A longitudinal study sought to determine whether American newspapers shifted from foreign to domestic news content at the end of the War of 1812, as journalism historians traditionally believe, or if the shift in fact occurred before then as a result of a heightened American self-consciousness. A sample was drawn from newspapers from 1808 through…

A content analysis was undertaken of the files for one month of the Rome-based Inter Press Service (IPS), an international news agency specializing in the news relating to the Third World. The data suggested that IPS is indeed providing a different kind of news service from that of the traditional news agencies. More than three-quarters of the…

To examine the role of the animated cartoon in propaganda associated with World War II, 194 of 262 cartoons produced for theatrical release by Warner Brothers, Inc., from 1939 to 1946 were analyzed. Propaganda content was determined by the number and nature of symbols used and the cartoon's "attitudes" toward these symbols. An analysis…

A study examined changes in the treatment of women's issues and feminism from 1975 to 1985--the United Nations (UN) designated "Women's Decade"--by two nationally circulated newspapers. The purpose was to find out how much and what kind of news was reported during the three UN World conferences for women held in 1975, 1980, and 1985;…

A study was undertaken to assess the relationship between the DMI Mathematics Systems Objective Inventory (DMIMS) and the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) content by process matrix prepared for the Fourth Assessment of Mathematics. The DMIMS is a criterion-referenced standardized test comprised of seven levels, and it can be used…

Examining the role of service journalism in association magazines (magazines focusing on technical and educational information relating to specific practices of association members), a case study of the "Angus Journal" (a monthly magazine devoted to the beef breeding industry) investigated the problem of determining the amount of service…

Narrative data yield rich detail, insight, and information, but the personal and situational characteristics of coders (called value inertia and cognitive limitation biases) can affect data reduction. The effects of coder exposure to expected project outcomes and the level of coder research methodology sophistication were investigated. Coders,…

A study was conducted to determine the extent to which content of business-related news stories was related (1) to the performance of the officials responsible for media relations, and (2) to the quality of the relationship between reporters and company officials. Eighty-nine stories pertaining to six businesses were selected from four newspapers…

Content analysis of critical events methodology is demonstrated in an evaluation of the Educational Telecommunications for Alaska (ETA) Project. This methodology was used to collect and interpret the data derived from the ETA staff personnel representing five components of the project. The data were analyzed using content analysis procedures. The…

A study tested the hypotheses (1) that reporting of methodological information needed to gauge the accuracy of public opinion poll stories in metropolitican daily newspapers improved significantly during the presidential election years from 1968 to 1980, and (2) that these newspapers were more likely to report this information in their own inhouse…

To investigate the role and portrayal of women in newspapers and to determine trends emerging from this portrayal, a study examined 15 published quantitative research studies (content analyses) on the portrayal of women in newspapers, dating from 1973 until 1988. Studies were gathered primarily from "Communication Abstracts," the…

A study examined two questions: What are the common functions and features of literacy as evidenced in children's spontaneous play within a preschool setting, and how frequently do they occur across different groups of preschoolers? Trained observers recorded the play behavior of each of 50 children (the average age was 4 years) during four…

A study was conducted to analyze religion news coverage in three metropolitan newspapers. While no formal hypothesis was tested, it was thought that coverage would reflect the general news policy at each particular paper to the extent that the religious beat has lost its stigma as a second-class beat. Twenty-eight religious stories from the…

A study examined how three major women's magazines handled cigarette advertisements and editorial copy about smoking-related health problems. Examined were issues of "Ms.,""Good Housekeeping," and "Seventeen" magazines from 1972, one year after the ban on television advertisements and the year "Ms." began…

A study investigated how news photographs in "Time" and "Newsweek" have portrayed the world to their readers. News photographs about foreign nations were selected from 60 issues of each magazine for the years 1971, 1976, and 1980. The picture's subject, size, country, and source, and the section in which it appeared were…