Documents current adolescent electronic game-playing habits, exploring associations among preference for violent games, frequency and location of play, and self-concept. Identifies marked gender differences in game-playing habits and in scores on a self-perception profile. Finds that for girls, more time playing video or computer games is…

States that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had the most successful media relations program of all government agencies from the 1930s to the 1980s. Uses quantitative analysis to show why those media efforts were successful. Identifies themes that typified the verbal component of FBI publicity and the broad spectrum of mass communication…

States that New Zealand's public hospitals, converted into Crown Health Enterprises (CHEs) and required to operate within commercial restraints, were the target of attacks from politicians, medical organizations, community groups, and media. Examines press coverage of two similar CHEs over three months. Shows proactive media relations paid off in…

Notes that media scholars often resist the use of the evolutionary paradigm. Discusses two problems: an overly simplistic view of evolutionary models; and a distrust of ideological implications. Develops an evolutionary model proposing that gender differences in the consumption of sexually explicit media is, in part, the result of inherited…

Examined the effect of experience on children's use of video-presented information. Found that after seeing themselves "live" on their family television for 2 weeks, 2-year-olds reliably used a live video presentation of an adult hiding a toy to find the toy in an object-retrieval task. Most also transferred what they learned to a task…

Recognition of radio and television antismoking messages was measured in 6 treatment and 4 control cities. A survey of 574 adolescents found high recognition of messages even in areas where they were not broadcast, reinforcing the need for true control groups and distinctive messages to ensure validity in mass media evaluation. (SK)

Compares judgments of journalists and scientific information sources (including industry representatives, government officials, environmental advocates, and academic scientists) about what makes a "high-quality" news story about environmental risk. Finds that there is a deeper desire among traditional news sources to support the status…

Reappraises Edward R. Murrow's "Report on Senator McCarthy" from the documentary series "See It Now." Argues that the text situates itself between the genres of objective news documentary and of public argument through the ironic "use" of objectivity as a fabricated strategy of appeal. (SR)

Reviews critically the dominant discourse on science and the media. Finds that the dominant concern has conceptual and methodological problems. Argues that the dominant discourse has promoted a science coverage dutiful to scientific interests and has inhibited a truly critical appraisal of popular science communication. (RS)

Measures the news coverage that has resulted from photo opportunities staged by United States presidents who have served since 1960. Finds that photo coverage of presidents in four major newspapers rose sixfold since 1960. (RS)

Provides an overview of the local radio phenomenon in Western European countries. Examines opportunities for access, control, and economic realities for three types of local radio (national, independent, and community), each of which was influenced in some fashion by illegal pirate stations. (KEH)

Shows that the criteria people use to judge television news credibility are different than those used to judge newspapers. Demonstrates that one source of this difference is that newspapers and television are evaluated from different levels of analysis. (RS)

Summarizes the results of research that has examined the cost- effectiveness of media use in the instructional process. The use of instructional technology in the classroom is discussed, emphasizing the role of the teacher; and the increased use of media in business, government, and medicine is explored. (18 references) (LRW)

Takes a critical look at the idea of "news routines." Examines a politically oppositional news room to determine which elements of production make its news "oppositional." Argues that economic and organizational factors help determine news content more than do routines. (RAE)

Elaborates a conceptualization of news as a discursive resource, and suggests a dialogical model for media-movement relationships. Describes how two "branches" of the United States women's movement understood news differently and developed different and specific strategies which are called "media pragmatism" and "media subversion." (SR)