A Cross-Cultural Study of News Media Preferences

Abstract

Research evidence has consistently shown that there is a high dependence on the mass media for news among U.S. audiences in general. Roper surveys (Roper Organization, 1985) have, since 1959, showed a consistent preference by the American public for the mass media as their source of most news. Other studies have a]so reported that, although the mass media were the most pervasive first source of information, interpersonal communication played a significant role in the diffusion of news that was shocking or was of near-epic or crisis proportion (Adams, Mullen, & Wilson, 1969; Fathi, 1973; Gantz, 1983; Gantz, Trenholm, & Pittman, 1976; Haroldsen & Harvey, 1979; Troldahl & Dam, 1965-1966). Even then, there was the dependence on the mass media to which people turned for the verification of and for additional information about the interpersonally disseminated news. Occasionally, the use of interpersonal sources was dependent on factors such as (a) the need to cross-check information from other sources with interpersonal sources, (b) the atypicality of the news event and the time of day of its occurrence, (c) access to the mass media, (d) interruption of regular programming with frequent bulletins, and (e) the ease and appropriateness of the use of interpersonal channels (see, e.g., Faber & O'Guinn, 1984; Fry & McCain, 1983; Gantz, 1983). However, among these audiences, racial differences between Blacks and Whites have been identified in media exposure, perception, and effects. Whites expose themselves to more print media than do Blacks (Bogart, 1972). Blacks consider television the most