Suchergebnisse

Amounting number of studies have shown striking relationships between mass communication development and various economic, political and social aspects of national growth. Although these studies generally have been based on available data from countries throughout the world, similar relationships also can be found within regional groups of countries. Among the twenty Latin American countries, we find newspaper circulation per capita correlated .89 with urbanization, .82 with literacy, .80 with per capital income, and a negative .88 with percentage of population employed in agriculture.Such studies, of course, do not establish causal relations. Is mass communication merely a reflection of other more basic factors of development such as urbanization and industrialization, literacy and political participation? Or does mass communication play a functional role in the development process: can the communication of facts and opinions through the mass media actually influence people to move to the cities, take up new skills, learn to read and write, and become involved in politics?

This experimental study relates the acquisition of interest in the subject matter of news to the acquisition of meaning for it. Subjects who were exposed to news stories about previously unfamiliar topics acquired interest in the topics along with more intense meanings for them.

Studies of foreign correspondents, telegraph editors, readers and content have thrown light on several stages in the global news flow. The author suggests further research focusing upon the roles of the relatively unpublicized "gatekeepers" who operate on an international scale.

Exposure to news through the print media is closely linked to development of political awareness and participation by Costa Rican university students. Many do not conform to the Latin American "militant" stereotype.

Differential relationships by socioeconomic status are found between media exposure and knowledge of international affairs in Lima, Peru. Results suggest significance of media as sources of informational mobility.