Examines whether role assignments to television sets (assignments of particular content to particular screens) influence what viewers think about what they watch. Finds that designating TV sets for specialized functions or uses results in more positive evaluations of the content, even when the TV sets and programming are identical. (SR)

Describes how the Soviet Union's move from state to self-financing and self-management of theater companies and studios mandated by the 1986 theater reforms has fostered an explosion of new groups and experimentation, though not always with corresponding audience support. (PRA)

States that contrary to previous reports of "grazing," most viewers only used their remote control devices (RCDs) once or twice every half hour. Claims that the dominant RCD operation was direct channel punching, as opposed to dial turning. Concludes that most RCD activity did not take place during a program, thus voiding industry…

Examines the process through which a fear appeal transforms low-involvement audiences into active publics. Analyzes cognitive and emotional responses of uninvolved viewers to a film on environmental contamination, together with coping strategies used to deal with the threat. Concludes that cognition and affect mediate viewers' responses to a…

Explores the effects of nonverbal reactions of a talk show host and studio audience members to arguments presented by a talk show guest on a low-involvement topic. Suggests that positive audience or host reactions can enhance persuasive influence; however, if those cues are incongruent, persuasive influence may be negated. Addresses implications…

Examines violence in music video programming. Reveals that 15% of music videos feature violence, and most of that aggression is sanitized, not chastised, and presented in realistic contexts. Discusses the findings in terms of the risk that exposure to violence in each channel and genre may be posing to viewers' learning of aggression, fear, and…

Asserts that the heightened demand for information and "truth" in the Soviet Union has led to new emphasis on verisimilitude in fictional portrayals and has made popular novels the subject of political debate. (PRA)

Investigates the nature and extent of violence contained in television programming that targets children aged 12 and younger. Notes that the violence itself is just as likely to be glamorized in children's as in nonchildren's shows, but it is even more sanitized and more likely to be trivialized. Documents five subgenres of children's programming…

Examines the relative power of visual, audio, and audiovisual television messages on people's understanding of political issues. Shows that audio alone is just as effective as a combined audio and visual presentation for conveying information. Shows little difference between the effective responses to audio and video channels. (SR)

Argues that the human brain is not specialized to deal with 20th-century media. Measures effects of image size and motion on college students' emotional responses. Finds that image size positively affects the arousal and dominates dimensions of emotional responses, but has no significant effect on valance evaluations. Finds that still pictures…

Considers how race, gender, and fandom (appreciation and enjoyment of a popular culture star) of older adolescent audiences affect how they interpret two of Madonna's music videos. Finds that viewers differed dramatically in how they interpreted the videos and did not agree about even the most fundamental story elements. (RS)

Examines 650 Internet mail messages sent to NBC Nightly News in response to an invitation during a series dealing with the impact of new technologies. Investigates to what degree Internet viewer comments resemble traditional viewer mail, and whether perceived interactivity was a factor in the character of Internet viewer mail. (SR)

Explores how motion pictures, television, and computers manipulate and rearrange the content and processes of communicated experience, thereby shaping how the audience perceives and interprets the physical and social reality depicted. Suggests that these media are fourth removed from reality (behind the Platonic Ideal, the actual, and art and…

Systematizes the fragmented approaches to framing in political communication and integrates them into a comprehensive model. Classifies previous approaches to framing research along two dimensions: media frames versus audience frames; and the way frames are operationalized (independent variable or dependent variable). Identifies four key processes…

Develops a neuropsychological model of political information processing based on the independence and interdependence of emotion and cognition. Discusses studies and presents findings suggesting that primitive emotional responses may be activated, even without the audience's awareness, and attributed to a political source, even though no conscious…