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Based on case studies of 15 all-news radio stations, this report isolates major factors contributing to the all-news format's frequent failure and assesses its potential for success. The history of the News and Information Service (NIS), which the NBC radio network operated between 1975 and 1977, serves as a backdrop for the information presented in the report. Sections of the report discuss the following topics: (1) the 15 stations and 33 officials in the original case studies, (2) reasons the stations converted to the all-news format, (3) the effect on local staff, (4) the business community's response, (5) promoting the all-news format, (6) local programing and staff credentials, (7) stations' appraisals of NIS, (8) factors involved in stations' decisions to drop the all-news format, (9) all-news stations on their own after the demise of NIS, (10) the commitment to local coverage within an all-news format, (11) journalism and show business, and (12) the future of all-news radio stations. The report concludes with a critique and confirmation of the viability of all-news formats. (RL)

Among the possible results brought about by the reduction from 1970 to 1980 of the overseas staffs of American newspapers were (1) increased reliance upon official or state media as news sources; (2) a nation underinformed despite its heavy worldwide political, economic, and cultural involvement; and (3) a lack of coherent reporting of the historical and human complexities of a situation. With this in mind, the foreign news coverage from the Chicago "Tribune" (which drastically reduced its foreign staff) and the New York "Times" (which maintained a sizeable foreign staff) was compared to examine the impact of foreign staff reductions on the quality of foreign coverage. Foreign news content was analyzed in 14 issues of each paper for each of the ten years. Variables recorded were geopolitical focus (first, second or socialist, and third world news) and origin (wire service or correspondent). Although both papers published progressively fewer foreign items, the decline was noticeably greater for the "Tribune." In eight of ten years the "Times" published more correspondent items than wire service items, while in none of the ten years did the "Tribune" correspondents provide more items than were taken from the wire services. As "Tribune" correspondents became more involved in third world coverage, the paper relied more heavily on wire services for first world news while the "Times" maintained its correspondent coverage of all three geopolitical regions. (HTH)

A study was conducted to assess the indications in print of news borrowing (reporting news distributed by second hand or government controlled sources) in the 1970s, and to examine the relationship between borrowed news and the restrictions and reductions in newspapers' overseas news staff. The "New York Times" and the "Chicago Tribune" were selected for study because of their extensive foreign news coverage and because of the widely documented reductions in the number of their foreign correspondents. Fourteen randomly sampled issues per year were selected for analysis, yielding a total sample of 154 issues from 1969 to 1980. All foreign items were coded for geopolitical focus, originating agent (correspondent or wire service), and media source. The "Tribune" showed a pattern of growth in the publication of borrowed news, despite overall reductions in international item publication and overseas staff cuts. Publication of Wire service borrowed news grew significantly for the "Times" during the study period. The study failed to identify a relationship between staffing level and overall incidence of borrowed news published. But a pattern of news borrowing of Third World items in the wire service stories suggests that wire service journalists are responding to a gradual reduction in the available news sources and may be choosing, or are forced, to rely on official or partisan news organizations in Third World nations, where government control of press activity is allegedly increasing. (HTH)

A study was conducted to determine whether the "New York Times" news coverage given India between 1973 and 1980 was consistent with trends in United States foreign policy toward India during those years. The period under study was characterized by four alternating periods of tense and relaxed relations between India and the United States. All items on India from 672 issues were coded in terms of slant or tone, topic, and prominence. The results indicated that changes in length and prominence scores of items on India over the four foreign policy periods were not significant and did not parallel U.S. foreign policy toward India during that time. However, the data exhibited a pattern that sets the first four years (roughly corresponding to the relatively troublesome first three periods) apart from the last four years. In the last four years the percentage of unfavorable coverage decreased, the percentage of neutral coverage increased, the mean length and prominence of all items increased (greater attention was being paid India), and the mean length of favorably slanted items tended to be higher. And, with the unanticipated exception of unfavorably slanted items, all mean lengths indicated a shift consistent with expectations. The study defined the last four years of the period as the only period of improved relations since the 1971 low point. (HTH)

A study examined how Alabama legislators' ratings of news media for job-relevant information correlate with their views on news media adversary and consensus agent roles. Eighty-two questionnaires (out of 140 mailed) were completed by Alabama state representatives and senators for a return rate of 59%. Results suggested that lawmakers who believe news media do adversarial reporting are more unlikely or unwilling to credit them with providing useful job-relevant information, while lawmakers who do use news media for job-relevant information were significantly less likely to describe those media as engaging in aggressive, watchdog reporting. Results also indicated that the belief that news media function as agents of community consensus is correlated with use of media, thus making it possible for those media to serve as constituent-legislator links. Results suggest an interesting consequence of the adversary posture many news media take: that stereotyping of news media as adversaries may preclude the news media from serving what could be an important "linkage" function. (Four tables of data and 38 notes are included.) (SR)

Questionnaires were completed by 96 editorial cartoonists and by 67 of their newspaper editors in a study of the journalistic autonomy and decision making participation of the cartoonist. It was hypothesized that (1) editors and cartoonists would agree on the cartoonist's role, and (2) cartoonists and their editors would differ significantly in their view on several specific autonomy factors, such as quotas, freedom from editorial constraints, and decision making processes. As predicted, cartoonists' descriptions of their role agreed with the editors' descriptions of the cartoonists' role (i.e., as critic, artist, entertainer, reporter, etc.). However, there was a contrast between how cartoonists thought the editors perceived the role and how the editors in fact perceived it. The cartoonists were more likely to use two different roles when describing their perceptions and their editors' perceptions, while the editors were more likely to use the same role to describe their own view and what they thought the cartoonist's view was. concerned the statement that cartoonists should be free from all editoral restraints. Most editors disagreed strongly. The two samples agreed that the cartoons published did reflect the paper's editorial policy. Both groups gave similar rankings to sources of ideas for cartoons, and both agreed on the importance of a quota in the production of good cartoons. More cartoonists believed, however, that the number of cartoons they were submitting was excessive, while none of the editors believed the quotas were excessive. (HTH)