A study was undertaken to design and implement an experimental instrument for testing the influence of the Motion Picture Association of America's (MPAA) film rating system on movie attendance. Sixty-five high school students were given synopses of four different fictional films, each of which had been assigned an MPAA rating of G (approved for…

A COMPREHENSIVE BIBLIOGRAPHY IS PRESENTED COVERING PUBLISHED REPORTS AND PAPERS FROM 1945 TO 1961 ON THE DEVELOPMENT, APPLICATION, AND EVALUATION OF NEW EDUCATIONAL MEDIA IN EUROPE. THE BIBLIOGRAPHY IS BROADLY BASED AND INCLUDES ACADEMIC RESEARCH, EXPLORATORY WORK, EXPERIMENTS WITH NEW METHODS, AND SURVEYS. ENTRIES ARE CLASSIFIED UNDER 10…

Data from a 1976 election study were used to compare the effects of different types of television watching (daytime, evening entertainment, news, campaign programing, presidential debates) on voter turnout and to compare these effects with those of other media (radio, magazines, newspapers). After controlling for the effects of the traditional…

Based on case studies of 15 all-news radio stations, this report isolates major factors contributing to the all-news format's frequent failure and assesses its potential for success. The history of the News and Information Service (NIS), which the NBC radio network operated between 1975 and 1977, serves as a backdrop for the information presented…

A content analysis was performed on six mass-audience women's magazines to determine frequency of coverage of specific mental disorders and to see how fair and complete mental illness coverage was in the magazines. The six magazines analyzed were "Family Circle,""McCalls,""Good…

A study was conducted in which half-hour segments of prime-time network dramatic programing were tabulated for such violence-related items as: the seriousness and significance of violence, the number of violent actions in the program, and the duration of violence. Other factors considered were: audience size, share of audience, program duration,…

In a study of the effect of crossownerships of newspapers and television stations on citizen access to mass media for the discussion of public issues, information was analyzed about television circulation, advertising costs, and market sizes for 208 crossownership market areas. Results were as follows: crossownerships are all located in the larger…

The designer of instructional materials makes many decisions that are probably based on evidence that is unreliable. More reliable evidence, based on perceptual and media research, has not been available to him in his own language. In this project a search of perceptual literature since 1960, and a search of media studies at the ERIC Clearinghouse…

This investigation demonstrates the applicability of Stephenson's Q-Methodology, a psychological instrument, for gathering qualitative data concerning television news audiences. A questionnaire consisting of statements describing a possible news format was distributed to the viewers of three commercial television stations in Baton Rouge,…

Reports on a study which indicates that certain political candidates are better perceived on radio and others on television and suggests that it is possible to determine the most effective medium for creating favorable candidate images. (MH)

Contends that television is diluting the experiential and informational base of American political culture and thereby altering the nature and effectiveness of American democracy. (MH)

A media division within the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) was established to provide its members with an organization dedicated to the study and exchange of information about practical, applied, and evaluated uses of media. Four major study areas are identified--the media, measurement, organizational, and technological…