Analyzing Media Messages

Daniel Riffe　is Richard Cole Eminent Professor in Journalism and Mass Communication at UNC-Chapel Hill and editor of Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly. His research examines mass communication and environmental risk, political communication, and research methodology. Before joining UNC-Chapel Hill, he was Presidential Research Scholar in the Social and Behavioral Sciences at Ohio University. Stephen Lacy　is a professor in the Michigan State University School of Journalism, where he has worked since 1985. He has co-edited two other books and served as co-editor of the Journal of Media Economics.　 Frederick G. Fico has been a faculty member in the Michigan State University School of Journalism since 1982. He is a specialist in content analysis, and his research specialty is news coverage of conflict, including elections, and how reporters use sources, particularly women and minorities. His research explores the implications of empirical findings for the values of fairness, balance and diversity in reporting.

1. Introduction 2. Defining Content Analysis as a Social Science Tool 3. Designing Content Analysis 4. Measurement 5. Sampling 6. Reliability 7. Validity 8. Data Analysis 9. Computers