NEWS MEDIA EXPOSURE AND ITS LEARNING EFFECTS DURING THE PERSIAN-GULF-WAR

In a comparison of two probability surveys, one conducted immediately after the Persian Gulf War and the other a year and half earlier, this study showed significantly higher levels of news exposure across all media channels during the war. Both exposure to newspaper and to cable and PBS news programming were positively related to levels of knowledge about the war. Exposure to CNN leveled off the potential differences in knowledge acquisition across educational levels. Exposure to network TV news might be related to gaining ''image-oriented' information, while exposure to newspaper and to cable and PBS news programming were related to learning more abstract and complex information about the war.