Suchergebnisse

This research tests the effects of press professionalism, administration press management, and public patriotism on coverage of the 1986 U.S.-Libya crisis by the Associated Press, Washington Post, New York Times, and Los Angeles Times. Patterns of "tactical" (small-scale, efficiency-oriented) and "strategic" (overarching, ethical) critique during periods of low-, medium-, and high-intensity conflict are reviewed. Tactical opposition to both the Reagan administration and the Qaddafi regime slightly outweighs support, while strategic critique is 65 percent pro-Reagan administration but only 14 percent pro-Qaddafi regime. Support for the U.S. administration declines during intense conflict. The pattern of findings supports administration press management.

"This chapter reviews literature on the role of individual and mass communication in social transformation and revolution. The authors argue that many functions crucial to sweeping social transformation have always been dependent upon communications. Based on a lifecycle model of social movements, the chapter reflects upon how social change advocates develop communications strategies, build movements dedicated to enacting change, promote their political program, organize action among supporters during periods of public contention, and maintain advocacy organizations during periods of retrenchment. Moreover, the authors show that new technologies have been rapidly incorporated into communications strategies by both advocates for and opponents of social transformation. However, the ultimate impact of these and future changes worldwide on advocacy for social change is unknowable but certain to be profound." (publisher's description)

This study reviewed the impact of newspaper and newsmagazine coverage of AIDS from 1987 through 1991 on public beliefs concerning the likelihood of HIV transmission via toilets, sneezing, and insects. Fan's ideodynamic model was applied to an analysis of coverage in The New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Time magazine, Newsweek, US News and World Report, and the United Press International newswire. The trend line formed was then compared to public opinion polls concerning each of the HIV transmission routes. A significant relationship was found, and when Granger causality tests were applied, prediction was unidirectional—from news content to public opinion and not from opinion to content. Implications for theories of media effect were noted.

In this study of Time, Newsweek, and The Nation, the authors found that the mainstream news magazines offer little strategic opposition to fundamental administration policies in foreign affairs, but that The Nation offers substantial oppositional critiques. They conclude that audiences must consult alternative as well as mainstream publications in order to experience rich debate in foreign policy relations.

This study explores the development and maintenance of topics on the public agenda and tests whether, for a new issue to compete for attention, an old issue must be displaced. This study finds little support for that assumption, and argues that the maintenance of topics is complex and the displacement effect is not as powerful as once assumed.

The study described here examined whether knowledge gaps decrease when motivation to acquire information or the functionality of information is similar among more and less educated groups. Surveys at baseline and 12 months compared two groups with differing motivation to acquire cancer and diet information in a community that received a year-long health campaign. The more motivated group (higher on measures of salience, perceived cancer risk, and self-efficacy) was composed of those who self-selected to receive home-based learning, a campaign strategy. They were compared to general population samples. The study found that education-based differences in knowledge were evident even among members of the more motivated group. However, the effect of membership in this group raised knowledge levels higher than the general population irrespective of education level. The study suggested that group membership, information functionality, motivation, and education combined to affect knowledge, rather than motivation alone over-coming the effect of education.