TV NEWS AND U.S. PUBLIC OPINION ABOUT FOREIGN COUNTRIES: THE IMPACT OF EXPOSURE AND ATTENTION

This article assesses the potential for US news coverage offoreign affairs to influence US public opinion about foreigncountries during the latter part of 1989 and early 1990, a timeof dramatic changes in central Europe. The study draws on twosources of data: content analysis of US network news and wireservice coverage of nine countries (West Germany, East Germany,the Soviet Union, Hungary, Poland, Great Britain, France, Japan,and Israel) over a six month period, and a nationally representativesurvey of 1,117 US adults which measured opinions about thesecountries, conducted in early 1990. The study shows that thereis an important relationship between the visibility of foreigncountries in TV news and US public opinion about these countries.TV is more important than newspapers for influencing publicopinion about foreign countries. And attention to foreign affairsnews, rather than simple exposure to news, best predicts generalliking of a country. Finally, attention to television news coveragehad a positive and significant influence on sympathy with Westand East Germany in 1990, even if one had German friends, relativesor ancestors, or had visited Europe.     

Foreign Correspondents in the Cold War

This article analyses the transnational production processes of foreign correspondence in the Cold War. It examines the double role of foreign correspondents as reporters and Cold War political agents. Recent scholarship has explored the activities of Western correspondents reporting from the Communist world. Little is known, however, about Eastern bloc correspondents in the West. Drawing on the rarely studied files on East German foreign correspondents held by the Deutsches Rundfunkarchiv, the article problematizes the image of GDR journalists as obedient intelligence officers and highlights the dilemmas of journalists deployed to defend national interests. Focusing on the Nordic countries in the mid1970s, the article provides detailed insights into the politics and practices of East German foreign correspondence before the digital revolution. The article thus shows the benefits of going beyond the traditional focus on media content to analyse the daily practices as well as the political and symbolic significance of journalism. It contributes to the growing historical research on foreign correspondents and the media in East Germany and beyond.     

Hospital libraries in West Germany: an overview of reference services.

This article presents a study on reference services in German hospital libraries. Information for the study was obtained through personal interviews conducted at four libraries in Stuttgart, West Germany in August 1985. A detailed questionnaire covering services provided, staff training, and use of computers was used during the interviews. While reference services are minimal at the libraries in the study, the commitment to patient library services in Germany is exceptional.     

Hospital Libraries in West Germany:

This article presents a study on reference services in German hospital libraries. Information for the study was obtained through personal interviews conducted at four libraries in Stuttgart, West Germany in August 1985. A detailed questionnaire covering services provided, staff training, and use of computers was used during the interviews. While reference services are minimal at the libraries in this study, the commitment to patient library services in Germany is exceptional.     

The Motivations of Book Publishers in Germany and Australia: An Empirical Comparison

Our study compares the motivations of Australian and German book publishers. The results demonstrate remarkable similarities, but also a significant difference regarding the effects of the publishers’ self-concept. In the German case the publishers with a dominant economic orientation are more proactive than the publishers with a dominant cultural orientation. In the Australian case, this correlation does not exist. The same difference holds for the relationship between the economic orientation and extrinsic motivation. We discuss these results and examine empirical evidence and theoretical suggestions to explain the differing findings. The data stem from surveys conducted in the two countries with responses of 196 (Germany) and 54 publishers (Australia).     

德国大学的历史回顾与未来展望

德国大学历史悠久,发展曲折。昨天,德国大学因有被认为是近代大学开端的柏林大学以及它的洪堡理念而著称于世;今天,德国大学因难题多而使改革举步维艰;为再次证明自身实力,德国怀着对明天的企盼,试图通过打造一批“精英大学”,重现昔日的辉煌。本文主要对德国大学的发展历史,以点代面,点面结合,作出简要的总结和回顾,以理出德国大学的整体发展趋势与走向。     

Repatriated Germans and ‘British Spirit’

Following the end of the Second World War, the ideals of public service broadcasting that had first been exemplified by the BBC came to lay the groundwork for a new type of broadcasting system in Northern Germany. This led to intensive discussions between British Military Officers and their German counterparts about the principles of public service broadcasting. Repatriated Germans came to play a crucial role. Having worked for the BBC German Service during their years of exile, some of them helped to nurture a new generation of democratic journalists. Focusing on these men, this article reveals the difficulties in transferring and adapting public service ideals. Making use of a wide range of sources, we highlight the multifaceted roles of the repatriated Germans, as both intermediaries and transmitters of public service broadcasting. We show how many of them came to play a pivotal role in resisting pressure from conservative forces in West German society.     

柏林图书馆事业的现状

1990年，两德统一，德国图书馆事业进入了一个新的发展时期，首都柏林的图书馆事业同样发展迅速，经过十几年的发展，柏林市的图书馆网络已经形成，它正全面为柏林市民提供现代化的服务。     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">Managing their own past</Emphasis>. German archivists between national socialism and democracy

The article examines the transition of (West) German archivists from the Nazi period to the time of Allied occupation and on into the early years of the Federal Republic of Germany. After considering the extent of the profession’s nazification, the article focuses on Allied denazification efforts after the war and discusses the strategies archivists devised in order to maneuver through these dangerous times. In the end, the archival profession mastered the transition with only minor “denazification damage.” The article closes with an examination of the consequences of the continuity of personnel especially among the leading archivists of the former Prussian Archival Administration (Preussische Archivverwaltung) for the reconstruction of the archival profession in West Germany.

Conceptualizing a Spatial Data Infrastructure for the Social Sciences: An Example from Germany

There is an increasing demand for spatial data within the social sciences as such data promise to contribute to a better understanding of how the concrete living environment influences individuals’ attitudes and behaviors. Spatial data can complement data from surveys; however, as of yet there is no spatial data infrastructure for the social sciences in Germany that facilitates merging of spatial data with survey data. This article explores avenues for creating such a spatial data infrastructure (SDI) for the social sciences in Germany. We examine the role that librarians, archivists, and curators can play in offering spatial data infrastructure services for social scientists, and show the scope and nature of necessary tasks in areas such as harmonization, archiving, dissemination, and user support. As the case of Germany is similar to that of other European countries, we expect our results to be helpful in the creation of SDIs in other countries as well. This article suggests technical and organizational measures for merging survey data and spatial data in compliance with German privacy legislation. Measures for storage and dissemination of enriched survey data, for example by providing restricted access to the data in a secured environment, also are explored.     

Development of the German Media Market: Opportunities and Challenges for U.S. Media Firms

Due to technological development and economic pressures, deregulation of the West European broadcasting market during the 1980s has led to an enormous increase in the number of television channels. The opening of the markets to commercial interests and the demand for TV software (programming material) at the same time give media companies diverse opportunities to become active across frontiers. Being the biggest broadcasting and advertising market in Western Europe, Germany has become an interesting target for foreign companies. The introduction of digital television in the summer of 1996 and further liberalization of ownership regulations have made entry into the German broadcasting market even more attractive. This article describes the development of the German TV sector and analyzes opportunities, restrictions, and consequences of international and particularly U.S. activities in the German market.     

KILLER AND VICTIM ISSUES: ISSUE COMPETITION IN THE AGENDA-SETTING PROCESS OF GERMAN TELEVISION

The capacity of the mass media to cover issues as well as thecapacity of recipients to be concerned about issues is limited.The coverage on and the concern about new issues will consequentlyremove old issues from the agenda of both the mass media andthe general public. The present study investigates two modelsof this process of issue competition. The equal-displacementmodel assumes that a rise of one issue in the media by a givennumber of stories is matched by an equal fall in all other issuessumming up to a similar number of issues. The restructuringmodel assumes that unexpected, surprising or otherwise newsworthyevents create killer issues that move several other issues completelyoff the agenda and leave others untouched. A content analysisof all news shows of the two major TV stations in Germany and53 weekly surveys regarding 16 different issues covering thewhole year 1986 shows that—within the media agenda—therewere no killer issues affecting the coverage of the TV stations.In the public agenda, however, some killer issues could be identified.Coverage of these issues increased public concern about themand decreased concerns about other issues. Consequences of theseresults for agenda-setting theory and for politics are discussed.     

POPULARITY IN A FREEFALL: MEASURING A SPIRAL OF SILENCE AT THE END OF THE BUSH PRESIDENCY

This study measures a spiral of silence in the context of actualopinion change during President George Bush's popularity declinein one of his political strongholds. Willingness of voters topublicly express their opinions about Bush were analyzed overthree pre-election surveys (N = 1,800) sponsored by a prominentlocal newspaper in Orange County, California. Respondents wereasked whether or not they would be willing to be reinterviewedby a reporter and have their names and views published in thepaper. The hypothesis that Bush supporters would be less willingthan others to agree to be reinterviewed during the period inwhich the president's ratings were dropping sharply is supported.This trend was most in evidence at the beginning of the presidentialcampaign, when Bush's ratings were in the steepest decline.These findings indicate the importance of actual opinion shiftsin spiral of silence research, and suggest several issues forfuture research on opinion change.     

THE CHALLENGES OF SURVEYING PUBLIC OPINION IN AN EMERGING DEMOCRACY

Based on interviews with political party officials and journalistsas well as a content analysis of election poll stories, thispaper discusses opinion polling in Ghana's emerging democracy.Highlighted in the discussion are the relevance of surveyingpublic opinion in a neo-democracy and the journalistic reportingof poll results. The paper describes the surveying of publicopinion in a political climate in transition from long historicalexperience of authoritarianism and dictatorship including aperiod of a ‘culture of silence’, to freedom ofexpression, as a challenge. In an examination of local ‘polls’conducted by newspapers during the 1996 presidential and parliamentaryelections, it characterizes those exercises as unscientificand inaccurate. Technical details about surveys were mostlymissing in the stories, suggesting lack of poll reporting knowledgeamong journalists as a major challenge. There is an attemptto address these challenges for the purpose of strengtheningthe enabling role of political polling and journalistic reportingof poll results in Ghana's new democracy. Adequate responsesto these challenges would, it is proposed, contribute to a scientificand an objective assessment of issues in political decision–makingincluding measuring voter support for political parties andcandidates.     

IS THERE A TWO-STEP FLOW OF AGENDA-SETTING?

The present study integrates two concepts: the notion of opinionleadership, as conceptualized and measured by the Strength ofPersonality (SP) scale, and the agenda-setting process. Thus,we suggest and test a two-step flow model in which certain individuals,the influentials, identify emerging issues in the mass mediaand then diffuse these issues to others via their personal networks.Based on a series of six national surveys conducted in Germany(1990) measuring issue salience and various personal characteristics,this study highlights the role certain individuals play in theemergence of the public agenda. The degree to which individualscan be influenced, measured by the SP scale, is found to bea powerful predictor of the formation of personal agendas, withhigh SP individuals differing from others in their identificationof emerging public issues. However, the analysis reveals thecomplexity of these relationships: they depend on the obtrusivenessof the issue, and they vary over time and location (East orWest Germany). The findings encourage the empirical pursuitof the suggested ‘two-step flow model’ as appliedto the agenda-setting process.     

Assessing the Library Needs and Preferences of Off-Campus Students

Abstract

In order to have a successful library program for distance education students, librarians must understand who their students are, as well as what their students want and need. Of course, the best way to get this information is to ask the students. The ACRL Guidelines for Distance Learning Library Services emphasize this point, encouraging librarians to regularly survey students involved in distance education and off-campus programs. This paper is based on two student surveys, one conducted by the Coordinator of Library Services for Distance Education at the University of Iowa and the other conducted by the Distance Librarian at University of the West Indies, Mona Campus. The paper focuses on the issues that librarians confront when they conduct a survey of distance education students. In addition, it covers details on writing and developing a survey instrument, including the need to ask the right questions in a proper manner and the need to arrange the questions and information in a user-friendly format. The results of the two surveys are presented, including a comparison of some data between the two programs.     

SOME ASPECTS OF THE CONSERVATION OF WORKS OF ART IN BUILDINGS OF NEW CONCRETE

Abstract

This paper deals with the materials used in conservation treatments in the first half of the twentieth century for the preservation and consolidation of wooden art objects from the Saxony region in Germany. The use of such materials must be seen as early attempts to find a conservation treatment for wood. The documentation of conservation treatments provides a reference to the application of oils and oil–resin mixtures. The results from the chemical analysis of samples of historic preservatives from the beginning to the middle of the twentieth century (so-called 'Puckelin') carried out by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) analysis confirm the use of tung oil as a drying oil, whereas the use of linseed oil cannot be excluded. Colophony and, probably, amber varnish were used as resinous constituents. There are indications that a conservation material dating from the second half of the twentieth century most likely contained rapeseed oil.     

Airtime for Newcomers

This article explores the British and West German public service radio’s abilities to reflect on and to address the specific needs and expectations of migrant groups in their programmes between the 1960s and 1980s. Mechanisms of social inclusion and exclusion alike can be investigated here. Empirically, it is based on comparisons of radio broadcasts on and for different immigrant communities, produced by BBC Radio Leicester on/for the post-war Asian migrants in England and by West German public service broadcasting on/for ‘Gastarbeiter’ (foreign workers) as well as for ‘Spätaussiedler’ (German repatriates from East Europe). Radio is studied as an agent of identity management and citizenship education. Not only did radio talk about migrants and migration to introduce these topics and the newcomers to the local population. It also offered airtime to selected migrant communities to cater for their needs and interests as well as to facilitate their difficulties of adjusting to an unfamiliar environment.     

THE PRESS AND THE POLLS IN GERMANY, 1980-1994 POLL COVERAGE AS AN ESSENTIAL PART OF ELECTION CAMPAIGN REPORTING

Since their beginnings pre-election polls have been under attackfrom politicians and journalists. One of the most fundamentalcriticisms of polls is that they can influence the outcome ofelections. This article investigates news media reporting ofpoll results and comments on public opinion research beforeFederal elections in Germany. It presents empirical findingsfor the quantity as well as the formal and substantial qualityof this press coverage. The database is a content analysis of443 pre-election poll articles published in Germany's leadingdailies Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), Frankfurter Rundschau(FR), Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ), and Die Welt (Welt) between1980 and 1994. The quantity of news media reporting of publicopinion polls has improved over the years. Now, poll storiesare a standard feature of German newspapers. The frequency ofreports depends on the conditions of each election—e.g.on the expected closeness of the election outcome. The formalquality could be better—that is the conformity to AAPORstandards. Horse-race journalism isn't found as often as inthe USA. Journalists often use poll results to predict an electionoutcome. Moreover, the analysis revealed an ambivalent relationshipbetween liberal journalists and polls, while the reporting ofconservative journalists is more in favor of opinion research.