Contributes to scholarship on the role of discursive rhetoric for providing a context for visual messages. Analyzes how the American print media, in the summer of 1963, contextualized M. Browne's photographs of a Vietnamese Buddhist monk's self-immolation in two competing frames of either religious oppression or a war for freedom against the…

Describes a study of the social dynamics of new media (television, personal computers, CD-ROMs, Internet, email, and World Wide Web) in Scottish households. Analysis of interview transcripts from group conversations revealed recurrent narratives and behavioral genres to navigate social space that contribute to a theory of social informatics in the…

Considers interweaving themes that characterized the construction of Euro Disney, drawing upon articles in the French press. Offers analysis of the historical context for and the implications of the park's construction, using the literature of French cultural studies and cross-cultural studies for support. Discusses possible consequences to the…

Finds that foreign TV consumption is related to negative stereotypical perceptions of and feelings toward Americans among undergraduate students attending universities in Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and Singapore; but that different types of foreign media, such as newspaper, radio, video, and movies, exhibit distinct and different relationships with…

Contributes to (and draws on) journalism history, mass-culture studies, and women's history in a rhetorical analysis of a series of six full-page illustrations titled "The American Woman" run in 1897 in "The Ladies' Home Journal." Reveals how class and gender issues intersected and underscored the role of the mass media in…

Finds that: (1) perceived realism and themes that students could identify with are important factors in increasing the salience and persuasiveness of alcohol-related public service announcements (PSAs) among undergraduate students; (2) realistic but logic-based PSAs were not as effective as unrealistic but enjoyable ads; and (3) low production…

Examines work of two communication and media studies scholars, Joshua Meyrowitz and James Carey. Suggests their studies represent media ecology with analyses of the dynamic interaction between communication, consciousness, and culture. Highlights how their work embodies a North American cultural studies approach to media studies (moving away from…

Presents the results of the UNESCO global study on media violence and children which was conducted between 1996 and 1997. Highlights include the role of the media, media heroes as role models, media violence and aggression, differences by gender, rural versus urban environments, the pervasiveness of television, and recommendations. (Author/LRW)

Finds that black adolescent girls were more satisfied with their bodies and had a larger personal ideal size than white adolescent girls, but engaged in no fewer eating-disordered behaviors and had no less drive to be thin; and these girls idealized television images equally and were as likely to compare themselves and their friends to television…

Finds that while students (studying broadcast journalism or advertising) and practitioners (station news directors and agency media directors) were in agreement on the majority of opinion statements discussing advertising's influence on broadcast news content, except students were less bothered by advertising's influence on news content than were…

Presents preliminary results from a survey of 15- to 17-year-old Australians, exploring television's place within a rapidly expanding multimedia environment. Finds strong evidence for arguing that Australian youth's media use is currently in a state of flux. Lays foundations for more comprehensive studies of youth media use in Australia that might…

Presents a study where grade-school children were exposed to a scene from a movie involving one of two activities (either fire- or water-related activities) and involving one of two outcomes (fatal accidents or neutral events). Finds that watching the dramatized accidents increased students' estimated importance of adopting safety guidelines and…

A study conducted by the National Endowment for the Arts found that the percentage of American adults who read literature has declined rapidly over the past two decades, indicating an imminent cultural crisis. Digital revolution, which has had a tremendous impact on young people's reading habits, is considered as the major culprit of this decline…

Since little empirical research has been conducted on adoption of currently available information technology by the advertising industry, a study explored the extent of advertising agencies' adoption of selected information technologies such as online database services and electronic mail. The study discussed data from earlier studies and analyzed…

A study tested responses of viewers (as opposed to news organizations and sponsoring firms) to video news releases (VNRs). Subjects, 81 undergraduate students enrolled in an introductory advertising course, viewed a 30-second message about McDonald's and the Big Mac in a VNR format or an advertisement about the Big Mac special "Meal…