Clarice N. Olien

MASS MEDIA FLOW AND DIFFERENTIAL GROWTH IN KNOWLEDGE

Data from four types of research-news diffusion studies, time trends, a newspaper strike, and a field experiment-are consistent with the general hypothesis that increasing the flow of news on a topic leads to greater acquisition of knowledge about that topic among the more highly educated segments of society. Whether the resulting knowledge gap closes may depend partly on whether the stimulus intensity of mass media publicity is maintained at a high level, or is reduced or eliminated at a point when only the more active persons have gained that knowledge. Phillip J. Tichenor is Associate Professor of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Minnesota. George A. Donohue is Professor of Sociology and Clarice N. Olien is Instructor in Sociology, also at the University of Minnesota. This analysis was supported by Project 27-18, Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station.

Structure and Constraints on Community Newspaper Gatekeepers

@Editors are often seen as having a “buckstopping” role in the gatekeeping process. In the midst of a flow of information from a variety of sources and directions and in multiple forms, the editor must make the final decision about where, when, and how messages will be published. As a gatekeeper, the editor operates within a structural context. Structure presents a variety of constraints, such as community pluralism, type of newspaper and form of ownership, which may affect the outcome of the gatekeeping process. This is a report of an exploratory study of some of these constraints as they are perceived by a sample of Minnesota community newspaper editors. Constraints: Values, Routines and Organizational Management. Among the constraints which may impinge upon media organizations are: 1) Professional values which serve as standards for use, nonuse, modification and layout of news, including (a) the major priorities of gatekeepers and (b) their professional ethics; 2) Constraints arising from implementation of standards in the routines of news selection, including pressures of time and space; and

Mass Communication Systems and Communication Accuracy in Science News Reporting

1 Percy H. Tannenbaum, “Communication of Science Information,” Science, Vol. 140, No. 3567, May 10, 1963, pp. 579-83. Bruce H. Westley and Malcolm S. MacLean Jr.. “A Conceptual Model for Communications Research,” JOURNALISM QUARTERLY, 34:31-8 (Winter 1957). 3 This definition is comparable to the one offered by Mehrabian and Reed: “Communication accuracy is defined as the degree of correspondence between the referents decoded, or inferred, from a set of communication behaviors by an addressee and the referents encoded, or represented, in those communication behaviors by the communicator.” Albert Mehrabian and Henry Reed, “Some Determinants of Communication Accuracy,” Psychology Bulletin, Vol. 70, No. 5, 1968, pp. 365-81. * Hillier Krieghbaum, ed., When Doctors Meet Reporters (New York: New York University Press, 1957), Hillier Krieghbaum, Science and the Mass Media (New York: New York University Press, 1967). p. 162ff.; David Warren Burkett, Writing Science News for the Mass Media (Houston: Gulf Publishing Co., 1965). subsystem, a channel or gatekeeper subsystem, and an audience subsystem.2 Our intent is to study the extent to which certain specified characteristics of the source and channel subsystems are associated with one criterion of communicative performance. The criterion under study is communication accuracy, defined as the extent to which a message produces agreement between source and recei~er .~ Communication accuracy is studied here in the context of science news reporting. Scientists have criticized mass media sharply for inaccuracies, which are assumed by them to result from sensationalism, from quoting out of context and from media practices that sometimes take editing and display treatment out of the reporter’s hands.4 A systems perspective of mass communication is fruitful in that it moves away from the idea of a message forcing its way through from event to final audience. Instead, it conceives of a disseminated message as an outcome, or

Mass Communication Research: Evolution of a Structural Model

The authors trace the development of their own work in terms of a social systems framework for mass communication research. Other research is considered in terms of this model.

The Community Editor's Power and the Reporting of Conflict

Differences in the willingness tial for the development of an informed of 8 8 Minnesota community editors to report local conflict news is traced to rhe function of the newspaper in smaller and public opinion.2 Yet, while controversy in public affairs may be reported regularly by most metropolitan papers, it appears that such coniiict is a less common inlarger communities and to the editor’s power status.

METRO DAILY PULLBACK AND KNOWLEDGE GAPS Within and Between Communities

In a study of metro daily pullback, analyses of metro and regional daily newspaper penetration were conducted in 87 Minnesota counties. Readership data for metro and regional daily newspapers and small-town weekly and semiweekly papers were studied in 28 communities. Metro daily newspaper penetration has declined sharply in nonmetropolitan areas, with the sharpest drops occurring in agricultural counties. Although change in circulation of regional daily newspapers is negatively related to change in metro circulation, the “compensation” is only partial, because regional gains do not completely offset metro losses, either in circulation or in the amount of content provided. In outlying communities, education is more strongly associated with reading the metro paper than with reading the local paper, a finding that underscores the differential opportunity for access among higher status groups in the community. Among regional communities with daily papers, the relationship between education and reading the metro paper is greater where the pullback has been greater. This difference does not occur in the more rural communities with weeklies. Also, in rural communities, the low opportunity structure for media appears to have consequences similar to universal availability in the metro communities. In both metro and small communities, a change in penetration has little effect on what status groups will have access to the metro newspaper.

Community research and evaluating community relations

Assessing the realities of a community situation is essential for evaluating any community relations activities, according to the authors of this article. The primary goal of community relations, compatibility of organization and the home community, is not possible in many types of communities, they add. “Recent research and the community literature generally do not support some of the most cherished notions about public information and public relations.” Tichenor, Donohue, and Olien summarize the results of their extensive research on communities, and identify the characteristics that should be considered in planning and measuring the effects of a community relations program.

Community Control and Care of Scientific Information

Two midwestern cities were studied to evaluate how support for the basic values of widespread information and the use of specialized knowledge by the public and leaders is related to community structure as measured by homogeneity and heterogeneity. The public in the more heterogeneous community was more likely to support wide distribution and use of information. There were fewer differences between leaders in the two communities. The authors suggest that as social differentiation increases, information is evaluated in terms of perceived relevance for specific social ends.

Community Structure and Editor Opinions about Planning

This research focuses on the role of editors as community news gatekeepers. It surveys more than 150 editors from Minnesota, Iowa, North and South Dakota, and Wisconsin, comparing findings for two time periods, 1965 and 1985. The 1985 period was characterized by increased planning, especially in large, complex communities. This study finds that nearly all surveyed editors, as community elites, favored community planning, but by 1985 saw this planning as an aspect of community growth more than an instrument of community control. Yet editors from complex, pluralistic communities did tend to see planning as part of maintaining community social order and control more than did editors from smaller communities.

Predicting a Source's Success in Placing News in the Media

Accuracy of Source’s Perception particularly regarding agriculture. He of editor’s judgments proves is generally urged by his state university less eflective than agreement and local advisory groups to use mass media as educational channels. He seeks space in newspapers through peron news values. Source-editor contact contributes little, but sonal news columns, press releases writfactors indicative of audience ten by himself or state university ofinterest predict well. fices, and through interviews with editors and reDorters.