Data from personal interviews with 268 black adults living in predominantly black neighborhoods of San Francisco, California, were used to examine the relationships among political participation, media exposure, and various individual characteristics. Results showed that reading general news magazines had the strongest interaction with the three political involvement variables, reaching statistical significance in every equation. Another consistent predictor was the reading of black-oriented news magazines. Viewing black-oriented public affairs television programs was specifically associated with campaign participation. Exposure to general public affairs on television was notable for its consistent lack of association with any of the political participation variables. The only noteworthy predictors of media use were age and education, while news magazine and newspaper use are associated with higher income, but not significantly so. Psychological measures in the study made minimal contributions to the understanding of blacks' political participation. These findings suggest that media exposure, rather than being an independent variable, facilitates the activation of background and psychological variables into political participation. (RL)