Describes a technique for analyzing local television newscasts that uses weighted categories of news content and an audience survey. Reports the results of a study that used the technique. (FL)

Presents interview with Sergei P. Kapitza, scholar in physics and a popularizer of science through television, who discusses his television program noting objectives, topics, and format of program, participation of viewers, influences of space age, and family viewing. A description of a participation science program "What? Where? When?"…

Concludes that more males than females read Canadian newspapers, and that persons between the ages of 30 and 49 are most likely to be nonreaders. (FL)

Reports that audiences found newspaper advertisements to be more useful than those appearing in other media and that the more exposure a person had to a given medium, the more useful s/he perceived its advertisements to be. (FL)

Concludes that newspaper lifestyle pages--the new version of the "women's pages"--still devote most of their coverage to food, fashion, and romance. Notes that rural newspapers are the most likely to follow this pattern and metropolitan newspapers the least likely. (FL)

Examines the metaphoric networks created by a presidential hopeful and a pope. Argues that what is significant about the rhetoric of each is not the recurrence of a single metaphor but rather the appearance of clusters of related metaphors which reveal the rhetor's projected relationship with his audience. (JMF)

A synthesis is presented of the work of Lindblom and Cohen, MacDonald and Walker, and the current authors. The synthesis considers issues in the usefulness of social science theory and research, and how observer roles in qualitative field studies yield multiple kinds of usable knowledge to a variety of audiences. (Author/BW)

Describes an end-of-the-term project in which students were encouraged to write for a specific, actual audience. (FL)

Argues that teachers often mislead students into believing that writing poetry is an act of self-expression that focuses everyone's attention on the author, rather than a demanding art that produces a piece of writing separate from the author and deserving of its own attention. (AEA)

Examines television industry's portrayals of various occupations and personality types in television dramas. Raises questions about these one-sided portrayals and their affect on viewers. (PD)

Some causes of and solutions to violence in American sports (including professional, amateur, and youth programs) are outlined. (JMF)

Presents results of a study of 300 magazine advertisements assessing the level at which the ads are objective and informative. Discusses how these ads are communications designed to influence consumer behavior to the extent that they correspond to the facts, are relevant, comprehensive, adequately supported, intelligible, and logical. (JMF)

Information about drugs is a basic component of any drug education program. This information must be perceived as credible and trustworthy by the target audience. Results of 16 studies indicate that friends, mass media, and professionals rank highly for most of the population as credible, trusted sources of information. (Author)

The author states that a common factor in comparing one extension method to another is the interaction involving a subject concept and a member of the target audience. He outlines approaches that extension personnel may use to compare effectiveness of meetings, publications, mass media, etc., in reading their audience. (MF)

Suggests creating subtle but simple controversial issues and personalities for student assignments to help students consider the problem of audience in technical and business writing. (TJ)