Notes that critical-cultural studies have had little impact on journalism and mass communication education for a number of reasons. Surveys 100 journalism and mass communication programs. Examines how critical-cultural faculty interact with the university community. Finds that scholars, as a whole, were open to critical-cultural perspectives.…

Asks program administrators to determine the status of two aspects of journalism and mass communication education that have been widely debated: The relative weight of skills development and conceptual content; and the extent to which students study the liberal arts and sciences in their courses. Concludes the administrators think their programs…

Considers the dilemmas that college and university faculty members face when asked to write recommendation letters when the circumstances are sometimes difficult. Discusses five ways that inflated recommendations are harmful. Finds that journalism and mass communication faculty members perceive that recommendation letters written on behalf of…

Surveys journalism and mass-communication researchers regarding the extent to which they have experienced unprofessional behavior by editors and referees in the evaluation of manuscripts. Finds that the primary complaint is that editors do not reach publication decisions within a reasonable period of time. (SR)

Outlines two paradigms in critical-cultural analysis that seek to identify and explain the meaning of phenomena that make a culture, focusing on their relevance to research and teaching in journalism and mass communication. Identifies key issues and implications for mass communication research and teaching. Suggests ways educators can apply…

Discusses pitfalls authors can avoid in their research to improve their chances for publication: careless writing; unspecified assumptions; undefined context; unanswerable questions; soft and/or fuzzy hypotheses; vague, undefined terms; inadequate samples; inappropriate use of students in conducting research; inappropriate conclusions; multiple…

Focuses on the hiring process from the interviewee's viewpoint. Provides additional information that will help search committees do their jobs well. Suggests six broad categories of concern in recruiting: advertising the job, providing adequate information, treating candidates honestly, conducting campus interviews, avoiding problems in searches,…

Reports results of a survey investigating what practices journalism faculty advisers perceive as appropriate and ethical (when advising theses and dissertations) in several potentially troublesome areas: problems with appropriation of student work; problems of joint authorship; appropriateness of adviser input; reasons for writing a thesis or…

Argues that writing models, such as the inverted pyramid, help students of news writing reach more quickly the point at which many of their skills become automatic. Describes the "news in four paragraphs" model for hard news stories, and discusses the limits of models. (SR)