Al Hester's communication model sees news flow as being primarily dependent upon national rank in the hierarchy of nations, dominance and weakness of nations, and economic and cultural factors. A sample of 37 newspapers was content analyzed in a study extending this international news flow concept to the intra-national level to determine whether this model is applicable to the flow of information in the United States from 1808 to 1812. During this period, the United States was composed of distinct regions. The centers of governmental and economic power were along the Eastern seaboard, particularly in the coastal areas of New England, the Middle Atlantic States, and the Upper South. The country was conducive to an information imbalance parallel to the imbalance between developed and developing nations. It was hypothesized that a higher percentage of news would flow from the South into the other three regions, that a greater percentage of news content would flow into New England than out of it, and that a greater percentage of news would flow into the frontier from the Eastern region than would be exported from the frontier. Not surprisingly, the major exporter of the news during the period was the South, which encompassed the nation's capital. It was thought that the frontier would be the major recipient of news from other regions, but New England was the primary importer of news. While not a precise fit, certain aspects of Hester's model appear to be useful in studying intra-national news flow. (HTH)