Explores the development and maintenance of topics on the public agenda. Tests whether, for a new issue to compete for attention, an old issue must be displaced. Finds little support for that assumption. Argues that the maintenance of topics is complex and the displacement effect is not as powerful as once assumed. (SR)

Analyzes congressional deliberations over America's first peacetime propaganda program from 1947-53. Finds three distinct periods: naivete, hysteria, psychological strategy. Argues that the Truman administration produced an ethnocentric approach to propaganda whereas the Eisenhower administration adopted a more internationalist perspective which…

Analyzes newspaper accounts of the sociopolitical opposition encountered by the head of a state government agency forced to publicly apologize after attempting to control the external communication of an agency staff member with a reputation for organizational dissent. Discusses academic and applied implications of these findings for the emerging…

Describes how professional communicators are involved in situations which implicate questions of civic and ethical responsibility. Argues that feminist scholarship is a powerful means of understanding these situations. Discusses such theoretical frameworks and areas needing further research. (HB)

Reports findings from a think-aloud protocol study of reading, writing, and persuasive processes in legal discourse during an actual appellate court case. Discusses three aspects of advocates' use of persuasive techniques in written appeal briefs. Focuses on specific persuasive techniques utilized by attorneys. (HB)

Argues that the vice presidency is a traditional female role and that nominees must undergo a sublimation process during their candidacy. Analyzes an apparent aberration in public talk about vice presidential candidates and notes the similarity in rhetorical "rules" impacting the candidacy of both Geraldine Ferraro and Dan Quayle. (KEH)

Assesses the role of television in mediating cultural change by examining how local television news simultaneously depresses the legitimacy of old-fashioned racism and stimulates the production of modern racism. Suggests that this occurs unintentionally, partly in seeking to overcome old-fashioned racism and in responding to the viewing tastes of…

In a study of interspecies understanding, 75 naive human listeners classified 18 vocalizations of monkeys into 1 of 7 semantic categories, which were also related to the behavioral situation. Results suggest that both species share vocalization patterns signalling fear, aggression, dominance, and emotional neutrality. (45 references) (LB)

Investigates readability levels of correspondence sent out by Gulf Coast area business offices. Finds that a large majority of the correspondence sent out from the offices under study is written at too high a reading level. Finds also that the greatest problem lies in syllable intensity--the use of "big" words where everyday words would have…

Presents a critical analysis of how cultivation (long-term formation of perceptions and beliefs about the world as a result of exposure to media) has been conceptualized in theory and research. Analyses the construct of television exposure. Suggests revisions for conceptualizing the existing theory and extending it. (RS)

Offers a critical reading of a controversial narrative on euthanasia that appeared in the "Journal of the American Medical Association," paying particular attention to what the narrative is doing rhetorically. Suggests the narrative is addressing topic and readers in a postmodern manner. (SR)

Explores a view of audience behavior that lies between the extremes of a passive audience expected to be influenced by communication messages and an active audience expected to make rational decisions about what media content to accept and reject. (RS)

Studies the behaviors of women and men represented in interpersonal arguments in prime-time television dramas. Finds a weak link between actual argument behaviors and those on television, thereby socializing viewers in a manner inconsistent with reality. Suggests that television arguments are guided more by the needs of the medium that a need to…

Argues that the study of media economics should stand at the core of the field of communication. Describes central concerns to be addressed, such as economic influence and effect, economic structure and conduct, and analysis of performance. (SR)

Examines to what extent, and in what ways, speech is unusual and how it compares to other semiotic systems. Discusses language and speech, neurolinguistic processing, comparative vocal/auditory abilities, primate evolution, and semiogenesis. (SR)