Reports that more than three-fourths of surveyed Hispanics never read Spanish-language publications. Finds mixed evidence on the relationship between use of Spanish language media and acculturation. (FL)

Argues that communication scholars must better match content with readership/viewership because audience members can read or view widely different aspects of a particular medium on any given day. Argues that the field will not progress far unless communication scholars develop better measures and locate better fits between media content and…

Divides 31 mass communication textbooks into introductory and issue-oriented texts that reflect an insider's view of mass media and stress socialization to the industry or theory texts that take a more academic and critical view of the role of communication in society. Defines mass communication. (NKA)

Shows how different kinds of involvement measures can add to the ability both to explain differences between people's knowledge of election information and to investigate whether the way that knowledge is measured affects conclusions about involvement with television and newspapers. (MS)

A study was conducted to test the hypothesis that the mass media act as agents of social control by varying the coverage of political groups in relation to how deviant they perceive the groups to be. Editors from the 100 largest daily newspapers in the United States were asked to rate 11 political groups on four scales thought to measure political…

To better understand the effects of the media on audiences, five media sociology theoretical approaches to the study of influences on media were investigated by looking at tests of the approaches in three journals over the last 10 years. The mirror approach predicted that the media would accurately represent reality, but, while accurate, the media…

A study examined how use of different kinds of "involvement" measures (behavioral, cognitive, or affective involvement, gratifications sought, and cognitive effort expended) could help explain differences between people's knowledge of election information and whether the way that knowledge is measured affects conclusions about…