With the development of the multimedia, general analytic methods of visual information are reguired for media studies. In this article, the studies of the effects of visual information in the field of mass communication research are psycologically reviewed. The important elements of visual information may be divided into three parts. 1.Effects of camera angle and camera movement. Some experiments prove that camera angle and camera movement affect the power of figures in the monitor. 2.Effects of the optical information: Color/Black and White TV and the complexity of visual images. The viewer of Black and White TV tends to concentrate on the audio-information. The complexity does not articulate the border as a unit in the visual narratives. 3.Effects of the speed of presentation of visual message and the continuity/discontinuity of visual information. Some experiments disprove that the speed of a presentation of visual message prevents the viewer understanding. The proposed approach provides a key to understanding the viewing process in mass communication. It is necessary to enrich the experimental materials and to collaborate with people actively engaged in the media industry.

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This study, based on the experience in Japan with the development of television broadcasting, aims to analyze the impact of the increase in the number of the television stations in the local area on the television sales revenue structure. Several regression models are created and checked for validity in order to explain appropriately the television sales revenue structure in each local area. A prefecture is in principle adopted as a unit for representing each local area, because a private television station is basically allowed to broadcast its programmes in the respective prefecture. However, both Okayama-Kagawa and Tottori-Shimane areas are exceptional, because each forms one local area, having television stations which broadcast programmes concurrently for two prefectures. Television sales revenues per fiscal year local area from 1975 to 1990 are measured for the criterion variable. In this period, the increase in the number of stations is classified into three patterns; namely from two stations to three, from two to four and from four to five. It becomes clear that the television sales revenue at a local area is best predicted mostly by adopting the sales revenue in the previous year as well as the local macro economic index as the predictor variables, where there is no increase in the number of stations. Moreover, it turns out that the influence of the sales revenue in the previous year is very strong, namely its coefficient is about 0.9 for some areas. As for the local areas where the number of stations have increased, the dummy variables representing the increase in the number of stations should be adopted for explaining the television sales revenue, adding to the sales revenue in the previous year and the local macro economic index. The following results are obtained by applying these regression models on the areas where the number of stations have increased in the given period; (a)The increase in the number of the television stations brings about the magnification of the revenue structure equal to about 2 billion yen (real) for the year when the increase in the number of stations has occurred. (b)The effect of the increase in the number of stations from two to three on the revenue structure is statistically similar to that from three to four. (c)The dummy variable on the increase in the number of stations at the Okayama-Kagawa area does not show any statistical significance. The change in the revenue structure in this area had possibly taken place even before 1985 when the new station was established. Television stations in each prefecture had just entered into the other prefecture, because PTT declared previously in 1981 that two prefectures should form one area for the private television broadcasting.

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In this paper, the relationship between TV news format and viewer's memory is considered. TV viewers mainly organize their knowledge and memory about the world from TV news. But TV news viewer are affected by the way producers manipulate the form of TV news program in not only the content and meaning of the TV news message, but also in the way of manipulating the form of TV news to affect the viewer's memory. TV news consists of talking heads, the spot, captions, graphics, narration, and back ground music. This paper considers how the manipulation of these factors affects viewer's memory. This TV news study, especially the study about TV news format and viewer's memory is classified roughly as follows: 1)spot or visual scene effects, 2)cut complexity and speed effects, 3)color and black-white effects, 4)camera angle effect, 5)primacy effect, 6)recapping effect, 7)caption effects, etc. The effects of these kind of variables have been verified by the experimental approach, and it was found that they do affect the viewer's cognitive process. In the study TV of news effects, one of the most important issues is visual-audio interaction in TV news. TV news has both visual information and audio information. The visual information and audio information mutually interact in the viewer's cognitive process. Such an interraction affects viewer's memory. For example, when visual and audio are redundant, viewers understand and remember easily, but, when visual and audio are not redundant, viewers can't understand and remember easily. That is, when visual and audio are not redundant, they impede each other, as a result of changing viewer's memory. Hence, TV news viewers are affected by manipulation of news factors. Such a manipulation occurs in several ways. This paper points out the necessity of studing cognitive-level effects in TV news viewing.

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Nisikie-Sinbun, a kind of leaflet combining traditional Ukiyoe color printing (Nisikie) and news articles (Sinbun), was first published in 1874 just a few years after the modern newspaper industry began its history in Japan. The first Nisikie-Sinbun called"Tokyo Nichinichi Sinbun"was based on articles of the daily newspaper of the same title. Approximately forty titles of Nisikie-Sinbun were published in Tokyo, Osaka and other cities till the mid-1880's. Although important as a visual news medium, Nisikie-Sinbun has not been paid much attention either in historical newspaper studies or aesthetically oriented studies on Ukiyoe because of its ambiguous position. This monograph aims to describe conditions under which Nisikie-Sinbun was published, in relation to newspaper publishing of that period. About 750 sheets of original material were studied in this research and the findings attempt to clarify the role of Nisikie-Sinbun as a news medium mainly for illiterate and semiliterate people. In Tokyo, where Nisikie-Sinbun was first published, the titles, serial numbers and topics were borrowed from the parent daily newspapers. Some members of the staff of"Tokyo Nichinichi Sinbun"including an illustrator and writers joined forces to make its visual version. Their ideas and experience in showing news graphically led to the illustrated newspaper called"Tokyo Eiri Sinbun", the first illustrated newspaper in Japan, published by the same members. Two representative Nisikie-Sinbun series, "Tokyo Nichinichi Sinbun"and"Yuubinhouchi Sinbun", usually followed the original newspaper articles at intervals of from several days to two months. The regional aspect of their topics appeared to be concentrated in Tokyo and its surroundings. Because of this regularity and localization, Nisikie-Sinbun deserves recognition as the first periodical of visual medium in Japan, though it was said to have been sold as a gift. In Osaka, where Nisikie-Sinbun was published a few months later than in Tokyo, it enjoyed the role and popularity of the only news medium bearing"Sinbun (news)"in its titles, because there was as yet no daily newspaper. Most of these issues were published by leading Ezousiya, companies for vulgar publication and were criticized as false stories, though they were mostly based on newspapers of Tokyo or original reports on Osaka and nearby regions. They were treated the same as a newspaper and two of them were in fact officially registered as newspapers. They were also appreciated by many in the "Naniwa Sinbun", the first daily newspaper in Osaka published from December 1876. Their importance is that they created interest in the newspaper among uneducated people and prepared a market for popular newspapers.

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In this paper, the author described the development of propaganda for Afro-Americans after the outbreak of the Pacific War, from the viewpoint of Japanese foreign propaganda policies, and the relations with broadcasting of"Hinomaru Hour"in Japanese shortwave. This paper consists of three chapters. In chapter I, the author explained concerns about propaganda for Afro-Americans by the Foreign Office, particularly the information in 1942, on the press. Above all, the racial problem in America is the main theme in Japanese propaganda for Afro-Americans such as their states in the army and their riot in 1943. In chapter II, the author explained that propaganda for Afro-Americans was planned to arouse public opinions in America, "Negroes Strategy in Wartime", proposed by Hikita, the foreign officer, indicates the utility of Afro-Americans as prisoners in wartime. that almost coincided with foreign propaganda policy. Secondy, Japanese propaganda for Afro-Americans has some contradictions. The Japanese propaganda mentioned generality on the one hand, while mentioning particularism on the other. Essentially, racial equality and humanism were advocated in generality, while Japanese spirits, Japanese culture and Japanese jutice were stressed in particularism. In chapter III, the author explained that the realities and the effect of shortwave for Afro-Americans. The Japanese military carried out"Hinomaru Hour"made by prisoners for Afro-Americans. The message was adressed to their families by prisoners of War. In 1944, the program was reorganized as"Humanity Calls"and"Postman Calls"which ended in failure in military interference. Hence, the author chracterized propaganda for Afro-Americans as one of the foreign propaganda policies in wartime Japan. The contradictions of propaganda for Afro-Americans is symbolic of all all of Japanese foreign propaganda.

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The author adopts the hypothesis that not whole process of human communication is objectified without leaving out its essence because of the condition that a human communication rule could not be defined as the requisite for demonstrating the accomplishment of human communication at least as physically. According to this assumption, the author, examining some typical concepts of human communication, presents a new idea which is not categorized by conventional thoughts but describes certain aspects of human communication. Referring, firstly, to communication as transmission, the author concluded that its extent of applicability is beyond the semantic problem concerning isomorphism of meaning between the message transmitted by a sender and the one perceived by a receiver;secondly, to'communication as communness'as a concept compensating the defect of the'transmission'model, the author concluded that it is no more than induction from empirical idealism so far;thirdly, to'communication as strategy'as development style of rhetoric that presumes the semantic problem is no longer present, the author concluded that it has high potentiality as a means of a one-way control over another. Considering the matters mentioned above, the author brings forward the idea of'textural communication.' It is'textural'because this is a style of communication based on a sensibility enjoying texture on surface of information itself, that is, reducing perceived message to absolute materiality without semantic meaning, and abstracting substantiality from human communication symbols. This idea of'textural communication'is validated under the condition that what one could clarify concerning human communication is not the mental aspect of the communicator and communicatee nor the meaning of the message which is interchanged reciprocally between them but just the physical aspect of the information, i.e., the entity of human communication as a symbol in itself, and in this paper, the author introduces some examples supporting this supposition.

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