The result of a survey of editors, students, teachers, and others knowledgeable in the field, this report provides profiles of 10 quality journalism schools and 10 outstanding instructors. Following an introduction and a description of the nature of the survey, the first portion of the guide presents descriptions of the journalism programs by…

To provide a deeper look into the American political system that so intrigued the visiting French statesman Alexis de Tocqueville in 1831 and 1832, this monograph focuses on the role of the press in American politics in the the age of Jackson, the 1820s and early 1830s--a period of dramatic and substantive political party growth. In particular,…

This discussion of questions related to the most appropriate role for the computer in undergraduate postsecondary education begins by describing the Educational Testing Service's evaluations of two large-scale funded projects intended to stimulate the incorporation of computer assisted instruction (CAI) into undergraduate instruction--the…

A study was conducted to examine Americans' international news consumption. It was hypothesized that (1) television would be the preferred medium for international news; (2) the public would be satisfied with its preferred medium, although watchers more so than readers; (3) the majority of people who would claim that they know something about a…

A survey of 239 newspapers was conducted to explore the use of writing coach programs at these papers. The coaches' backgrounds, newsroom factors, specific writing problems, budgetary considerations, and implications for journalism education were all explored, as were the perceptions of editors supervising the writing coaches. Of the 239 papers…

This study was conducted to determine the reading difficulty of commonly available, mass political literature, thereby to determine the reading level necessary to comprehend the bulk of these materials. Material was sampled from three issues of each source--three newspapers and three magazines--during convention and election time periods. To…

This report focuses on two issues of civil rights in broadcasting--the portrayal of minorities and women on network television and the employment of these groups at television stations. Findings and recommendations concerning portrayal are derived from content analyses of television drama and television news. Commentary on employment is based on…

A study examined how children visualize, draw, and make inferences about story content presented either aurally on tape or as an animated film. Audio versions of the story were manipulated to include short descriptions, in either literal or nonliteral language, directly analogous to the film's visual depiction at four points in the story. These…

A study was conducted to test the hypothesis that the mass media act as agents of social control by varying the coverage of political groups in relation to how deviant they perceive the groups to be. Editors from the 100 largest daily newspapers in the United States were asked to rate 11 political groups on four scales thought to measure political…

Arguing that the motion picture industry policies affecting audiences must be developed in terms of behavioral implications, this paper reviews the literature related to the Motion Picture Association of America's (MPAA) film rating system to ascertain the degree to which the system has met its purposes. The first section of the paper offers a…

A study examined data from 1,828 adults in 17 cities in the United States to test a model of how community integration (sense of community) and use of media affected voting and other political participation. The portion of the model dealing with mass media included the new concept "quasi-mass media," which involves more personalized…

The role of news media as gatekeepers controlling the flow of information that the public receives was explored during the 1978 Asbestos Awareness campaign conducted by the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW). In an effort to inform high risk workers and the general public about the health hazards associated with asbestos exposure,…

The possibility that industrial nations will become "global villages" or comprise a "wired world" with a common information system appears possible in light of technology, but there are five major reasons why such an information society will not occur for some decades, particularly in the United States. The reasons are as follows: (1) there is no…

The qualitative research method of focus group interviewing was employed in a study of the subjective meaning of newswatching for the average American. Thirty-two adults were interviewed in four groups of seven to nine people each, and the audiotapes of the discussions were analyzed for comments on various aspects of television newscasters (the…

This study investigated the appropriateness both to the delivery system and to students of Athabasca University of the audiotutorial method of instruction in an introductory level Biology course, which used selections of audiotutorial materials from "Minicourses in Biology." Evaluation data were gathered by using pre-post test (content)…