Counting the house in public television: A history of ratings use, 1953–1980

This study explores the evolution, diffusion and application of audience research in public television from its origins through the 1970s, the formative period for the system. Shifts in funding structures for public TV and the rise of cable and satellite competition are reflected in the changing practice of such research.     

A MIRCENS’ Network to Safeguard Nature's Invisible Assets

The effect of age on the way that children aged 7–16 years classify food was examined in a cross‐section of Welsh school children. Primary school children were interviewed and invited to classify photographs of food into groups. Secondary school children undertook a similar task using cards on which were written the names of foods. Although by 7 years of age children had well‐established food classification strategies, there are considerable differences between those used by older and younger children. A time of particular change was seen in the use of classification labels during the first year of senior school with children aged 11–12. Potential implications of the findings for the design and implementation of nutrition education programmes are considered.     

Jedidiah morse and the bavarian illuminati: An essay in the rhetoric of conspiracy

This study examines the role of the the jeremiad in shaping public attitudes toward political dissent during the Franco‐American Crisis of 1798‐99. Attention is focused on three widely publicized sermons in which the Reverend Jedidiah Morse disclosed details of a dark conspiracy involving both domestic critics of the Adams administration and a mysterious order of European anarchists known as the Bavarian Illuminati. By framing his suspicions in the form of a jeremiad, Morse evoked a rhetorical context which portrayed the conspiracy as a divine test of American civic piety. As a result, the conspiracy provided a rhetorical justification for the condemnation of domestic political dissent on moral grounds.     

The impact of the mass media on source commitment

The purpose of this study was to explore the role of the mass media in creating source commitment. The results showed that the type of source commitment studied in the experiment was not significantly affected by the preparation and transmission of mass media messages.     

Superhighway or Road to Nowhere? Children's Relationships with Digital Technology

This article offers a critical overview of the cultural and educational benefits and dangers of digital media for young people. It argues that public debates on this issue have veered from utopian hype to moral panic. In contrast, the author argues for a more measured account of how young people appropriate such technologies in the context of their everyday lives. The article goes on to provide brief accounts of the author's previous research on children's engagement with computer games, and on their creative uses of multimedia in the home, which illustrate this approach. The article concludes with some broad principles which might guide future policy in this field.