A sHoRT time ago I received a voluminous letter from the Walpole of ward politics. After
giving me his" ward's-eye" picture of the present state of Philadelphia politics, he writes
about a mutual acquaintance. I quote," And then I know you'll be very pleased to hear that
Tom Gibson, the colored committeeman in our ward, has been practically assured of
advancement to county X. We have an opening in that office, because a week after election,
the only committeeman in our ward who lost his division, committed suicide by gun. I don't …

It is generally conceded by writers on sociological and political subjects that there is more or
lese ambiguity in the use of the term" Public Opinion." A perueal of the literature yields
almost as many definitions of the term as there are writers who use it. This fact would eeem
to indicate a need for its clarification. Many, if not most, of the standard definitions hold public
opinion to be in the nature of a judgment, falling short of a demonstration but resulting from
rational processes of publlo discussion. Giddings thinks of public opinion as" judgment of a …

In war, truth is said to be the first casualty. Something similar may be said for psychiatry. The
ability of the media to distort public understanding of mental illness is well described (Wahl,
1995; Philo et al, 1994). Psychiatric disorders, their treatments and those who provide them
are all subject to overwhelmingly negative portrayals in the print and broadcast media (Hyler
et al, 1991). Dehumanisation, inaccuracy and sensationalism seem to be the media's stock-
in-trade. Media professionals make no apology for this, citing the provision of impartial …