Contributes to journalism research by investigating what type and size of probability sample will allow valid inference. Tests the efficiency of probability samples of issues of two monthly consumer magazines over five years, finding a stratified sample more efficient than a simple random sample. (SR)

Compares five years' contents of four scholarly and trade publications in journalism ("Columbia Journalism Review,""The Quill,""Journalism Quarterly," and "Editor and Publisher"). Describes them in terms of 14 issues derived from telephone interviews. (SR)

Compares 20 sets each of samples of four different sizes using simple random, constructed week, and consecutive day samples of newspaper content. Compares sample efficiency, and shows the superiority of constructed week sampling. (SR)

Concludes that while news about the Third World is not underemphasized in the "New York Times" and the "Chicago Tribune," negative news is played up more in both than is news from other areas. (FL)

Examines the increasing number of articles employing quantitative content analyses published from 1971-1995 in "Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly," in terms of frequency, authorship, focus on different media and content, sampling, reliability reporting, links to theory, and use with other methods and data. (SR)

Among the possible results brought about by the reduction from 1970 to 1980 of the overseas staffs of American newspapers were (1) increased reliance upon official or state media as news sources; (2) a nation underinformed despite its heavy worldwide political, economic, and cultural involvement; and (3) a lack of coherent reporting of the…

A study was conducted to assess the indications in print of news borrowing (reporting news distributed by second hand or government controlled sources) in the 1970s, and to examine the relationship between borrowed news and the restrictions and reductions in newspapers' overseas news staff. The "New York Times" and the "Chicago…

Examines how females and minorities are represented on children's Saturday morning television commercials, focusing on how often they are present, settings in which they are portrayed, and types of White-minority interactions. Finds that more women and minorities are present in advertisements than earlier studies indicated, but that White males…

Reports an exploration of the effectiveness of different types and sizes of samples for content analyses of television network news. Compares simple random, monthly stratified, and quarterly/weekly stratified sampling, using annual "populations" of network newscasts. Finds that the most efficient technique was two random days per month. (SR)

Views intercoder reliability as a sampling problem for content analyses. Develops a formula for generating sample sizes needed to have valid reliability estimates. Suggests steps for reporting reliability. (TB)

Examines the most efficient method of sampling content from five years of daily newspaper editions. Notes that selecting 9 constructed weeks from 5 years is more efficient than the 10 constructed weeks suggested by previous research. Finds this rule holds provided the variables being measured do not have large variances. (RS)

A study was conducted to determine whether the "New York Times" news coverage given India between 1973 and 1980 was consistent with trends in United States foreign policy toward India during those years. The period under study was characterized by four alternating periods of tense and relaxed relations between India and the United…