Since broadcasters are mandated by the Federal Communication Commission to ascertain community needs prior to applying for or renewing licenses, their concern for finding effective audience-analysis tools is generally great. This paper briefly surveys the research conducted on expression of opinion through viewer and listener letter-writing and…

Researchers have put forth the idea that the mass media have an "agenda setting" function, that the more coverage an issue receives, the more important the public perceives that issue to be. A study tested the hypothesis that the campaign agenda presented by the media would have a stronger agenda setting effect than the aggregate media…

A laboratory study analyzed differences in media violence when consequences of that violence to the victim are shown and not shown. (Author)

Concludes that voters need a frame or a point of reference for determining the campaign relevance of issues and that, therefore, framing is a crucial consideration in the media agenda-setting process. (FL)

In 1972, M. McCombs and D. Shaw introduced the idea that the mass media have the ability to tell the public which issues are of major importance in a political campaign by virtue of the amount of coverage they give each. This they termed the "agenda setting" function of the media. A study was conducted to investigate various aspects of…

In addition to factors analyzed in previous media research, the following three new validity checks were examined in a study of the audience's perceived uses and gratifications: the effect of time differences between administrations in a study, a comparison of respondents who claim to be gratified with those who do not, and the link between media…

A pilot project was undertaken to explore ways to profile public radio audiences inexpensively and simply. The major effort was through use of the station's monthly programing guide mailing list. Persons found in this list were interviewed and their listening habits compared with a general survey (baseline) group. The survey showed that public…

The purpose of this research was to determine if the media set personal agendas during off-year elections. The market for the study was a twin-city area in central Illinois (Bloomington-Normal) which contained few sources of information concerning local, national, and international problems. The survey questionnaire was compiled from questions…

Recent research in agenda setting, dealing with the ways people perceive campaign issues dependent upon their coverage by the media has left unanswered the question of how context variables such as political framing--the context within which the media present a particular issue-affect the agenda setting process. A study was conducted to test the…

A telephone survey was conducted in an attempt to test the veracity of some of the traditional questionnaire items commonly associated with the assessment of the Public Television image. The results of the survey indicated that items commonly used in these assessments (production competency, worthwhileness of minority programing, interest of the…