Effects of Journalistic Adjudication on Factual Beliefs,News Evaluations,Information Seeking,and Epistemic Political Efficacy

A frequent critique of contemporary journalism is that journalists rarely adjudicate factual disputes when covering politics; however, very little research has been done on the effects of such passive journalism on audiences. This study tests effects of active adjudication versus “he said/she said” journalism on a variety of outcomes, finding that adjudication can correct factual beliefs, increase perceived news quality, satisfy perceived informational needs, and increase the likelihood of future news use. However, for readers who were less interested in the issues under dispute, adjudication also reduced epistemic political efficacy, which is confidence in one's ability to find the truth in politics.     

THE RADICAL TYPE?

Despite the central role of the paper in Marxist–Leninist strategy, the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) had little confidence in either professional journalists, including those who were Communists, or journalism practices, even though journalism, like culture, was recognized as “a weapon in the (class) struggle”. While George Allen Hutt (1901–73) was a leading professional party journalist, his career hit a “glass ceiling”, even as he met the three criteria of Communist journalism theory and earned an international reputation as a newspaper designer. In spite of opposition to his role on the executive of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) because of his party membership, he became the longest-serving editor of the NUJ's periodical, The Journalist. As both a loyal, lifetime Communist and the consummate professional journalist, Hutt's career provides a salient example of the ambiguous position of the middle-class journalist in the proletarian-dominated Communist Party. It was the emphasis on his “technical” ability that appears to have disqualified his candidacy for the Daily Worker's top editorial positions and to have justified support for his editorship of The Journalist.     

Thomas Jefferson's interest in parliamentary practice

It is difficult to know just when and how Jefferson's interest in parliamentary practice was first aroused, but he himself indicates that at an early period of his life he read “a good deal” and took copious notes on the subject. These notes were his “pillar” until he had compiled his own Manual, published first in 1801. During his experience in legislative bodies he had of necessity both to learn and to use the rules and procedures governing such assemblies. This article attempts to give a brief account of his early interest, and to give appropriate credit to those whom Jefferson himself acknowledged as having contributed most substantially to his own understanding of parliamentary practice.     

Life and times of John H. Hickcox: Government publications history revisited

Until the late nineteenth century, the printing and distribution of federal government documents was not well regulated. In 1885, John H. Hickcox, Sr. began privately publishing United States Government Publications: a Monthly Catalogue, also known as Hickcox's Monthly Catalogue, which alerted the public to the availability of recent publications, a function that the government was not then performing. Hickcox's catalog immediately preceded establishment of the government-published Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications, of which he subsequently was appointed the first compiler. This paper presents information on Hickcox from primary materials and other secondary sources in order to create an awareness of Hickcox and his Catalogue, which have previously been ignored by historians of government information. In addition, some earlier accounts of Hickcox's activities are clarified and corrected.     

Commonwealth Communications

George Boyce, James Curran, and Pauline Wingate, eds. Newspaper History from the 17th Century to the Present Day (London: Constable Beverly Hills, Calif.: Sage, 1978—$20.00/10.95)

Frank W. Peers' The Public Eye: Television and the Politics of Canadian Broadcasting, 1952-1968 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1979—price not given)

K. Watson, et al. "A Financial Analysis of the Private Radio Broadcasting Sector in Canada and the United States" (Ottawa: Department of Communications, Social Policy and Programs Branch, 1978—no price given, paper)

Outcomes from the Telecom 2000 Report (Australian Government Publishing Service, P.O. Box 94, Canberra, A.C.T. 2600 Australia—price not given, paper)

Australian Broadcasting Commission: 46th Annual Report (1977-78) (ABC, 145-153 Elizabeth St., Sydney NSW 2001, Australia—apparently free on request, paper)

Media Centre Papers series (Centre for the Study of Educational Communication and Media, School of Education, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria 3083, Australia—about A$2.50 each plus postage, paper)     

Becoming Extra-Textual: Celebrity Discourse and Paul Robeson's Political Transformation

During the 1930s, news media constructed celebrities as individuals whose public lives naturally reflected (or expressed) their private lives. Paul Robeson, however, offered an intriguing challenge to such seamlessness, foreshadowing contemporary evocations of celebrity that highlight the fabricated nature of public personas. I posit that during the 1930s, the discursive formations of scandal and movie stardom challenged celebrity seamlessness by constructing Paul Robeson as a site of extra-textuality: Paul Robeson “the artist” became detached from Paul Robeson “the man.” Although mired in essentialism, Robeson's extra-textuality was crucial to his activism, for it ultimately created the space from which he voiced his most impassioned political polemics. Thus both regressive and liberatory, the discourses of scandal and movie stardom mediated Paul Robeson's transition from spiritual-singing aesthete to outspoken political activist.     

The Gaze and The Spielberg Face: Steven Spielberg's Application of Lacan's Mirror Stage and Audience Response

Through the theoretical framework of Jacques Lacan's “mirror stage,” this study employs statistical analysis to code the frequency with which Spielberg utilizes the “gaze” in his work to emotionally influence viewers by providing them with desirable images of the human face. This study examines if these psychologically desirable images are used with more frequency in Spielberg's successful films, thus providing quantitative support for the assertion that Spielberg “manipulates” his audience through his signature style.     

What Would Thoreau Think? A Representative List of Green Periodicals for the 21st Century

Henry David Thoreau offered Americans a recipe for living modestly, building one's own house, growing food, and defending our rights as citizens. Stewart Brand's famous Whole Earth Catalog, published in 1968, continued Thoreau's environmental theme by listing technologies, new and old, and calling them an “access to tools” for a greener life. Decades later, Apple Inc.'s founder and CEO, Steve Jobs, attributed the genesis of his own great invention and “access to tools” to the catalog's concept. Thoreau's old recipe for green ideas and lifestyle remains unchanged: how one lives and how one takes action are the two components of environmentalism.     

John Morley and the Irish question: Chart‐prayer‐dream

Attempts to circumscribe “the Burkean method” of rhetorical criticism can be frustrating. Critics more profitably might use Burke as an example and a prod, appropriating—as was done in this study—whichever of Burke's concepts, methods, and metaphors seem applicable to a given rhetorical event. Burke's “chart‐prayer‐dream” trilogy, together with his understanding of “strategies,” was employed to examine Morley's “Home Rule” speech before the Oxford Union in 1888. Morley's reply to Randolph Churchill abandoned propositional argument in favor of reviv‐alistic‐exhortation early in the speech; his strategies of form, argument, labelling, style, and mimesis are best understood as those of the High Priest seeking a confessional and an act of expiation from his auditors.     

Central states outstanding teachers award winners recognizing the importance of teaching: An introduction to our very best!

A great Sioux chief, pressed to the brink of war and unable to enlist the President's aid against a fraudulent treaty, took his case directly to the people and forced the United States government into temporary acquiescence.     

The passive style of rhetorical crisis management: A case study of the superfund controversy

While there is a large literature that explains the rhetorical strategies Ronald Reagan used to generate support, there has not been significant analysis of the strategies he used to avoid losing that support in the various crises that threatened his administration. This case study of Reagan's handling of the Superfund controversy reveals that Reagan relied on what Murray Edelman characterizes as the “passive style.” In the passive style, politicians reaffirm personal values, displace blame on subordinates, and use symbolic action to avoid all responsibility. Reagan's successful reliance on the passive style in the Superfund controversy suggests implications for understanding his failure to deal with the Iran‐Contra affair adequately.     

They censor,I select

What happens when a bookseller does not want to stock or sell a specific title? Does this act represent a decision to censor a title? Or, perhaps, does it reflect a bookseller's belief that a book would offend customers (the moral or political argument)? In this article the author explores covert (which he terms an “unspoken ambivalence”) and overt (“we do not carry books of that type”) forms of “title selection” that help perpetuate some forms ofde facto censorship within the bookselling community.     

The Rivalry of Nonverbal Cues on the Perception of Politicians by Television Viewers

The current study examines how a politician's “active” or “passive” nonverbal behavior can influence recipients' perception of his/her image in TV talk shows. In addition, the effects of different host and studio audience reaction shots towards the politician were analyzed. To do so, an experiment with a 2 × 3 × 3 factorial design was conducted (n = 356). The stimulus material was produced in a TV studio. The results indicate a clear influence of a politician's nonverbal behavior style and the TV host's nonverbal reactions on the recipients' image-perception.     

Much ado about Shakespeare

Although his works were almost ignored for many years, on William Shakespeare's 400th birthday he is considered to have been the greatest wordsmith using the English language. Although Shakespeare's plays are fun, and are eagerly attended by the general population when presented as “entertainment” and not as “culture,” television, if the frequency of presentation is any guide, has not considered them in the mainstream of popular entertainment. This is a mistake, as the ratings and the popular accpetance of such romps as the 1956 production of “Taming of the Shrew” should prove. The following article reviews some of the major productions of Shakespearean plays over American television. This list includes most of the network presentations although many more productions have been aired over local stations. In addition, many people may have had their interest in Shakespeare aroused by other programs (such as Dr. Frank Baxter's “Shakespeare on TV”) that discussed these works, or by filmic presentations seen on the “Late Show” or its equivalent. One particularly interesting non‐network series was the BBC presentation of “An Age of Kings,” a weaving into chronological order of Shakespearean historical plays that dealt with the story of the English throne during the 14th and 15th centuries. This series of 15 television programs was seen on a number of educational and commercial television stations in the United States, and afforded the extensive audience an opportunity to witness and appreciate both the history of England and the genius of its most famous author.     

Image Repair on the Donald Trump “Access Hollywood” Video: “Grab Them by the P*ssy”

In October 2016, Donald Trump was in the midst of a hotly contested and sharply divisive presidential campaign. Days before the second presidential debate, The Washington Post posted a video of Trump “having extremely lewd conversation about women in 2005.” This video and the firestorm of criticism it provoked threatened to derail his presidential run. Mr. Trump and his wife Melania Trump offered several messages to repair his damaged image. This article analyzes and evaluates these image repair messages concerning Donald Trump’s “Access Hollywood” video. In such a divisive context, the defense had no hope of repairing Trump’s image with the general public (Trump lost the popular vote by 2.9 million). Even though he lost the popular vote, the business magnate won the Electoral College. We cannot say that the “Access Hollywood” video was solely responsible for Trump’s poor popular vote showing, but it is clear that this defense did not completely dispel the cloud surrounding him.     

Edouard Bourdet's career in New York

Thomas Reid was familiar with Aristotle's works, but he did not leave direct evidence bearing on which of his ideas, if any, were derived from the Stagirite. A close examination of the works of Reid and Aristotle shows many similarities between the “Common Sense” of the former and the doctrine of first principles of the latter. There also are important differences, especially in epistemology. The role of Aristotle is that of supplying elements that Reid inserts into an overall system that is his own.     

John Dewey's “Wholly Original Philosophy” and Its Significance for Museums

Abstract John Dewey's lifework was to create a philosophy that encompassed both life‐experience and thought. He attempted to construct a philosophical system that incorporated life as it is lived, not in some ideal form. He rejected all dualisms, such as those between thought and action, fine and applied arts, or stimulus and response. An analysis of “experience” (defined as almost synonymous with “culture”) is central to Dewey's writing and leads him to emphasize process, continuity, and development, rather than static, absolute concepts. This paper examines the significance of Dewey's educational views for museum exhibitions and education programs, and his complex definitions of relevant concepts, with special emphasis on his interpretation of “experience.” Dewey's faith in democracy and his moral philosophy require that the value of any educational activity depends on its social consequences as well as its intellectual content, a proposition that is discussed and applied to museums. This argument suggests that exhibitions and programs can strengthen democracy by promoting skills that improve visitors' ability to become critical thinkers and by directly addressing controversial issues, taking the side of social justice and democracy.     

Why we fought: Holocaust memory in Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan

–Steven Spielberg's film Saving Private Ryan has been criticized for its failure to frame narrative action in terms of national, moral purpose. This criticism can be understood in terms of the constraints that the “Vietnam syndrome” places upon contemporary cinematic narratives of war; Vietnam memory subverts earnest declaration of high national principle. This essay examines how Saving Private Ryan “reillusions” American national identity in the wake of Vietnam by giving presence to an even more distant past. Supported by close textual analysis of key scenes centering upon the sole Jewish character in the film, this reading argues that the specific moral justification for waging war and accepting its horrors and sacrifices is found in a moral crusade against the Nazi program of Holocaust. By suturing the Holocaust into the film as its moral foundation, the film participates in the “Americanization” of Holocaust memory, circumvents Vietnam as a source of traumatic memory, manufactures a redemptive national identity, and constructs an ethically usable past in the present.     

A study of the “heartbeat spectra” for “sleeping beauties”

We first introduced interesting definitions of “heartbeat” and “heartbeat spectrum” for “sleeping beauties”, based on van Raan's variables. Then, we investigated 58,963 papers of Nobel laureates during 1900–2000 and found 758 sleeping beauties. By proposing and using G_s index, an adjustment of Gini coefficient, to measure the inequality of “heartbeat spectrum”, we observed that publications which possess “late heartbeats” (most citations were received in the second half of sleeping period) have higher awakening probability than those have “early heartbeats” (most citations were received in the first half of sleeping period). The awakening probability appears the highest if an article's G_s index exists in the interval [0.2, 0.6).