This study examined the influence of the affective nature of television news on satisfaction with an individual's own life as well as on an individual's outlook regarding good fortune and misfortune. Subjects, 30 male and 30 female undergraduates at Indiana University, viewed a variety of news stories and completed two questionnaires, one rating…

This document aims to understand the patterns of media consumption among Gavilan students. The goals of the study are to determine the most consumed media product, determine differences in consumption of media modes by different variables, and conduct demographic profiles of the most consumed products within each media mode. The data was gathered…

College radio is quite often viewed as the true alternative to commercial radio. However, what is alternative radio and how does college radio factor into the ideal? To further understand this concept, this paper focuses on the role of alternative programming in college radio. Areas discussed include alternative radio as a non-mainstream form of…

A study presented the results of two national, random sample surveys about the use of and interaction with the television ratings system by parents and children. The telephone survey was conducted between April 2-26, 1998, and involved interviews with 1,358 parents of children ages 2-17 and 446 children ages 10-17. Results were reported for 69…

Investigated the influence of first-person, personal narratives on high school students' engagement with a historical reading-to-write task. Found that students who began the task by reading a visible author tended to hold mental conversations with these authors, make judgments about them, and think more about the historical topic. Also, their…

Argues that cultural studies imported to the United States often lose much of their critical edge. Contends that their misleading affirmation of the power and independence of media audiences is derived from several factors, including (1) overestimating the freedom of audiences in reception; and (2) confusing active reception with political…

Examines how emotional content in televised messages intensifies physiological attentional responses. Explains that heart rate data indicating both shorter-term responses and longer-term arousal were collected from 10 female and 4 male advertising students. Finds that emotional content increases physiological arousal in viewers and that heart…

Argues that television, when used as a secondary activity, interferes with performance on otherwise intellectually demanding tasks. Examines performance on seven different cognitive processing tests for respondents in four television-viewing conditions and a no-TV control group. Finds significant performance decrements for measures of reading…

The Adolescents' Media Practice Model is proposed and discussed. The model emphasizes a dialectical process in which the media are important cultural agents with influence on audiences that is amplified and restrained by individuals who interact with the media from their own positions. The model is grounded in "room culture." (SLD)

Examines whether male students dominated classroom interactions in home economic lessons and whether other classroom processes sustained gender divisions in this subject. Results from 4 classes involving 34 boys and 31 girls include the observation that boys receive more discipline and praise in reaching the same standards as that expected of…

The news on Channel One, with its impression of vague anxiety, looks and sounds like regular television news, only more so. In either case, the news is just "filler"--its real function is not journalistic but commercial, meant to lead into advertisements (ads). Mass advertising tends to assume that its audience will not be studying it…

This document looks at advertising and political commercials in radio. When placing an advertisement, in any media in general and radio in particular, one takes into consideration qualitative and quantitative data: how many people are listening, and who they are, and what level of education they have attained. Listeners have extremely well…

Intended to help teachers find their way through the world of visual media and listing works selected by experienced teachers and practitioners, this annotated bibliography contains nearly 100 items. The bibliography is divided into sections on: (1) film studies; (2) television studies; (3) response and intertextuality; (4) video production; (5)…

This paper examines the ethos-centered crusade in which the evangelist, not a doctrine or a political/social issue, becomes the reason the audience attends to the message. The paper analyses how the Billy Graham crusades fit this definition--the fame of the evangelist extends beyond any individual crusade, the message preached by the evangelist…

Public information campaigns have become a staple of contemporary crime prevention efforts. While formal research on such campaigns has been limited, some important lessons may be learned from evaluation of the national "Take a Bite Out of Crime" or "McGruff" crime prevention campaign initiated in 1979. A large-scale formal…