In a comparison of two probability surveys, one conducted immediately
after the Persian Gulf War and the other a year and half earlier, this
study showed significantly higher levels of news exposure across all
media channels during the war. Both exposure to newspaper and to cable
and PBS news programming were positively related to levels of knowled
ge about the war. Exposure to CNN leveled off the potential difference
s in knowledge acquisition across educational levels. Exposure to netw
ork TV news might be related to gaining ''image-oriented' information,
while exposure to newspaper and to cable and PBS news programming wer
e related to learning more abstract and complex information about the
war.