This paper analyzes the origins, growth, and present state of communication research in Latin America. Based on empirical data, the paper identifies: (1) the factors that determined the kinds of studies that emerged in the region; (2) the major research topics; (3) the most influential scholars; and (4) the main currents of theoretical influence…

A study examined instructional television (ITV) to determine the differences in the affect domain existing among three concurrent environments: the face-to-face environment, defined as the site from which the message originates; the on-site location, defined as a location in close proximity to the origin of the message; and the off-site location.…

Press coverage of a sizeable Japanese population in the State of Washington has gone unexamined by mass media scholars. A study of the "Wapato Independent" between the time of the alien land laws in the early 1920s and Pearl Harbor shows that while the Japanese received routine coverage of their daily activities, hostile rhetoric by…

Independent investigations have demonstrated consistent relationships among family communication, cognitive style, and media behavior when any two of these variables are associated in the same study. The evidence so far supports the hypotheses that family communication patterns are associated with different strategies for dealing with persons and…

Journalists view the left-right continuum as a dimension on which political entities array themselves in order to vie for a similarly arrayed public. Such a spatial measuring device is useful, since it allows journalists to compare political entities on a common scale that readers supposedly understand and on which they can relate their own…

An earlier phase of a research project proposed a theoretical model linking the key concepts of community commitment, media use, knowledge about community, community evaluation, and community pride as well as a series of social locator variables. The present phase of the study concerned itself with the central part of the model, ignoring the…

A study examined the relationship between one "family" of the media--newspapers--and one group of public relations (PR) practitioners--public information officers (PIO) for state government agencies--to determine the nature and level of influence the agencies have upon the media's agenda. Eight daily and Sunday newspapers published in…

Since the classic Columbia University studies conducted in the 1940s, the role of the mass media in modern U.S. politics has been the subject of debate among political scientists. This paper contributes to that debate by examining news media coverage of American national political institutions: the presidency, Congress, and the Supreme Court. A…

A study examined whether type of ownership affected editorial endorsement patterns and the impact of endorsements on voters. The endorsements of 51 California daily newspapers were tabulated for 25 statewide candidate races and 158 ballot propositions during elections of 1970, 1972, 1974, 1976, 1978, and 1980. Each endorsement was judged to…

Analysis of surveys administered each year by the Radio-Television News Directors Association to news directors throughout the country reveals that a number of changes have occurred since 1972. The number of women and college graduates who are news directors has increased, although the median age of news directors, 38 in television and 31 in radio…

A study investigated whether newspaper mug shots are perceived by readers as being positive or negative in tone and whether the mug shots that are selected match the roles of their subjects in accompanying stories. Twenty-three news and feature stories with associated mug shots were clipped from seven daily newspapers. Pictures and stories were…

To determine whether gender bias and stereotypes filter into reporters' consciousness affecting what they write about women, a study replicated research conducted in 1984 at Syracuse University that found evidence of such bias and stereotypes. Subjects, 12 graduate and 149 undergraduate students enrolled in newswriting classes at the University of…

To determine college students' use of the mass media and the degree to which they encounter information about psychology in them, a questionnaire was developed and administered to a sample of 469 students enrolled in college psychology courses. The questionnaire broke the mass media down into 12 categories, such as local newspapers, general…

News media representatives foresee a growing use of remote-sensing satellites to gather data, including data that could be used to check government claims about military and other activities occurring anywhere on the planet. The satellite technology is developing rapidly, and several nations and private corporations are involved in separate…

In press law, the individual right of freedom of the press frequently is linked to a public interest or "watchdog" concept of freedom of the press. This concept suggests that the basis for the constitutional protection of press freedom is the role of the press as an institution serving a collective good, as opposed to the traditional…