Six opinion magazines ("Christian Century,""Commonweal,""Christianity Today,""Nation,""National Review," and "New Republic") were analyzed for their treatment of legally recognized conscientious objectors during the Vietnam War era, 1964-72. The purpose of the study was to find how these journals reconciled their obligations under the social responsibility theory to represent fairly the viewpoints of an identifiable minority with their responsibility not to provide information about internal dissent to the nation's enemies. Conscientious objectors received substantial attention from four of these journals during the Vietnam era--24 editorials and 38 other articles. Amost all items conveyed a favorable bias toward objectors--46 were positive, 13 neutral, and 3 negative. Almost half the coverage was provided by one magazine, the "Christian Century," which supported not only traditional objectors, but also those who refused to fight on novel grounds. The thematic content of the editorials failed to support Siebert's hypothesis that "the enforcement of restraints increases as the stresses on the stability" of society increase. The evidence indicates that some editorialists exercised a great deal of freedom in defending minority opponents of United States policy during the Vietnam war. (Author/RB)