Beyond Hegemony: Classical Propaganda Theory and Presidential Communication Strategy After the Invasion of Iraq

The “hegemonic” tradition argues that the president enjoys unparalleled power to manage news and opinion during war. This approach has dominated political communication literature on war and the media for over a generation. The war with Iraq, however, provides a major challenge to conventional wisdom. We believe that classical propaganda theory provides a useful corrective to the hegemonic perspective and offers a better way to understand the Bush administration's propaganda strategy and its impact on public opinion. Using a combination of content analysis, opinion data, and analysis of the administration's Iraq-related public addresses, we argue that the president neither dominated war news nor managed public opinion in the manner predicted by hegemonic theories.     

Preparing teachers as allies in Indigenous education: benefits of an American Indian content and pedagogy course

The study explores relationship building and improvements in knowledge, skills, and dispositions of pre-service teachers enrolled in an Indigenous education content and pedagogy methods course. The Teaching American Indian Students in the Elementary Classroom course stands alone from other diversity education offerings at the University of Minnesota Duluth and is a required learning experience. Pre-service teachers are provided with essential knowledge and learning opportunities that facilitate success in working with Indigenous students, and helping mainstream students learn about Native history, peoples, and communities. The evaluation study was conducted by an Indigenous faculty member interested in learning how non-Native teacher education students felt they were achieving target knowledge, skills, and dispositional goals. Three separate groups of teacher education students completed both pre and post online surveys as a part of a three-year mixed methods evaluation study. The study shows significant gains made by pre-service teachers in each of the target areas, and affirms that methods coursework in American Indian education can lead to more interculturally competent teacher candidates. Helping teacher education students develop the requisite abilities and dispositions to fulfill Native American education objectives is contributory to developing future teachers as competent professionals and allies in Indigenous and diversity education.     

Telecommunications

MISUNDERSTANDING MEDIA by Brian Winston (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986---$22.50)

SERVICES IN TRANSITION: THE IMPACT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ON THE SERVICE SECTOR edited by Gerald Faulhaber, et al. (Cambridge, MA: Ballinger, 1986---$29.95)

BUSINESS TELEMATICS: CORPORATE NETWORKS FOR THE INFORMATION AGE by Byron Belitsos and Jay Misra (Homewood, IL: Dow, Jones-Irwin, 1986---$25.00)

COMPUTER & TELECOMMUNICATIONS ACRONYMS edited by Julie Towell and Helen Sheppard (Detroit: Gale Research, 1986---$60.00)

Three recent publications from the Program on Information Resources Policy (200 Aiken, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138---inquire of publisher for prices, paper)

COMPUTER III: A NEW ERA—A GUIDE TO THE FCC'S LANDMARK DEREGULATORY RULING edited by Dick Stirba (Telecom Publishing Group, Capitol Publications, 1101 King St., Alexandria, VA 22314---$140, paper)

MARKET AND STRATEGIC IMPACTS OF BYPASS by the Bethesda Research Institute (Phillips Publishing, 7811 Montrose Rd., Potomac, Md. 20854---price not given, paper)

SATELLITE COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS ENGINEERING by Wilbur Pritchard and Joseph Sciulli (Englwood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1986---$42.95)

GUIDE TO SATELLITE TELEVISION INSTALLATION by John E. Traister (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1986---$24.95)     

School-based assessment in the 1986 NSW higher school certificate

The paper reports an evaluation of the introduction of a school-based assessment component into the 1986 NSW Higher School Certificate. A research team from Macquarie University and the University of Sydney monitored the processes of assessment policy development in eight Sydney schools during 1985 and 1986. These case studies of process and product were supplemented in 1986 by studies in ten NSW country high schools. A survey of teachers and students in a random sample of 58 high schools in NSW was completed towards the end of 1986. The results of the case studies and the survey are discussed within the following framework: Information Flow from the Board of Senior School Studies to the Schools; Policy Development in Schools; Features of Assessment Policies and their Implementation; and the Impact of Assessment on Classroom Practices and Relationships in the Classroom.     

The Impact of Examinee Performance Information on Judges’ Cut Scores in Modified Angoff Standard‐Setting Exercises

This research evaluated the impact of a common modification to Angoff standard‐setting exercises: the provision of examinee performance data. Data from 18 independent standard‐setting panels across three different medical licensing examinations were examined to investigate whether and how the provision of performance information impacted judgments and the resulting cut scores. Results varied by panel but in general indicated that both the variability among the panelists and the resulting cut scores were affected by the data. After the review of performance data, panelist variability generally decreased. In addition, for all panels and examinations pre‐ and post‐data cut scores were significantly different. Investigation of the practical significance of the findings indicated that nontrivial fail rate changes were associated with the cut score changes for a majority of standard‐setting exercises. This study is the first to provide a large‐scale, systematic evaluation of the impact of a common standard setting practice, and the results can provide practitioners with insight into how the practice influences panelist variability and resulting cut scores.     

Effects of a feint on reactive agility performance

This study compared reactive agility between higher-standard (n = 14) and lower-standard (n = 14) Australian footballers using a reactive agility test incorporating a life-size video image of another player changing direction, including and excluding a feint. Mean agility time in the feint trials was 34% (509 ± 243 ms; p < 0.001; effect size 3.06) longer than non-feint trials. In higher-standard players, agility time was shorter than for lower-standard players in both feint (114 ± 140 ms; p = 0.18; effect size 0.52; likely beneficial) and non-feint (32 ± 44 ms; p = 0.22; effect size 0.47; possibly beneficial) trials. Additionally, the inclusion of a feint resulted in movement time increasing over three times more in the lower-standard group (197 ± 91 ms; p = 0.001; effect size 1.07; almost certainly detrimental) than the higher-standard group (62 ± 86 ms; p = 0.23; effect size 0.66; likely detrimental). There were weak correlations between the feint and non-feint trials (r = -0.13-0.14; p > 0.05), suggesting that reactive agility involving a feint is a unique skill. Also, higher-standard players are more agile than their lower-standard peers, whose movement speed deteriorates more as task complexity increases with the inclusion of a feint. These results support the need for specific training in multi-turn reactive agility tasks.     

Motion Pictures: Theory and Criticism

Richard Taylor, The Politics of Soviet Cinema, 1917 - 1929 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1979 -- $19.95)

S.S. Prawer, Caligari's Children: The Film as Tale of Terror (New York: Oxford University Press, 1980 -- $19.95)

Thomas Sobcheck and Vivian C. Sobcheck, An Introduction to Film (Boston: Little Brown, 1980 -- $10.95 with instructor's manual)

Brian Henderson, A Critique of Film Theory (New York: E.P. Dutton, 1980 -- $8.95 paper)

Two more volumes have appeared in the Wisconsin/Warner Bros. Screenplay Series (both Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1980 -- $12.50/ $4.95 paper)

Paul Seydor, Peckinpah: The Western Films (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1980 -- $12.95 hardcover)

Vivian Carol Sobcheck, The Limits of Infinity: The American Science Fiction Film ( South Brunswick: A.S. Barnes, 1980 -- $14.50)

Richard Meyers in The World of Fantasy Films (South Brunswick: A.S. Barnes, 1980 -- $17.50)

Michael Chanan, The Dream That Kicks: The Prehistory and Early Years of Cinema in Britain (London: Routledge Kegan Paul, 190-- $32.50)