Each selection in this anthology offers a single example of a major problem or characteristic of the American mass media. The anthology has four sections: development, responsibility, media, and coverage. Development in journalism is shown by comparing accounts of Presidential conventions over a 125-year period. Articles about responsibility deal with self-control (ethics), internal control (gatekeeping), monopoly control, advertiser control, source control (news management), government control (law), and public control. The similarities and differences between media (newspapers, magazines, broadcasting, advertising and public relations, and wire services) are pointed out. The coverage of government, crimes and demonstrations, war and national security, race, and specialized news is described. The book is designed primarily as a companion volume to the authors'"Media: An Introductory Analysis of American Mass Communications." (JK)