A study extended the investigation of readers' imaginative processes (spontaneous imagery and emotional response) to a new genre of texts: newspaper articles. A sample of 25 articles was randomly selected from a well-defined population of naturally occurring texts (articles with one or more subheadings and three to five paragraphs before the first subheading from the international section of the "New York Times"). The articles were presented with their titles and datelines and the text down to the first subheading (100-180 words). Twenty-seven undergraduates rated their responses to the story (familiarity, interest, comprehension, imagery, emotional response) on six-point Likert-type scales. Ratings on all scales demonstrated considerable variability across stories. As in previous studies with literary texts and feature journalism articles, imagery was found to be highly correlated with affective responses, and comprehension was related to both imagery and affective responses. Neither general topic nor story familiarity was related to comprehension. (Three tables of data are included; a sample story with accompanying rating scales is attached.) (Author/RS)