gaps. (FL)

Working from a knowledge gap hypothesis stating that as amounts of information in a community or society increase, segments of the population with more education and higher socioeconomic status acquire this information at a greater rate than do lower status groups, a study examined the contributions to neighborhood residents' knowledge of local…

A case study of two metropolitan newspapers examined whether there was a relationship between type of newsroom management style--"authoritarian" or "democratic"--and journalists' perceptions of management style and leadership, editors' roles, career goals and job satisfaction, readers' news source contact, and community…

To gain a perspective on the kinds of people who find newspapers and television to be high or low in credibility, a two-phase study combined demographic and other characteristics, media behavior, and attitudes toward the media. The first phase involved a series of focused group discussions, while the second was a national, representative sampling…

This monograph reconstructs a theory of news, public opinion, and social control originally presented between 1904 and 1941 by Robert Ezra Park, a founder of the sociological study of mass communication and public opinion, and suggests that the theory is pertinent to contemporary journalists and scholars. Park's work is described as the basis of…

Assuming that neighborhood newspapers and neighborhood leaders are among the most important influences on neighborhood residents' issue agendas and definitions of issues, a study examined some of these influences by interviewing a random sample of 239 residents of a low income, urban neighborhood in Minneapolis. In addition, a purposive sample of…