This thesis used a questionnaire to survey use of the editorial conference and other editorial practices at daily newspapers in Indiana. The responses from seventy-four dailies were reported. Nine were found to use the editorial conference as frequently as once a week. The thesis identified those dailies and examined the details of their conference: their members, the job-titles of their members, their editorial output, the times and places of their meetings, the functions of the conference, and the reported advantages and disadvantages of the conference. In addition, the thesis identified the persons, by job-title, who write editorials at Indiana dailies not reporting use of the editorial conference. It tabulated and compared editorial output by job-title and, also, identified sources of non-staff written editorials. It examined editorial output at the dailies ranked according to their circulation, the number of persons who were reported as writing editorials and the process the dailies reported that they use to select the subjects and to decide the attitudes of editorials.

This thesis is a topical history of The Haqerstown Exponent, which is a thriving weekly newspaper in Wayne County, Indiana. This paper is divided into five chapters. Chapter One, the "Introduction," briefly reviews all the newspapers that have been published in Hagerstown, Indiana, since its founding in 1832. Chapter Two, "Content of The Haqerstown Exponent," reviews the general content of the Exponent through its one hundred years of publication. Chapter Three, "Technical Developments and Problems," presents technical changes and problems in the publication of the Exponent. Chapter Four, "Biographical Sketches of the Exponent Editors and Publishers," contains biographical information on the five editors and publishers of the Exponent. Chapter Five presents a summary and the findings of this study of the Exponent, including suggestions for possible extensions of research presented in this paper.

The attitudes of all Hoosier women (304) employed full-time in editorial (writing/managing) capacities on Indiana's seventy-eight dailies were determined through a mail questionnaire that queried demographics and five subject areas: job conditions, self-concept, upward mobility, male versus female situations, and effects of the women's movement.The researcher expected Hoosier women to feel discrimination against their chances for upward mobility and in their assignments and job conditions, as was found in prior studies. It was also expected that the women's movement would have little impact on women in a corn-belt midwestern state.The results indicated that nearly half of the respondents had experienced discriminatory practices, with 40 percent of them claiming to have person-ally attempted to better the situation. While the women overwhelmingly liked their jobs and felt females to be as good or better than males in reportorial duties, the key finding of the research was that overall, Hoosier women were undecided (in their mean responses) to nearly 40 percent of the instrument's statements.Further, the women perceived not the original five dimensions of questions, but three: "us versus them" that related to the newspapers' treatment of employees, in particular women; personal attitude questions; and women's movement questions.It was also found that the women, by virtue of their responses to the instrument, tended to group themselves into two "types" that were not related to job conditions, pay, education, or the bulk of the demographics. The only significant factor that differed in the two groups was number of years in journalism, as Type 1 women were younger than Type 2. Overall, the Type 1 women were found to be more conscious of discrimination toward women and leaned heavily toward the male versus female dimension of statements. Type 2, the older women, were aware of problems in the field, but were more satisfied with their jobs and positions in life, with more concern focusing on self-concept and job conditions.Mean responses of the demographic questions provided a profile of the average Hoosier newspaperwoman in this first study to be undertaken in Indiana. The research became only the fifth such study done in an individual state. Most of the demographic findings were similar to those found in other states or in national surveys with the exception of pay, where Indiana women experienced a decidedly lower mean wage.