In September 1980 John R. Anderson, publisher of Runner's World magazine, was accused by the FTC of accepting cash bribes to give favorable mention to running shoes in the annual shoe-rating survey published by the magazine.

The Official Preppy Handbook by Lisa Birnbach sold 165,000 in the first month after it was published in November 1980; by the end of the year there were 550,000 copies in print and the book was among the bestselling paperbacks of the year.

In April 1983 media consultant John Bowen reported the results of a National Association of Broadcasters survey. According to Bowen, television viewers were increasingly attracted to alternatives such as shows on cable networks because "much of TVs regular fare is seen as repetitious, boring and juvenile."

In January 1987 television talk-show host Phil Donahue became the first Western media representative to visit Chernobyl, site of the disastrous 1986 nuclear-power accident...