Going beyond the loosely defined but evocative ideas of previous research linking newspaper readership with ties to the local community, the two studies described in this report carefully distinguish between readers' sense of identification and their actual involvement in the community. The first study discussed in the report examines the impact…

Finds that the "settling loop" characterized by home buying affects newspaper subscription rates. (FL)

Reviews the past five years of community ties research. Examines recent research for evidence of progress in resolving important conceptual issues, and discusses problems that still persist despite previous cautions. (RAE)

A survey of 110 Seattle, Washington, newspaper readers revealed that they read twice as many newspaper headlines as units of text, that they "read" more photographs than cutlines, and that they read scarcely any tables. (GT)

Shows how a special marking procedure--having readers leave detailed traces of what they read in a newspaper--revealed important differences in reading behavior. (RL)

A telephone questionnaire was designed to collect data on community identification, community involvement, and newspaper use. The entire questionnaire was pretested three times over the telephone and was revised after each pretest, yielding a final form between five and ten minutes in length. The questionnaire was administered to a proportionate…