Examines a San Francisco television station's decision to accept paid condom advertising. Notes that station leaders debated questions of public interest and public tastes in a city hard hit by AIDS. Finds that the station devised careful guidelines and began broadcasting the commercials on a trial basis. Notes that nearly all public and media…

Examines specularity (the pleasure derived from looking at television) in the context of sports. Argues that televised sports' popularity reflects: (1) fetishism (motivation by fascinated desire); (2) voyeurism (uninvited viewing); and (3) narcissism (identification with athletes). Describes a study of sports telecast viewing. Argues against…

As television programs and networks proliferate, many districts and education groups are drafting guidelines to help teachers choose high-quality, curriculum-related programs. The American Association of School Administrators is enlisting thousands of schools in an effort to ban Channel One from classrooms. Sidebars outline alternatives and state…

Replicates a 1979 study of sexual behavior on afternoon soap operas, classifying sexual behavior in terms of physical acts, implied acts, and verbal references. Finds a substantial increase in sex between unmarried persons and a norm of promiscuous sex, with few attendant consequences. (MS)

Updates earlier reviews of the research investigating how television viewing and reading might be related. Points out new directions in the research, focusing on research after 1980. Discusses implications for professionals in the field of reading. (SR)

Examines changes in television news and the political campaign process in Columbus, Ohio, in 1978, 1982, and 1986, focusing on the gubernatorial campaigns of those years. Finds that despite technological advances, television coverage of the state governor's race has not changed significantly. (MM)

Children aged 14 and 24 months were shown television depictions of adults manipulating toys in novel ways. Infants at both ages showed imitation of television models, even after 24-hour delays. This deferred imitation has social and policy implications as it suggests that television viewing can potentially affect infant behavior and development…

Places Channel One controversy in broader context of commercialization of youth culture during past 20 years. Changes in child-oriented TV market since mid-1970s include rise of independent stations and cable networks, introduction of program-length commercials, and proliferation of new products aimed at children. Targeting marketing to child…

Argues that, up until recently, the whole of British television (public and private) was a public service system, that the 1990 Broadcasting Act and satellite channels have introduced greater competitive pressures, and that British television is moving to a commercial system in which there remains a subordinate public service element. (SR)

Examines the visual attention of undergraduate students to the television screen. Finds that varying relatedness of episodes, for which strategic inertial processes should vary in strength, produces a corresponding difference in inertia of looks crossing boundaries. Suggests that results previously interpreted as reflecting nonstrategic processes…

Uses an information-processing perspective to illustrate how television viewing may affect social judgements. Posits heuristic processing as a mechanism that can explain why heavier television viewing results in higher first-order cultivation judgments (those requiring estimates of set size). (SR)

Criticizes past research on redundancy in television learning for its inconsistent definitions and ambiguous examples. Four areas of concern are considered: the meaning and use of the term; the nature of signs (iconic or digital) used in audio and visual communication; the subjectivity of interpretation; and differences in meaning between separate…

Reexamines assumptions about the displacement mechanism, which states that television displaces other activities. Considers strengths and weaknesses of various methodologies used to test the displacement hypothesis. Examines data from an eight-year panel study of the introduction of television to South Africa. Uses a variety of methodologies to…

Investigates whether memory for positive and negative television messages differs in the amount of verbal and visual-spatial information recognized and recalled by television viewers, as a function of differential activation of the brain hemispheres elicited by emotional messages. Suggests that message valence may be related to the amount of…

Principals must become partners with television programers if they are to integrate this medium into the curriculum. Principals should inform teachers about available cable TV programing, prescreen programs for curricular fit, conduct educational sessions for staff, and evaluate how television is being used in the classroom. (MLH)