BACKGROUND Mass media are a leading source of health information for general public. We wished to examine the relationship between the intensity of media coverage for selected health topics and their actual risk to public health. METHODS Mass media reports in the United States on emerging and chronic health hazards (severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), bioterrorism, West Nile Fever, AIDS...

,The importance of knowledge as a basis for social power has been noted by a number of scholars,' but less well appreciated is the fact that control of knowledge is central to development and maintenance of power. The knowledge industry, of which mass communication is part, currently accounts for more than a fourth of the gross national product and attests to the social importance of the demand...

Mass movement of people over national borders constitutes the major feature of the today's world. Immigration and its implications are widely debated, whereby the term 'immigration', whenever appeared in a text, hardly ever refers to some unambigously defined concept. To deal with the question of immigration is, therefore, to be faced with a variety of definitions and connotations. The thesis c...