This investigation of how viewers of daytime serials rate actors playing TV characters of varying age found that the age of a TV character and ratings of that character are not causally related, although a relationship was observed between age and sex--young males, middle-aged females--and ratings. (JVP)

Presents evidence in support of college newspapers conducting readership studies to be more aware of the needs and preferences of their readers. (RL)

Summarizes studies in the field of media and aging within six categories: media-use behavior and demographic characteristics of the aging audience; related media content; effects on individual's responses to aging; social consequences of the interrelationship between media and aging; structure and function of media organizations; and strategies…

Discusses four conceptual issues in the uses and gratifications approach: the nature of the active audience; the role of gratification orientations in mediating effects; the social origins of media needs and uses; and the shared interest of audience members in perceptions and cognitions about mass media content. (JMF)

Describes the development and validation of a method for pretesting the reader interest value of comic strips and cartoons so that the "best" ones may be selected for printing from the available options. (Author/GT)

Shows that newspapers moving to new reporting and editing systems, such as the video display terminal, must develop the new electronic system to meet copy-flow needs. Notes that new systems must conform to a newspaper's gatekeeping needs, not vice versa. (RL)

Shows how a special marking procedure--having readers leave detailed traces of what they read in a newspaper--revealed important differences in reading behavior. (RL)

An interview with Edwin Emery, journalism professor and co-author of the widely used textbook "The Press and America," in which he discusses his book, historians and historical schools that influenced his work, and areas of journalism and mass communication history that need to be researched and expanded upon today. (GT)

A survey of 768 individuals from 13 Cleveland ethnic groups revealed that more than 50 percent read at least one ethnic newspaper, 30 percent read at least one ethnic magazine, and almost 75 percent listened to an ethnic radio program regularly. Metropolitan mass media use paralleled that of the general public. (GT)

An analysis of the foreign news in three North American colonial weekly newspapers from 1764 to 1775 indicates that there was a preponderance of news from Western Europe, especially from Great Britain, with only very minor amounts of news from other parts of the globe. (GT)

Reports results of a study of the extent to which a New York newspaper strike and a television blackout in the Netherlands caused feelings of frustration related to basic need gratifications, as well as the extent to which the observed gratification frustrations explained general irritation about missing the newspaper or television. (GT)

Explains the educational value of asking newsmakers to comment on the accuracy of the articles in which they were mentioned. Shows how this mechanism for feedback was used to improve student skills and instruction. (RL)

Concludes that children should be encouraged to read since they may prefer an author's word picture to that presented by the visual media and that today's young adults continue to prefer the same types of reading materials as those listed in past surveys. (RL)

Four experiments tested reader reaction to selected newspaper design techniques, including jumps, wraps, type style, and picture size. The results implied that a newspaper striving for the highest overall readership of its stories will get the best results by keeping jumps to a minimum and running larger pictures. (RL)

Analyzes newspaper readers' evaluations of specific categories of newspaper content, including four advertising categories. Shows that reader demand for advertising was lower than for news, although most readers desired the same amount or more advertising in their newspaper. (RL)