This book is about how TV makers--notably writers, producers, and network programmers--are deeply influenced by public pressures outside their craft. Many scholars assume that the relationship between society and television is one-way, that the traffic of influence moves from the content of a program to the behavior of those who view it, and that if a show is too exploitative or violent or stereotypical, it transforms the minds of those who watch it in some manner. Authors Selnow and Gilbert maintain that the one-way influence is only half-true. Even as television makes its impact on viewers, viewers, society, and society's institutions make their impact on television, often with more noticeable effect.

Some of television's most influential and best known producers and programmers (including Grant Tinker, Norman Lear, Steven Bochco, and Gary David Goldberg) discuss the forces that affect their selection of themes and treatments, why they include or reject material, and how they view their opinion leader roles and their roles as members of the society that is so influenced by their products. Selnow and Gilbert examine many of the obvious as well as less apparent forces that affect content decisions: government regulations, interest groups, and advertisers. They argue that the rapid advancement in telecommunication technologies has as much to do with what we watch as any of the social forces. The authors look not only at the current control of content, but point toward the consortium of influences that will affect the medium as it evolves rapidly throughout the next decade.

Fifty years ago, the political whistle-stop tour was thus named because trains blew their whistles twice when making unscheduled stops in backwater towns. Like its distant cousin, the "electronic" whistle-stop brings the candidate's message directly to the people, but with one outstanding difference: the new whistle-stop offers politicians an accuracy, efficiency, and success at voter persuasian unimaginable to by earlier whistle-stoppers such as Harry Truman.

As Selnow shows, American political campaigns have an extraordinary affinity for electronic devices. They have seized upon electronic bulletin boards, home pages, and electronic libraries. Since political campaigns are communication campaigns, Selnow concludes that candidates who successfully inform, persuade, enlighten, and even confuse voters will win votes. Selnow also examines the debate between those who argue that new technologies have improved efficiency and those who believe that the innovations have affected society in other ways. Scholars and students of American political communication must read this book; the lively style will also make it exciting reading for anyone interested in this new political tool.

Malovic and Selnow examine the evolution of the press-government relationship in Croatia from the Tito era to the present. Their story is one of three interacting players: the Croatian government which until recently has sat firmly in control, the compliant press which seemed little motivated to change, and the largely quiescent public which demanded little from its press or its government. A provocative, often first-hand account that will be of interest to scholars and researchers involved with Balkan current affairs, journalism, and politics.

In Regional Interest Magazines of the United States, Sam G. Riley and Gary W. Selnow focus on those magazines that direct their attention to a particular city or region and reach a fairly general readership intersted in entertainment and information. This work is a follow-up to their earlier Index to "City and Regional Magazines of the United States." Titles are arranged alphabetically to facilitate access; each entry includes a historical essay on the magazine's founding, development, editorial policies, and content. Entries also include two sections that provide data on information sources and publication history, arranged in tabular form for ready reference.

In choosing the magazines to be profiled, Riley and Selnow attempted to represent not only the biggest and most successful of this genre, but also some smaller and newer titles, plus significant earlier magazines that are no longer in print. Special care was also taken to achieve an even geographical spread. To attain greater accuracy, regional writers were enlisted to do the entries on their own region. These writers provide valuable information on how the various magazines began, how conditions have caused them to change, their problems, their editors and publishers, and their content as well as colorful and little known facts of their operation. Magazines were arranged alphabetically, and two informative appendices list the profiled titles by founding date and geographic location. This volume will be a valuable resource for students of magazine publishing history.

This book provides a listing of 920 general-interest consumer magazines that specialize geographically. Comprising this highly active magazine genre are city magazines (i.e., "New York," "Washingtonian"); regional magazines ("Sunset," "Vermont Life"); city speciality magazines ("Houston Home and Garden," "Hartford Woman"), which specialize both geographically and by subject matter; and regional speciality magazines ("Southern Homes," "Virginia Wildlife"). The book's three main sections--arranged alphabetically by title, chronologically by founding date, and geographically by state--cover regional interest magazines that have been in publication since 1950. Each entry in the alphabetical listing shows title, any known title changes, dates of publication, city and state of publication, and a sample of libraries that hold files of the magazine's back issues.

For historical perspective, an appendix provides a representative alphabetical listing of magazines that published and perished prior to 1950 and that identified themselves by city, state, or region. The index's companion volume, "Regional Interest Magazines of the United States" (Greenwood), forthcoming, will contain in-depth profiles of roughly 100 of these magazines. This unique reference source will make a valuable addition to any library.

This book is well documented, well written, well researched and is up-to-date. It is non-sexist. It is more than a manual for business communicators.' It is more than a book of how to's.' And it is more than a book of do's and don'ts. The authors and contributors skillfully draw upon a broad range of social sciences literature and their personal communication experience, both of which make this book invaluable in our understanding of the relationship between communication theory and practice. Beyond that, they offer clear guidelines for effective public communication. "Public Relations Review"

This book discusses the strategy of targeted communication and explains the steps necessary to plan and implement an effective information program. Selnow and Crano both place their recommendations in a communication theory and research perspective and show them to have practical application in real-world programs. They deal not only with the how to's, but with the why's as well.

Fifty years ago, the political whistle-stop tour was thus named because trains blew their whistles twice when making unscheduled stops in backwater towns. Like its distant cousin, the electronic whistle-stop brings the candidate's message directly to the people, but with one outstanding difference: the new whistle-stop offers politicians an accuracy, efficiency, and success at voter persuasian unimaginable to by earlier whistle-stoppers such as Harry Truman. As Selnow shows, American political campaigns have an extraordinary affinity for electronic devices. They have seized upon electronic bulletin boards, home pages, and electronic libraries. Since political campaigns are communication campaigns, Selnow concludes that candidates who successfully inform, persuade, enlighten, and even confuse voters will win votes. Selnow also examines the debate between those who argue that new technologies have improved efficiency and those who believe that the innovations have affected society in other ways. Scholars and students of American political communication must read this book; the lively style will also make it exciting reading for anyone interested in this new political tool.