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We analyzed anonymized copies of the complete reviewer comments for 120 recent submissions to the Journal of Communication and attempted to identify which scholarly sins and virtues were most frequently mentioned by the reviewers and which were most closely associated with the recommendation to accept a paper for publication. We assessed levels of interreviewer agreement and patterns of evaluation in different subfields of communications scholarship. An explicit connection to a clearly identified theoretical corpus and novelty in findings and perspectives proved to be the most significant predictors of publication. We discuss the ramifications of these findings for the current state of fragmentation and ferment in communication research. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building upon the vast compilation of academic work that has risen from the theory of social capital, this paper seeks to further explore two concepts central to this strand of research: social and interpersonal trust. A primary goal of this project is to emphasize the theoretical differences between these two types of trust —a distinction that has been blurred in past work— and to empirically demonstrate that social trust of an abstract collective other is significantly different from interpersonal forms of trust that are derived from more direct, personal interactions. Analysis of data collected from a large, national survey sample suggests that social and interpersonal trust have unique relationships with a host of situational and social orientation variables. Results from this study also reveal that the relationship between local television news use and various forms of trust is not uniform, but variable and nuanced. The ability for social orientation variables, such as community attachment, interpersonal communication, and informal socializing, to act as moderators that enhance the relationship between local television news attention and certain types of trust is also documented. On a larger scope, the results of this study suggest that it might be useful to continue to include multiple measures of interpersonal trust in studies that seek to uncover relationships between media use and participatory outcomes. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]