Books of the Month

Robert Sobel's The Manipulators: America in the Media Age (New York: Doubleday, 1976---$9.95)

Sidney Kraus and Dennis Davis's The Effects of Mass Communication on Political Behavior (University Park, Pa.: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1976---$16.50/7.95)     

Impact of Media

Dennis K. Davis and Stanley J. Baran, Mass Communication and Everyday Life: A Perspective on Theory and Effects (Belmont, Ca.: Wadsworth Publishing, 1981—$7.95, paper)

James B.LOmert Does Mass Communication Change Public Opinion After All? A New Approach to Effects Analysis (Chicago: Nelson-Hall Publishers, 1981—$17.95/8.95)

Annual Report 1978/79. 1979/80 of the John and Mary R. Markle Foundation (50 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, N.Y. 10020—free on request, paper)

Emile McAnany, Jorge Schnitman, and Noreene Janus, eds. Communication and Social Structure: Critical Studies in Mass Media Research (New York: Praeger Special Studies, 1981—price not known)     

Communication Policy

Fair Use and Free Inquiry: Copyright Law and the New Media edited by John Shelton Lawrence and Bernard Timberg (Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing, 1989~$59.50 institutions/$32.50 personal, ISBN 0-89391-484-3)

Media Freedom and Accountability edited by Everette Dennis, Donald Gillmor and Theodore Glasser (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1989~$39.95, ISBN 0-313-26727-8)

An Economic and Legal Analysis of Undue Price Discrimination by J. Stephen Henderson and Robert E. Burns (August 1989, NRRI 89-12, 224 pp.)

Implementation of Open Network Architecture: Development, Tensions, and Strategies by Robert J. Graniere (September 1989, NRRI 89-13, 216 pp.)     

Making the News: Anarchist Counter-Public Relations on the World Wide Web

Traditionally, radical social movements faced a dilemma regarding media coverage: focus either on mass media, but lose control of their representation, or on alternative media, but fail to get their message to the broader public. The World Wide Web overcomes these problems, allowing movements to create their own media with mass distribution. However, it has two key weaknesses of its own: attracting audiences and mixing in- and out-group communication. In this paper, we show how the structure and content of the anarchist Web-based media work together to separate in- and out-group discourses. We then demonstrate how the anarchists attracted an audience to their Web media. The Black Bloc tactics at the Seattle protests against the World Trade Organization brought an increase in media attention, albeit negative. We examine how anarchists took advantage of the larger audience created by this bad publicity and mounted a counter-public relations campaign online. We argue that the Web alters the power relationship between mainstream and alternative media without displacing the need for mainstream coverage.     

A rules‐based study of television's role in the construction of social reality

A qualitative analysis of one couple's conversational uses of mediated content is presented. Observations spanned a two‐year period. Data were categorized according to usage type and then examined from Lull's (1981) rules persective.     

Science Journalists on Metropolitan Dailies: Methods,Values and Perceptions of Their Work

Abstract

In this study, the authors examined the transfer of environmental information and ideologies from Costa Rican children to their parents. Ethnographic data were collected in two school districts in Costa Rica's Central Valley through (1) interviews with teachers, sixth grade children, and parents; (2) a field pretest-post-test of parents for specific environmental knowledge, which their children were taught in school; and (3) participant observation of families, schools, and communities. The data revealed that although environmental information may be transferred in some families and conditions, this transfer is generally rare and situation-specific, and environmental educators should not assume that adults are routinely reached by information presented to children. The authors recommend that more emphasis be placed on nonformal environmental education programs that target adults. They also suggest ways to increase the likelihood that adults are exposed to environmental information presented to children.     

Reviews

FREEDOM SPENT. By Richard Harris. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1976; pp. 460. $12.95.

MALE/FEMALE LANGUAGE, WITH A COMPREHENSIVE BIBLIOGRAPHY. By Mary Ritchie Key. Metuchen, New Jersey: Scarecrow Press, 1975; pp. vii + 200; $7.95.

CONTEMPORARY SPEECH: A COMPREHENSIVE APPROACH TO COMMUNICATION. Compiled by Mary Frances Hopkins and Beverly Whitaker. Edited by Bernard Brommel. Skokie, IL: National Textbook Company, 1976; pp. ix + 316. $11.

COMMUNICATING. By Anita Taylor, Teresa Rosegrant, Authur Meyer, and B. Thomas Samples. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice‐Hall, Inc., pp. xiii + 466. $9.95.

MASTERING CLASSROOM COMMUNICATION: WHAT INTERACTION ANALYSIS TELLS THE TEACHER. By Dorothy Grant Hennings. Pacific Palisades, California: Goodyear Publishing Company, 1975; pp. xiii + 193. $5.95.

THE RHETORIC OF WESTERN THOUGHT. By James L. Golden, Goodwin F. Berquist, and William E. Coleman. Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt, 1976; pp. 272. Paper $9.95.     

State Perspectives on Implementing,or Choosing Not to Implement,an Alternate Assessment Based on Modified Academic Achievement Standards

Since Federal regulations have given states the option to implement alternate assessments based on modified academic achievement standards (AA-MAS) as part of their accountability systems for a small group of students with disabilities, a number of states have made decisions about whether or not to develop and implement such an assessment. State-level directors of assessment and directors of special education were surveyed about their state's decisions on implementing AA-MAS. Improvements in accessibility and appropriateness were reasons given for choosing to implement an AA-MAS, whereas lack of resources and guidance were identified as barriers. This article presents the findings from a survey on 22 states' decisions concerning implementation of AA-MAS.     

Accountability—try fishing!

STOPPING OUT by Judi R. Kesselman. New York: M. Evans and Company, Inc., 1976. viii + 218 pp. Appendix, bibliography, index. $8.95.

LIBRARIES FOR TODAY AND TOMORROW by Virginia H. Mathews. Garden City, New York: Doubleday &; Company, Inc., 1976. xii + 228 pp. $3.95.

EVALUATION AND REFORM: THE ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION ACT OF 1965/Title 1 by Milbery Wallin McLaughlin. Cambridge, Mass.: Ballinger Publishing Co., 1975. xiii + 139 pp. $7.95.

ADVENTURE, MYSTERY, AND ROMANCE by John G. Cawelti. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1976. viii + 336 pp. $15.00