This study uses natural data, primarily, to study patterns of news coverage of the United States Senate in major media of regional and national stature. The following questions are addressed: To what extent do institutional and structural aspects of the Senate (seniority, committee assignment, and senatorial staff size) affect the news potential…

The Associated Press (AP) coverage of the United States senators in the 83rd, 89th, 91st, and 93rd Congresses was studied to determine the impact of various predictor variables. A path model of these variables was developed, reflecting implicit causal assumptions between visibility (press coverage) and such factors as the size of the senator's…

To determine the amount and kind of news about foreign countries available to most small-to-medium-sized mass media in the United States, foreign dateline stories of the Associated Press Interbureau (IB Blend) and the United Press International state wire were content analyzed for two weeks of consecutive days and two "constructed week"…

Senators of the Eighty-third Congress were studied to ascertain what factors were most highly correlated with press coverage for each individual senator. This information was then correlated with an earlier study of the Eighty-ninth, Ninety-first, and Ninety-third Congresses to see what differences might exist which could indicate the development…