Found considerable support for the hypothesis that voters who rely on television use candidates' image characteristics to make their voting choices more than do voters who rely on newspapers. Found little support for the second hypothesis that candidates' stands on issues will play a stronger role among voters who rely on newspapers. (PD)

A study sought answers for seven questions about the public's orientation toward television news. Television interviews were conducted with 823 adult residents of Dane County, Wisconsin, during October 1983 by trained graduate students and advanced undergraduates as part of a communications research methods course. Results showed that the public…

Personal interviews were conducted with 353 eligible voters in Madison, Wisconsin, in October 1976, and repeated with all but 30 after election day to examine the correlation between voters' age, paper reading (especially public affairs), and television watching (especially public affairs), and the amount of behavioral volatility (voter…