| Abstract: | This study examines the role of interpersonal and mass mediachannels in public awareness and comprehension of major newsstories. Unlike previous research which asks about respondentperceptions of their "main source" for news, this study attemptsto determine actual comprehension of stories that had been inthe news during the previous week. On the basis of two separateprobability samples, respondent awareness and comprehensionof a week's news was measured and related to demographic, newsmedia use, and interpersonal discussions variables. A MultipleClassification Analysis of the data indicates that conversationabout the news is a major and often overlooked correlate ofcomprehension, and that interpersonal channels may play at leastas important a role in the public's awareness and understandingof the news as exposure to the news media. |
