Discusses the issue of public accountability in broadcasting as shown in new legal strictures, in the creation of councils by the media themselves, and in such mechanisms as public inquiries, research and audience polling, and access experiments. Concludes that access and participation are means for demonstrating accountability. (JMF)

Just as strong limbs do not ensure self-defense in an age of modern warfare, so strong persuasive appeals do not ensure self-defense in an age of highly technologized communication systems. The fragmentation of the audience, the inherent loss of credibility associated with the decreased status of rhetoric, and the competition among messages all…

The uses and gratifications paradigm, like the initial conceptions of media effects, can be viewed as a compatible elaboration of contemporary social and political theory. The fundamental assumptions of the uses and gratifications approach, particularly the assumptions regarding the nature and extent of audience activity and the ability of the…