Discusses the capabilities of three qualitative television rating systems and possible application of resulting data by public television. (JMF)

Describes the Experience Sampling Method, a quasi-naturalistic method that involves signaling research subjects at random times throughout the day, and asking them to report on the nature and quality of their experience. Discusses the method's applications and value in research topics in organizational settings; with mass and mediated…

Reviews the history of the most widely used device for measuring mass media audience reactions. Notes that competition and the expensive media environment have led communication scholars and policymakers to a revived interest in this device and qualitative audience measurement. (PD)

Examined the type of local television programing offered during the prime-time access period (7:30-8:00 P.M.), the reasons behind the choices, and the special alternative offered by "PM Magazine." Discusses what these findings suggest about the limits of local programing in the current television marketplace. (PD)

Investigated local television programs that devote regular time to "soft news"--features on ordinary people, lifestyles, and the arts. Observed that these programs portray the arts and ordinary people as upbeat and interesting but, at the same time, as fragmented and having little relationship to political or economic issues. (PD)

Introduces a symposium in this journal issue: "Technology through a Retrospective Eye: Imaging Practices between the World Wars and Beyond." Notes that each article of the symposium keys into a central moment of expansion of imaging practice and focuses on the debates that accompanied that expansion. (SR)

Describes the decline of direct newspaper competition in terms of the loss of effective newspaper market segmentation. Examines the following influences on market segmentation: shift in advertising demand, advertiser preferences for differentiated audiences, shift in subscriber demand, growth of alternative media, increasing production costs, and…

Describes several studies using television and television technology to assist in teaching reading and reading skills. (JMF)

Reports results of part of a long-range project studying cultural indicators. Suggests that television viewing is associated with a cultural "mainstream" that tends to absorb or assimilate groups that otherwise diverge from it, and that the salience of certain real-life circumstances is likely to boost television's cultivating potential. (JMF)

Concludes that by distancing themselves from highly competitive but tainted phenomena, newsworkers and their organizations are able to meet their fundamental role obligation to create news while minimizing threats to their professional autonomy. Presents three examples of such attempts. (PD)

Describes the PACE project (Public Access Cable television by and for Elders) which attempts to involve senior citizens actively in television production. (JMF)

Discusses media coverage of the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant before and during the disaster. Concludes that there was a communication breakdown prior to the accident. Outlines the causes and offers suggestions for avoiding similar breakdowns in the future. (JMF)

Uses Kenneth Burke's theory of perfection to explore the vocabularies of nuclear weapons in United States public discourse and how "the Bomb" as a God term has gained imbalanced ascendancy in centers of power. (MS)

Offers a broad overview of communication media in Latin America and of the relationship between the state, the media, and society. Introduces articles in this issue which focus on communication media in Latin America. (SR)

This case study examines how the press, radio, and television were mobilized to promote, evaluate, and teach in a government campaign to replace Chinese dialects with Mandarin among the Chinese population. (PD)