A study compared six midwestern United States campus newspapers with their respective general circulation newspapers. A content analysis of these publications was designed to determine whether local news stories in daily student newspapers are as readable, interesting, and thorough as those found in general circulation daily newspapers. The daily student newspaper and the daily newspaper of general circulation in each of the six communities chosen for geographic diversity in the Midwest were sampled during four consecutive weeks. Results indicated that: (1) student newspapers and community dailies had more similarities than differences when the two types of newspapers were compared for readability and story interest levels; (2) neither laboratory nor independent student newspapers received a clear-cut advantage in issues of readability and interest scaling; and (3) student newspapers at large schools used more personal words and personal sentences than newspapers at smaller schools. (Thirteen tables of data and 29 footnotes are included.) (RS)