Page 36 - Historical Dictionary of Political Communication in the United States

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COMMUNICATION THEORY
With her appointment as head of her husband's health care reform task force,
she attracted more coverage. Such magazines as Nation, National Review, New
Republic, Progressive, and The American Spectator, which had not written at
all about Roslyn Carter, Nancy Reagan, or Barbara Bush, commented on her
reputation.
Coverage by other media has not been documented, but it undoubtedly has
been similar. Her political role indicated that she intended to carry the wife
theme in the opposite direction that Nancy Reagan did. While Americans said
they thought the Clintons understood the problems of today's family, many did
not accept the overtly political role.
SOURCES: Sally Quinn, "Look Out! It's Superwoman," Newsweek, February 15,1993,
p. 24; Kenneth T. Walsh, "America's First (Working) Couple," U.S. News, May 10,
1993, p. 33.
Liz Watts

COGNITIVE DISSONANCE. See Leon Festinger.
COHEN, AKIBA (1944- ) has made major contributions to the study of the
effects of television news in society, especially in politics. He obtained his bach-
elor's degree in psychology and sociology from Hebrew University and his
master's and Ph.D. in communication from Michigan State University. Cohen
started his academic career as a lecturer at the Communications Institute of the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
His scholarly contributions include three major books: Almost Midnight: Re-
forming the Late Night News (coauthor), The Television News Interview, and
Social Conflict and Television News (coauthor). All of his books explore the
impact of television news on social perceptions. Social Conflict and Television
News uses data collected from a five-nation study and, using content analyses,
looks at news practices.
SOURCES: Akiba A. Cohen, The Television News Interview, 1992; Akiba A. Cohen,
Hanna Adoni, and Charles R. Bantz, Social Conflict and Television News, 1996; Susan
Herbst, Contemporary Sociology, November 1992.
Jacqueline Nash Gifford
COMMUNICATION RESEARCHERS. See Jay Blumler; Daniel Boorstin;
Albert Hadley Cantril; Hadley Cantril; Steven M. Chaffee; Akiba Cohen; Jack
Dennis; George A. Donohue, Clarice N. Olien, and Philip J. Tichenor; Leon
Festinger; Johan Galtung; Herbert Gans; George Gerbner; Doris Graber; Kath-
leen Hall Jamieson; Elihu Katz; Sidney Kraus; Harold Lasswell; Paul F.
Lazarsfeld; Maxwell McCombs; Jack M. McLeod; Ralph O. Nafziger; Dan
Nimmo; Larry Sabato; Wilbur Schramm; William Stephenson; David M.
Weaver; Bruce M. Westley.
COMMUNICATION THEORY. See Agenda Setting; Congruity; Co-
Orientation; Cultivation; Diffusion; Family Communication Patterns; Framing;