In the last twenty years, the teaching of reading in Britain has moved away from an interest in how children take delight in, and make meaning of, their literature to a preoccupation with a mechanistic approach to literacy which breaks down texts into bite-sized chunks and fragments reading into a series of isolated skills. Although an expensive,…

Presents experimental tests of assumptions about the ways in which readers distinguish fact from opinion in a defamatory context. Examines differences in impact on readers based upon their perceptions of whether a report is fact or opinion. Finds that opinion causes more harm to reputation than does fact. (MM)

A study of reader response to newspaper articles in a defamatory context tested: (1) the judicial assumption that the macro-environment in which statements appear is important to a reader's distinguishing between fact and opinion; (2) the possibility that a byline may influence a reader's characterization of statements; and (3) the idea that…