In this article, I discuss three issues of theoretical importance that recent media agenda-setting research faces. First, what is the nature of the dependent variable of the agenda-setting hypothesis (that is, perceived salience or importance of public issues) in terms of cognitive psychology? Does it mean an automatic response caused by the accessibility bias, or is it based on a more thoughtful, judgment? Second, is it possible that the concepts of attribute-agenda setting and framing be converged or reconciled? Third, will the agenda-setting role of mass media survive the rapidly changing media environment? In other words, will the consensus-building function performed by news media be sustained?

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The purpose of this article is to clarify what cultivation theory is and to provide suggestions for future research. First, after briefly examining the original theory of Gerbner and his colleagues, I present a two-dimensional analytical framework that may contribute to the further development of the theory. Then I review major criticisms of the original theory and ask whether the theory can withstand those criticisms. Most studies reviewed here make some contributions that advance the original theory, but they also tend to miss Gerbner's underlying theoretical motivation (investigation of the ideological effects of television). Giving due credit to both Gerbner et al . and their critics, I attempt to show how to redirect cultivation research.

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The spiral of silence theory is known as one of the most influential public opinion theories but it has not been verified well. Though a meta-analysis reported the small but significant relationship between subjective pervasiveness of respondents' opinion and the willingness to express their opinions (Glynn et al., 1997), findings are inconsistent. One of the main reasons of inconsistency is, as many researchers have pointed out, the difficulty in manipulation of theoretical assumptions. Reexamining main assumptions of the theory and findings of the spiral of silence studies, the author suggests that further investigation of the hardcore is required from the point of view of social networks.

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This paper is intended as a reconsideration of the different relationships between power and the mass media. To begin with, based on Lukes's categories, I classify these relationship into three or four types. This classification depends on whether we consider mass media to be the subject of power, the medium of power or the space of power. Then, I review how structural Marxists and Cultural Studies have considered this problem. Structural Marxists regard power as `the relation' between the ruling and the ruled classes. The Marxist view of power has led Cultural Studies to advocate the `struggle in reading the mass media'.

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Soon after the Korean War broke out in June 1950, the United States carried out two kinds of propaganda broadcasts : "Voice of United Natrons Command " produced in Tokyo, and "Voice of America," relayed from New York. Both made use of NHK equipment. This study investigates the circumstances of these propaganda broadcasts. Although domestic laws prohibited foreign governments from using NHK equipment, directives issued by GHQ/SCAP made it possible. This continued even after Japan became independent again. The role of NHK as a public service was seriously compromised as a result of its being used for the purpose of the war.

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Agenda-setting research has expanded the McCombs and Shaw paradigm during the past thirty years by investigating how the agenda is set. The pursuit of this question has lead to the development of the single-issue, longitudinal approach, which grasp the three main agendas (the media agenda, the public agenda, the policy agenda) and analyzes their interrelations. This essay examines the usefulness and the limits of this approach, comparing it with the traditional hierarchical approach. Based on research on dioxin cases in Japan and other scholarly studies in the United States, the author concludes that when one issue is traced over time with the longitudinal approach, the influence of one agenda upon another is better explained.

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The term "digital divide" has become established in international society, and the question of an information gap between North and South seems to have reemerged. In view of this global situation, the media environment within developing countries should be reconsidered. What should be noted here is that "national development" always precedes the question of media and media systems in developing countries. In this paper, in order to expose the invisible relations between media and "development" ideology in the Third Word, mass-media policy in terms of national development in Indonesia is examined. Paticularly, "Sambung Rasa Communication" strategy and "Kelompencapir" are focused on as the most important and unique mass-media policies in the Suharto New Order Era. Such an examination sheds light on the social structure tacitly created by and around mass media, and also illuminates the power relations that operate under the complicity of the ideology of "development" and mass media In Indonesia.

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This paper aims to reconsider the culture of postwar Japan based on the readership of Heibon during the first half of the 1950s. I have analyzed readers' contributions, interviewed people concerned, and used records. I have found that the readers shared a sense of togetherness and communicated not only with the editors but also with each other, and that this sense contributed greatly to the creation of a prototype of popular culture in postwar Japan. The results indicate that we need to reinvestigate the mentality of people at this time from the perspective of the formation of modern culture.

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In this article, the structures of a news text are considered theoretically and methodologically. Some structures of a news text-such as news schemata, thematic structures, and script structures-have previously been suggested. These structures, however, are inadequate for the purpose of this article, which explores a new perspective on social phenomena. "Issue-relevance structure analysis" is the term that has been coined for this approach. Issue-relevance structure means the relations among issues in a news text. Focusing on under-valued issues in this structure leads to new perspectives. Examples of analysis are provided and compared with previous qualitative analyses to illustrate the usefulness of this method.

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In the study of media, it is becoming difficult to argue concepts of subjectivity because recent technologies of communication have obscured the role of the subject in communication processes. In this paper, we attempt to re-constitute concepts of subjectivity on the basis of the "Aida-Gara" model, which Tetsuro Watsuji presented in his ethical study. The model of the "Aida-Gara" raises a question about the betweenness of subjects in media study. Using the concept of the "Aida-Gara", we can understand communicatioh structures as "expressive-consentient" relations.

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