College and Research Libraries


Revie\.V· Articles 
Communications in Modern Society 

Communications in Modern Society: Fifteen 
Studies of the Mass Media Prepared fo•r 
the Univ·ersity of Illinois Institute of Com-
munications· Research. Edited by Wilbur 
Schramm. Urbana, University of Illinois 
Press, 1948, 252 p. $4.00. 
The small but increasingly important 

corpus of literature in the field of communi-
cations research has gained an important and 
valuable member in this collection of I 5 
essays toward the solution of the problems 
set by the rapid and uncharted expansion of 
the media of mass communication. It is per-
haps typical of the way institutions develop 
that the lineal antecedent1 of this volume 
should have been concerned with the admin-
istration of mass communications in the 
public interest, and that the book now re-
viewed, appearing six years later from an-
other midwestern university, should be 
concerned primarily with research. The ad-
ministration of mass communications has gone 
on for better or worse during a critical six 
years in the history of our country. That 
administration has not been without its staff 
work, however, and this volume reports the 
results of some of the research of the war 
years, together with a statement of some of 
the social and political problems of mass 
communication which have been identified 
and discussed in the interim since August, 
1941. 

The book grows out of the papers pre-
sented at an Institute of Communications 
Research held at the University of Illinois 
in the spring of 1948. To quote editor 
Schramm's penetrating introduction, "A 
group of communications research men met 
... to talk about the problems of their young 
field of study, to measure w·hat they had 
done and what they would do against what 
needs to be done. . . They came to take 
stock. They asked questions-more than 

1 Print, Radio, and Film in a Democracy: Ten Pa-
pers on the Administration of Mass Communications in 
the Public Interest-read before the Sixth Annual 
Institute of the Graduate Library School, The Uni-
versity of Chicago-August 4-9, 1941, edited with an 
introduction by Douglas Waples. Chicago: University 
of Chicago Press, 1942. 

they could answer. They talked of how they 
might make their efforts more than the sum 
of their individual efforts, and of how they 
might use those efforts toward the better 
understanding of communications and toward 
the maximum use of communications for the 
public good." Out of this talking grew the · 
15 papers presented in this volume. 

The papers fall naturally into six groups 
of problems: Problems of Control, Extent, 
and Support; Problems of Process and Chan-
nels; Problems of Audiences; Problems of 
the New Media; Problems of Social Effect; 
and Problems ·of Responsibility. 

The section "Problems of Control, Extent , 
and Support" begins with a detailed exposi- · 
tion of the problems of "Communications and 
Government" by Fred S. Siebert, ·who con-
siders government, in order, as a restrictive 
agency, a regulating agency, a facilitating 
agency, and a participating agency. The sub-
sidiary problems of these four aspects are 
many, complex and diverse. Tentative con-
clusions of Mr. Siebert: "Let the gov-
ernment keep its hands off information 
content, let it be efficient but cautious in 
regulating the market place, let it be un-
hampered in facilitating the work of existing 
media, and let it use its own media where 
such use seems desirable." 

· "The Economic Problems in Private Own-
ership of Communications" are next discussed 
by Charles V. Kinter. He concludes that 
the economic problems of our mass com-
munications industry have not become too 
complex for private owners to solve, and still 
fulfil their social responsibilities. He does 
not venture to say whether he thinks it likely 
that private owners will be overly concerned 
about their social responsibilities while work-
ing hard .at solving admittedly complex eco-
nomic problems. 

This problem is in part touched upon in the 
next essay by Raymond B. Nixon, editor of 
the Journalism Quarterly, in discussing im-
plications of the decreasing numbers of com-
petitive newspapers. Working from Morris 
B. Ernst's well known concern about the in-

182 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES 



creasing number of American Cities in which 
there is no daily newspaper competition, Mr. 
Nixon admits the facts as presented by Mr. 
Ernst but denies the necessity of the conclu-
sions Mr. Ernst reaches. Making the point 
that the one-publisher town is not an evil in 
itself, but depends on the individual pub-
lisher, Mr. Nixon discovers that this one 
publisher has, in fact, a good deal of competi-
tion from other mass media such as the radio, 
motion picture, and in some areas television. 
The outcome of that kind of competition is, 
of course, very much in doubt. The author 
looks to the development of communications 
research to help all competing media find their 
proper audience. 

The least satisfactory portion of the book 
is the second section on "Problems of Process 
and Channels," probably because work in this 
field is somewhat new and lacks the concrete 
objectiveness of some of the other aspects of 
the communication process. "On Psychology 
of the Communication Process," by Carl 
Hovland of Yale University, is in large part 
a technical discussion of the learning process 
as a tentative attempt to define methods of 
showing the effects of a given item of com-
munication. Mr. Hovland concludes that 
"we do not today have a psychology of com-
munications," but that we "have all the es-
sential ingredients-the research techniques, 
the concepts and hypotheses, and the prob-
lems-to permit developing a genuine science 
of communications in the coming decade or 
two." 

Even less satisfactory is Edgar Dale's 
"Psychology of Communication by Picture." 
This is little more than a list of the various 
media which a librarian writing on audio-
visual aids might talk about. Literally noth-
ing new has been added. So too with "The 
Sociology of Literature" by Leo Lowenthal. 
This essay is a subjective description of au-
thorship and the author's problem of com-
municating his idea to his reader. This 
reader came away with no increased knowl-
edge of either sociology or literature <~;nd 
with no sense of clarity as to what the phrase 
"sociology of "literature" might mean. 

The objective pace of the book picks up 
again in the third section devoted to "Prob-
lems of Audiences." Here are two papers: 
one devoted to the reading audience by Ralph 
0. Nafziger, and another to the listening 

APRIL~ 1949 

audienc~ by Elmo C. Wilson. Nafziger's 
paper is notable for its description of the 
technique and results of recent newspaper 
readership surveys. It is notable too for its 
frank realization of the embryonic stage of 
such study. A beginning has been made and 
some specific facts are known, but many 
variables remain to be isolated and studied 
separately before we can attain a full knowl-
edge of the effects which reading of a news-
paper has upon a reader. Elmo C. Wilson 
does much the same sort of job for radio 
research, and · is aware in much the same 
way of the myriad problems which remain 
before we can gain adequate control of radio 
as a medium of communication. He has 
some interesting notes too on the beginnings · 
of research in television. Both men are 
challengingly conscious of the difficulties that 
still lie ahead of the exciting news that media 
research will one day reveal. 

The essentially elementary stage so far 
achieved by communications research is best 
expressed by Bernard Berelson in these 
words: "Some kinds of communication on 
some kinds of issues brought to the attention 
of some kinds of people under some kinds 
of conditions have some kinds of effects." 
These five groups of factors: media, issues, 
people, conditions and effects, are susceptible 
to research in isolation and in relation with 
each and it is not until a sufficient amount 
of imaginative research has been accom-
plished that it will be possible to identify 
definitely the specific kinds of communication 
which have specific kinds of effect. The 
book ends with an essay on "Professional 
Freedom and Responsibility in the Press," by 
Ralph D. Casey, and an essay on the "Re-
sponsibility of an Editor," by Robert J. 
Blakely. Both essays are intelligent and 
readable approaches to the problems confront-
ing the editor of any newspaper in the se-
lection and display of the news that comes 
over local, national, and international wires 
each day. They are worth reading as inter-
esting individual approaches to the problems 
of editorship in the light of much recent 
criticism of the American press. 

The book is a useful and inspiring descrip-
tion of the achievements and the limitations 
of communications research today, complete 
with informative footnotes and a bibliography 
of roo titles for further reading. This book 

183 

. 



-and a large portion of the bibliography 
as well-every librarian has an obligation 
to read in order to gain an understanding of 
the processes which communicate so many 
ideas, impressions and attitudes to so many 
people literally every hour of every day of 
every year. The results of these communi-
cation processes, as they are embodied in one 
physical form or another, constitute the ma-
terials of which our libraries are made. 

Librarians who read the volume will be 
quick to notice one or two obvious omis-
sions. It h~s nothing to say about audience 
research in the motion picture field, in the 
periodical field and in the book field. It is 
possible, of course, to dismiss the motion 

· picture as having dedicated itself to enter-

tainment, pure and simple; but research has 
shown that attitudes and information are 
most effectively transmitted by the motion 
picture-even when the intent is only enter-
tainment. The omission of magazines is less 
defensible, for they rival newspapers in num-
ber, in quality of content and in probable 
effect. The librarian will most regret the 
omission of specific attention to research in 
the book field. Perhaps this omission will 
serve to point out the need, arid will cause 
librarians and publishers to undertake the 
necessary research to provide some of the 
same kinds of answers that the radio and the 
press is using so effectively.-LeRoy Charles 
Merritt, School of Librarianship, University 
of California. 

Public Relations 

Public Relations for Colleges and Universi-
ties,· a Manual of Practical Procedure. 
By Christopher Edgar Parsons. Stanford 
University, Stanford University Press, 
1946, 61p. 
In the short space of 61 pages, Christopher 

Edgar Parsons has written a different kind of 
book on public relations, and an important 
one. In his own words the author attempts, 
successfully for the most part, "To define 
and explain the administrator's own position 
and function as to public relations, and, fur-
ther, to con truct a sound public relations 
procedure." 

The author is a forceful writer and gives 
the impression that he writes from a deep 
knowledge of the subject. He sticks closely 
to the fundamentals of public relations as 
opposed to publicity. After pointing out the 
importance of public relations to an educa-
tional institution, he emphasizes that the 
only firm foundation upon which public rela-
tions can be successfully developed is pres-
tige. Prestige, he says, does not depend on 
wealth . or size but results from "public recog-
nition of a worthy undertaking well done." 
Among the several pitfalls into which institu-
tions are prone to fall and which militate 
against prestige, one is of particular interest 
to this reviewer; that of accepting gifts 
(white elephants) which lead to over-expan-
sion and necessitates the spreading of already 
meager resources thinner and thinner. Li-

brarians have frequently been placed in this 
situation. 

All people connected with the institution 
in any way, and some who are not, comprise 
the real instruments of good public relations. 
The people connected with a college or uni-
versity are rated in descending order of im-
portance as follows: faculty, student body , 
alumni, parents of students, and trustees. 
These groups and all their members are pos-
sible agents to help in the creation of prestige. 
The problem lies in organizing and directing 
their efforts. 

First of all the way in which the institu-
tion is to excel must be determined. Then 
a committee of 10 leaders should be selected 
from these groups to work with the ad-
ministrator in planning and developing the 
program. The author shows a profound 
knowledge of the principles of leadership in 
the paragraphs dealing with the selection of 
these men. If these selections are wisely 
made the president will have a nucleus of 
informed, intelligent and capable support 
which constitute a strong base from which 
to . launch an effective continuing program 
of public relations. 

The problem at this point is to put the 
people to work and to make them feel a part 
of the program. The solution lies in ac-
quainting each group, through the leaders, 
with the definition of the institution's area 
of prestige and by inviting suggestions from 

184 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES