This paper situates the institution of copyright in the historical context of the rise of capitalism. The purpose is to provide a critical analysis of the philosophy of copyright and of the received history of copyright. A class analysis of copyright reveals the essential nature of copyright as the basis for the private ownership of intellectual…

A study examined the perceptions about what is and is not ethical behavior in electronic journalism. Subjects, 220 television news directors and 66 radio news directors, responded to a 117-item survey of ethics in electronic journalism. Results indicated that the news directors identified: (1) 10 "acceptable" behaviors, including working…

This paper discusses how "The Ladies' Home Journal" was used by its editor, Edward Bok, in his crusade for food and drug regulation in the United States between the years 1890 and 1906, and whether these efforts were influential in bringing about the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906. The first section describes "The Ladies' Home…

In order to identify the scope or limits of the practice of development journalism, a study examined the content of the Forum page in the "Straits Times" of Singapore during relatively free (1979-1980) and restricted (1986-1987) press periods. The study had two major objectives: (1) to study the nature of the Forum page (a readers'…

Colonial printers were more or less forced to take sides during the Revolutionary era. As they did so, their social status changed from that akin to mechanics to that of spokespersons of a social movement. From this time on, the gradual separation of editor from printer formed a social basis for defining a journalist's tasks as editorial, not…

A study used a new attitude and behavioral scale for measuring the chilling effect--an undercurrent of fear with respect to publishing decisions--and to determine the impact, if any, of threatened or actual libel suits on community newspapers. The editors and/or publishers of all 167 newspapers in Kentucky with a circulation of less than 50,000…

To determine whether there are systematic differences in press role between nations or blocs of nations, an exploratory study examined structural differences between United States and European political systems and whether, in light of these differences, press roles may vary in some respects across continents. These editors were interviewed about…

A study examined the shift of the United States public's primary news source from newspapers to radio and then to television between 1937 and 1987 to determine the validity of the generally accepted explanation that people have shifted media (displacement). Two alternative processes were discovered that could also account for this phenomenon: (1)…

A study examined newsmagazines' visual coverage of the 1988 election to determine if patterns of difference in the visual presentation of candidates existed. A content analysis examined all the visuals (photographs and illustrations) of the presidential and vice-presidential candidates printed in three national weekly newsmagazines--"U.S.…

A fifteen-item Likert scale and indepth personal interviews were used to collect data in a study that examined whether five individuals who held both the role of editor and public official were perceived as able to perform in a socially responsible manner as editors of their community newspapers in their estimation and in the estimation of a…

The "Main Street Mississippi Meets the Third World" project was designed to demonstrate that hometown newspapers can provide relevant news stories about developing countries without leaving the local community. Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and the "American" were the selected site and newspaper. The project involved working with…

In a study to identify types of mass media consumers, a Q-type factor analysis was run on respondent exposure to 90 categories of content within seven mass media (television, radio, recordings, motion pictures, newspapers, magazines, and books). The respondents were 116 seventh graders in Waterloo, Iowa, who were asked to keep daily diaries of…

In order to examine the vision of Latin America transmitted to the American public in Tin Pan Alley's popular songs in the first half of the twentieth century, a study analyzed nearly 50 songs. The songs were grouped into five categories: (1) songs which describe Latin locales; (2) songs which are constructed around a Latin woman's name; (3) songs…

Becoming involved in the arts is a process that involves movement through several stages, from disinterest to active attendance at and enthusiasm for performing arts events. Since target consumers at any time will differ in their placement on this continuum, marketing programs to expand arts audiences must first identify where each target segment…

A review of literature and two surveys, one of college students and one of a random sample of adults, were used to examine four aspects of media embedded interactions (social behavior in front of a TV or radio): their functions, their environment, their effects, and the reactions of the interactants to them. Television is seen as performing a…