Discusses the "single publication" rule, which protects media against a multiplicity of suits based upon the same utterance and limits the time period for bringing lawsuits. Reviews problems that have occurred because of the misuse of the rule. (FL)

Concludes that in a state election, the public is exposed to a combination of policy and personal messages in the advertisements created by a candidate but that the overwhelming majority of these ads focus on the personal. (FL)

Concludes that newsmagazines leave a lot of Supreme Court decisions unreported, concentrating on "major" decisions, particularly those dealing with the First Amendment. (FL)

Notes that the percentage of minority employees in California newspaper and television newsrooms has increased since 1979. (FL)

Concludes that most high school history textbooks have little coverage of major events in the history of journalism. (FL)

Indicate that male college students viewing five R-rated movies depicting violence against women came to have fewer negative emotional reactions to the movies, to perceive them as significantly less violent, and to consider them significantly less degrading to women. (PD)

Concludes that voter response varies with the content theme, but that backlash or boomerang may be the most common effect of negative political advertising. (FL)

Reports that the media were perceived by the public as having considerable influence on community affairs in comparison to a number of other groups in the private sector. (FL)

Concludes that both reporters and information sources felt bias was less after newspaper mergers, but that political ideology shaped the source's perceptions about the bias. (FL)

Develops and tests a mathematical model that estimates the impact of home video recorders on the transience of television broadcasts. Concludes that home video recorder use has the potential to affect program longevity, but that the potential remains unfulfilled. (PD)

Concludes that although the new rhetoric may serve as a reminder that communication studies are more than simple effects research, the ferment produced by a highly politicized debate--if it successfully masquerades as scholarly controversy--can become intellectually self-limiting and sterile. (PD)

Outlines five types of studies that seem most significant and discusses problems of and proposals for future news media research. (PD)