_‘—_—-v~___v TRAVELING AND RESIDENTIAL MOBILITY AS CORRELATES 0F MASS MEDIA NEWS BEHAVIOR DISSERTATION FOR THE DEGREE OF Ph. D. MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY WILLIAM ARTHUR TILLINGHAST 1975 This is to certify that the thesis entitled TRAVELING AND RESIDENTIAL MOBILITY AS CORRELATES OF MASS MEDIA NEWS BEHAVIOR presented by WILLIAM ARTHUR TILLINGHAST has been accepted towards fulfillment of the requirements for Ph - D degree in Communication Arts and Sciences - Mass Media Z<2éZCAZ//;:;7g?/é/;r i", Major professor / ! Date 8/27/75 0-7639 G—-—Q.n D {9 g) ABSTRACT TRAVELING AND RESIDENTIAL MOBILITY AS CORRELATES OF MASS MEDIA NEWS BEHAVIOR BY William Arthur Tillinghast This exploratory study analyzed the effects of physical mobility on news consumption and preference of a particular news medium for different geographic news. The survey of 652 residents of greater Lansing, Michigan linked various levels of mass media news usage to the extent of residential mobility and national and foreign traveling indexes. The demographic impact was also evaluated. The study was based on the concepts of "empathy" and "media as mobility multiplier" from the diffusion and modernization literature. It was expected that travel and residential movement increased the levels of these two elements in individuals. It was hypothesized that this increase raised the individual's insufficient knowledge level to an information uncertainty state that accelerated news consumption and triggered channel factors as major elements in medium preference. Research hypotheses formed three nuclei. It was hypothesized that individuals pay more attention to news from prior residency areas than to news of non-residency locations and that their attention level to such news was greater than the amount of attention paid to news from those locations by other individuals. It was also hypothesized that less residentially mobile individuals William Arthur Tillinghast watched more television news, read more local news but read less national news than did the more residentially mobile individuals. The less mobile were also expected to prefer television over newspapers for local, national and foreign news while the more mobile individuals would prefer newspapers. It was hypothesized that less traveling mobile individuals would watch more local and national news but would read less local and nat- ional news than higher traveling mobile individuals. The less mobile were expected to prefer television over newspapers for local, national and foreign news while more mobile individuals would prefer newspapers. Data analysis of single variables and of traveling indexes included both Pearson product-moment correlation for the entire sample and Pearson correlation for sample subsets based on demographic elaboration. Cell frequencies were also subjected to Analysis of Variance and Chi Square analysis to determine statistical significance. Results of the study are mixed, in part because of demographic contamination of the hypothesized relationships. Current area residency length correlates moderately with local and national news viewing and with newspaper subscription, even when demo- graphic effects have been partialed out. Foreign and national traveling correlate slightly less with local news viewing even after partialing and national traveling also correlates weakly with newspaper reading time. Chi Square analysis indicates significant differences in mass media news consumption with increased mobility. The majority of the subjects preferred television over newspapers for most news but Chi Square analysis shows this percentage declining with increased mobility and that a majority of the highly foreign and William Arthur Tillinghast national traveling mobile groups prefer newspapers over television for local news. Foreign traveling correlated slightly with attention to foreign news but Analysis of Variance revealed that prior residency is a strong determinant. Subjects paid significantly more attention to news from prior residence areas than to news of any other location used in the study. Although demographics also correlate with news behavior, the correlations are no stronger than those of the mobility variables and are weaker in some cases. Mobility appears to be an added factor in determining audience news consumption and preference patterns. TRAVELING AND RESIDENTIAL MOBILITY AS CORRELATES OF MASS MEDIA NEWS BEHAVIOR BY William Arthur Tillinghast A DISSERTATION Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Communication Arts and Sciences--Mass Media 1975 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many individuals in the College of Communication Arts and Sciences at Michigan State University merit particular thanks for their instruction and inspiration concerning this dissertation. The members of my guidance Committee have my deepest thanks for their time, advice and countless other forms of assistance expended in my behalf. Without the probing for clarity of Dr. Robert Schlater, the counseling and loan of books from Dr. Vishwa Mishra, the grammatical and structural improvements offered by Guidance Committee Chairman Dr. Maurice R. Cullen Jr., and the pragmatism and methodological assistance of Dissertation Chairman Dr. Charles Atkin, the dissertation would likely have remained in an embryonic stage. Four other persons warrant special recognition. With love and affection, I acknowledge their impact on my career. My parents, Mrs, Leola A. Tillinghast and the late Arthur M. Tillinghast, instilled and nurtured the curiosity regarding communication effects. My wife and colleague, Diana, encouraged and sustained my efforts to determine communication relationships. Lastly, Dr. William E. Hall, director of the School of Journalism, The Ohio State University, guided me as my instructor in the formative years, and as my colleague in later years. ii LIST OF CHAPTER I. II. III. IV. TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLESOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO INTRODUCTION.00.00....OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO American Mobility........................ Theoretical Base......................... Mass Media Impact........................ Mobility Effects......................... Purpose of the Study..................... Study Hypotheses......................... Rationale for Hypotheses................. LITEMTURE EVIEWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO... Demographics and the Mass Media.......... Information Seeking...................... Importance of Proximity.................. Mobility Effects......................... Socialization............................ Summary.................................. anonomGYOOOOOCOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO... Rationale for Telephone Survey........... Operationalization of Hypotheses......... Hypothesized Results..................... Questionnaire Construction............... Sample Size and Selection................ Completion Rate.......................... Interviewer Training..................... Data Analysis............................ Area and Sample Demographics............. FINDINGS OF THE stYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Frequency Distributions.................. Creation of Indexes...................... Correlation of Variables................. Residential Mobility and Perception...... Area Residency Effects on News Behavior.. State Residency Effects on News Behavior. iii (000%wa F'P‘ 20 24 25 27 29 32 33 34 36 4O 42 44 45 46 47 49 57 58 67 69 75 79 82 National Traveling and News Behavior....... Foreign Traveling and News Behavior........ Sex Effects on News Behavior............... Age Effects on News Behavior............... Education Effects on News Behavior......... V. SUMMARY AND DISCUSSION. 0 O O O O O O O O 0 O O O O O O O O 0 0 Discussion of Hypotheses................... Study weaknesses. O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O I O O O O O O 0 Future ResearCh. O O O O O O O O O O I O O O O O O 0 O O O O O O O O O APPENDIXOOOOOO0.0.0.0.000...OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO000...... BIBLIOGRAPHY..0.0000000000000000000000000000COOOOOOOOOO iv 83 86 89 9O 93 96 98 104 106 108 112 TABLES 10. ll. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. LIST OF TABLES Predicted Mobility Relationships With News BehaViorOOOCOC00.00.000.00...OOOOCOOOOOOOOO Sample, Lansing SMSA and U.S. Age and Sex Percentages.0..00....OOOOOOOOCOCOOOOIOOOOO0.0... U.S., Lansing Area and Sample Educational Attainment..0.I.0......OOIOOIOOOOOOOIOOOOOOOO... U.S., Lansing Area and Sample Occupation LevelSOOOOOQOOOOOOC.0.0.0.000...00.00.000.000... Demographic Correlations........................ Amount of Daily Newspaper Reading Time.......... News Consumption by Type and by News MediWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO0.... Preference and Believability of the News........ Amount of Time Spent in Seven Geographic locations...0.0...OOOOOOCOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Prior Residence in the Seven U.S. and Foreign Geographic Locations............................ Total Number of States Lived in Since Age 18.... Current and Anticipated Length of Lansing Area ReSidenCy...IOOIOOOOOOOOOO..0COOOOOOOOOOOOO National and Foreign News Attention............. National and Foreign News Accuracy.............. Physical Mobility and Demographic Correlates of News Consumption, Attention and Accuracy..... Partial Correlations of News Behavior and Mobility With Demographic Effects Removed....... Demographic Elaborations of News Consumption Variables by Mobility Variables................. 41 50 51 53 55 58 59 6O 62 63 64 65 66 7O 71 73 TABLES PAGE 18. Demographic Elaborations of News Attention and Accuracy by Mobility Variables.............. 74 19. Means of Prior Residency and Attention to News.. 76 20. Geographic Residency and Believability of Geographic News.OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO000...... 77 21. Correlations of News Attention for Geographic Locations............................ 77 22. Correlations of News Accuracy for Geographic Locations............................ 78 23. Correlations of Attention with Accuracy for Locations.OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. 78 24. Cross-Tabulations of Current Residency and News BehaVior.OOOIOOOOOOOOOOIOOOOOIOOOOOOOOOOOOO 80 25. Significant Cross-Tabulations of Current Residency and News Behavior Predicted by Demographic Elaborations........................ 81 26. Cross-Tabulations of State Residency and News BehaViorOIOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO... 83 27. Significant Cross-Tabulations of State Residency and News Behavior Predicted by Demographic Elaborations........................ 84 28. Cross-Tabulations of National Traveling and News BehaViorOCOOOOOOOOOOOOOOIOOOO0.000......0.. 85 29. Significant Cross-Tabulations of National Travel and News Behavior Predicted by Demographic Elaborations........................ 85 30. Cross-Tabulations of Foreign Traveling and News Behavior.....0.0.0.000...OOOOIOOOOOOOOOOOOO 87 31. Significant Cross-Tabulations of Foreign Travel and News Behavior Predicted by Demographic Elaborations........................ 88 32. Cross-Tabulations of Sex and News Behavior...... 90 33. Cross-Tabulations of Age and News Behavior...... 91 vi 34. 35. Cross-Tabulations of Education and News BehaViorOIIOICOOOIOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO0.0...0.. Traveling Indexes and the Preferred Sources Of NeWSooooooooooococoons-coo.0.000000000000000 vii 92 94 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Thousands of messages are prepared daily by journalists seeking to inform the public about current affairs. Hundreds of books have been written and countless manhours have been spent in perfecting and teach- ing the skills needed for clear, rapid and effective communication. But, the impact of the global mass media network, it’s ability to persuade, educate, entertain or inform, can be totally nullified if the audience decides to ignore the message. It is this audience, the last link in the traditional sender-message-channel-receiver communi- cation formula, that we know the least about. Researchers have sought to isolate audience characteristics capable of predicting mass media behavior ever since the discrediting of the hypodermic theory of instantaneous, uniform and all-powerful communication effects. Research in the 19403 concentrated primarily on such demographic data as age, sex, race, income and educational level. Attitudinal and belief structures were subsequently incorpor- ated into communication models. However, success in relating media behavior to such variables has been modest at best. The purpose of this study is to analyze characteristics of the audience that might accurately depict the communication habits of a modern, mobile society. It was hypothesized in this exploratory study that physical movement, an individual's residential and traveling 1 2 mobility, were better predictors of mass media news consumption and preference than were the standard demographic or socio-economic variables. Studies of characteristics such as upper-income levels, of the highly-educated, of younger peeple, of suburbanites, etc., no longer satisfy research needs because their static results do not reflect the process of change needed to explain the changing tastes of individuals (Britt, 1967). Mobility of Americans Part of this process of change must include the increasing physical mobility of contemporary America. Slightly more than 47 per cent of all Americans over age four changed residences between 1965 and 1970 (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1970a). Eight per cent of all Americans over age four moved from one county to another within their states while another nine per cent moved to other states in that five-year period. The mobility figures are even more striking for the metropolitan Lansing, Michigan, area where this study was conducted, although the state as a whole is roughly comparable to the nation in the mobility percentages. Nearly 45 per cent of all Michigan residents over age four changed residences between 1965 and 1970 (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1970b). Some 16 per cent of Michigan residents over age four moved from one county to another during those five years and another six per cent moved to Michigan from other states in that period. Just over 46 per cent of Lansing residents occupied the same homes in 1970 that they occupied in 1965 but the percentages are far less for the adjoining Michigan State University community of East Lansing and the bedroom community of Okemos. Not quite 17 per cent of the 1970 East Lansing residents lived in the same homes in 1965 and only 3 one-third of the Okemos residents lived in the same houses in both 1965 and 1970. Twenty per cent of the capital city residents moved to Lansing from other Michigan counties between 1965 and 1970. More than 61 per cent of the university community residents and some 36 per cent of the Okemos residents moved to their communities from other Michigan counties during that five-year period. Almost 19 per cent of the Lans- ing residents moved there from other states between 1965 and 1970. Al- most 19 per cent of the East Lansing residents and 17 per cent of the Okemos residents moved to their respective communities from other states during that five-year period. It is apparent that physical mobility is a significant factor in the lives of many Americans and is therefore part of that experience which forms a basis for cohesive predispositions. The Theoretical Base The theoretical underpinnings of this study of physical mobility as a predictor of audience consumption and preference of the mass media are drawn from uses and gratification perspectives of message selection, from the mediated effects view of media power, and from the notion of empathic capacity. This empathic mental state creates a cosmopolite mentality as society modernizes into industrialized urban complexes with extended environments for individual members. In this perspective, the mass media constitute a mobility multiplier which enables people to increase their range of interactions and to adopt vicarious exper- iences. At issue are the determinants of behavior as they relate to channel and content, as they relate to the individual's nexus of family and group memberships, and as they relate to the individual's ability to 4 utilize, directly or indirectly, the experiences of others. A number of theorists from Tocqueville to Mannheim believed that mobility, accompanied by heterogeneity and centralization, weakened or destroyed the ties binding men to the common life. The mass of men were viewed as being easily manipulated under such circumstances and societal control was left to mass organizations and mass media (Wilensky, 1964). This media power existed because a person's inability to use direct experience as a check on reality made him vulnerable to the influence of the media (Spier, 1939). However, opponents of this view of pervasive influence have preferred the viewpoint that notes that primary groups flourish and voluntary associations even multiply in pluralistic, urban, industrialized countries. Wilensky (1964) states that in every industrial society, counter forces exist which limit the control by media, big organizations and the centralized states. Mass Media Impact The all-powerful hypodermic needle theory of mass communications ceased having any heuristic value in the 19403 as a result of studies which found different consumption patterns among individuals with varying degrees of demographic characteristics. For example, it was discovered that intellectual capacity causes variations of a message to be absorbed differently. It was also found that opinion leaders often filter media messages for individuals. These findings forced a modification of the communication process. Instead of the media being viewed as having uniform effects on all individuals, the process was re-structured as "Who says What in Which Channel to Whom with What Effects" (Lasswell, 1948). The aspects of "to whom" and "with what "effects" was carried still further by researchers who concluded that the most significant feature of readable, understandable communication is the organization of content in a manner that appeals to the reader's motives (Lorge, 1948). It became “self—evident that a person selects news in expectation of a reward" (Schramm, 1949a). This aspect of the individual's need became a central element in communication research in the 19505 with the formulation of a communication process model which reversed the order of elements in the Lasswell paradigm. The new model was based on the assumption that "the energy in the system derives from the need of the selecting receiver to be oriented in his extended environment" (Westley-MacLean, 1957). The message selection process has since been developed beyond the original immediate and delayed rewards dichotomy proposed by Schramm. Message selection occurs when the individual estimates that the reward value exceeds the expenditures incurred in obtaining it (Atkin,l973). The process is now perceived as one in which people bend the media to their needs more than the media overpower them (Katz, 1973). Whether for enjoyment or to aid in problem—solving, message selection is based on the individual's personal criteria. A compilation of research findings in this general area of selective exposure concluded that the mass media's power to influence is in the area of reinforcing existing Opinions rather than in converting opinions (Klapper, 1960). Five factors were cited that mediate media influence: predispositions and the selective exposure process, group norms, opinion leaders, interpersonal communication, and the competitive nature of the mass media in a free enterprise system which potentially cancels messages. 6 The first category, "predispositions," is directly linked to attitudes. The definition of an attitude has gradually been refined to the point that the current Handbook 2£_Social Psychology states that an attitude is a state of readiness to respond on an experimentally- based organized basis, one exerting a direct influence in the individual's behavior. In terms of message processing, the predisposition category results in the twin postulates of selective exposure, selective seeking of information and selective avoidance of information. These postulates became controversial in the 19605 because of their incorporation into Leon Festinger's cognitive dissonance theory. Some researchers argued that an analysis of 18 exposure studies revealed no evidence of any psychological preference for supportive information nor any preference between supportive and nonsupportive information (Sears and Freedman, 1967).. Other researchers rebutted this argument by noting that current methodologies were unable to distinguish between seeking and avoidance of information (Rhine, 1967), that exposure studies did not adequately control for confounding variables (Donohew and Palmgreen, 1971), and that mass media content selectivity can not be considered solely in terms of dissonance, but must also be analyzed in terms of expenditures (Atkin, 1973). While the avoidance postulate is somewhat suspect, the information-seeking aspect is on substantial research ground. If media power is limited, as Wilensky and others contend, the question becomes: what limits the power, to what extent, and under what conditions? If an individual's network of family and friends and of predispositions filter messages, as Klapper and others suggest, which commonalities in these networks filter for which people? If behavior 7 is the organized result of attitudes based on experience, as McGuire and others suggest, it remains to be determined which experience is likely to form which kind of evaluative response. If the criteria are costs and rewards, as formalized by Schramm, Atkin and others, it still must be determined on what basis individuals differ in arriving at whether something is a cost or a reward. It seems likely that since modern man is highly mobile, and because such experience predicates the basis of his actions, researchers must examine the individual's environmental interaction, modernity and mobility. Mobility Effects Mobility and modernity in the extended environment have been examined on the macroscopic level with the general finding that as societies modernize, people come to see their future as malleable rather than as ordained and their personal lives in terms of achievement rather than in terms of heritage (Lerner, 1958). The individual in modern society, utilizing the mass media as a mobility multiplier, develops an "empathic capacity," i.e., the ability to see oneself in other people's situations and thus experience vicarious aspects of life instead of merely relying on direct experience. Such an individual ceases being a localite because his world is extended beyond the local community and his contacts, both personal and media-mediated, are likely to include many sources external to that immediate enviromment. It follows that if the mass media in a modern society are capable of multiplying and extending the individual's environment, then mobility must increase it even more. The physically mobile individual has the mass media to extend his environment. But, he has his own traveling and contacts in remote places to further extend it. Since these become part of his overall 8 experience, they become part of the evaluative process which selects even more media exposure. In essence, the individual's unique experiences become part of the intervening variable between a message and the response of the receiver. This process of an empathic capacity and of the related media mobility multiplier is an aspect of both the individual and of the society in which the individual exists. Diffusion research has typically dichotomized societies into traditional or modern societies. Traditional societies are said to lack six qualities that define modern societies: a positive attitude toward change, a complex technology with an accompany- ing division of labor, a high regard for science and eudcation, business- like attitudes, cosmopolite interaction with outsiders, and the empathic ability of systemic members to see themselves in different roles. Trans- itional societies are those that have passed beyond the traditional stage but have not acquired sufficient degrees of the six qualities to be classified as modern societies (Rogers and Shoemaker, 1971). Rogers and Sohemaker summarized hundreds of diffusion studies which usually classified individuals within societies according to their rate of adoption of new ideas. This classification typically categorized individuals into one of five categories: innovators, early adopters, the early majority, the late majority, and the laggards. This classification is relevant to the message selection process because the qualities that differentiate these individuals from an adoption standpoint relate to their mobility and empathic capacity. Generally, the innovators are the most cosmopolite, are more physically mobile outside the system, have more outside media contact and usually have reference groups outside their own system. However, they are too far 9 from the overall group norms to be opinion leaders. That falls to the early adoptors who are less mobile and cosmopolite than are innovators, but who are more so than the remainder of their society. The qualities of mobility and empathic capacity gradually diminish until, at the laggard stage, individuals are almost isolates. Thus, the individual as well as the society may be modern or traditional, or some degree in between. The individual's evaluative framework is only partially determined by the values and events within his own system. They are also determined, to the extent of his empathic capacity and degree of mobility, by factors extraneous to the societal system. These factors, empathic capacity, attitude based on experience, and the relation of mobility to message selection criteria, form the underlying theoretical base of this study. Basically, it reverses the Lasswell paradigm to ask instead: Who goes to which Medium for What Content and How Often? Purposes 0_f_ the m The implications of reversing the Lasswell paradigm are that, because individuals have had different experiences in different places, they will have different mass media news consumption patterns and mass media credibility perceptions. The specific and more narrow set of relationships examined in this study focused on correlating two sets of receiver characteristics with two sets of mass media news variables. The receiver variables were residential mobility and traveling mobility. The media variables were 'news consumption and medium preference. The traditional demographic variables, age, sex, educational level 10 and occupational status, were utilized as control variables to isolate the effects of the relationships between the physical mobility and the media variables and for comparison purposes with the mobility variables. The principal purpose of this study was to determine to what extent residential mobility and traveling mobility are predictors of audience behavior toward the news media. Secondary purposes included the determination of similarities and dissimilarities between the two mobility variables and their relationships with the media variables. This study differed from most prior communication research in that it looked at receiver experiences as independent variables and because it considered more than the standard demographics. It also differed in that it sought to analyze news preference not in the traditional television-newspaper dichotomy but rather by a distance continuum of local, national and foreign news. Under the rubric of transactional communications with the receiver patronizing the mass media and selecting different quantities of messages according to individual criteria, the all-encompassing question for this study became: To what extent do audience sets of residential and travel- ing mobility predict the patterns of audience consumption and preference of the mass news media? Hypotheses of the Study The hypotheses of this study relating to news consumption were: (l)--Higher residentially mobile individuals will read and watch less local news than will lower residentially mobile persons. (2)--Higher residentially mobile individuals will read more national news but watch less national news than will residentially mobile persons. (3)--Higher residentially mobile individuals will pay more attention to national and foreign news than will lower residentially mobile persons. 11 (4)--Higher traveling mobile individuals will read more local and national news than will lower traveling mobile persons. (5)--Higher traveling mobile individuals will watch more national news but will watch less local news than will lower traveling mobile persons. (6)--Higher traveling mobile individuals will pay more attention to national and foreign news than will lower traveling mobile persons. The hypotheses of this study relating to news medium preference were: (7)-~Higher residentially mobile individuals will prefer newspapers over television for national news and lower residentially mobile persons will prefer television over newspapers. (8)--Higher residentially mobile individuals will prefer newspapers over television for national news and lower residentially mobile individuals will prefer television over newspapers. (9)--Higher residentially mobile individuals will prefer newspapers over television for foreign news and lower residentially mobile individuals will prefer television over newspapers. (lO)--Higher traveling mobile individuals will prefer newspapers over television for local news and lower traveling mobile individuals will prefer television over newspapers. (ll)-—Higher traveling mobile individuals will prefer newspapers over television for national news and lower traveling mobile individuals will prefer television over newspapers. (12)--Higher traveling mobile individuals will prefer newspapers over television for foreign news and lower traveling mobile individuals will prefer television over newspapers. Two other hypotheses, relating to the perceived believability of the mass media were: (l3)--Higher residentially mobile individuals will rate newspapers as more believable in foreign news reporting than television and lower residentially mobile individuals will rate television as more believable. (l4)--Higher traveling mobile individuals will rate newspapers as more believable in foreign news reporting than television and lower traveling mobile individuals will rate television as more believable. 12 The final hypothesis of this study, relating to specific prior residency, was: (15)—-Individuals who have previously lived in a location will pay more attention to news from that location than to news from other locations and they will pay more attention to news of that location than will individuals who have not lived there. Most of these hypotheses parallel general socio-economic findings which indicate that the higher the educational level, the higher the income level and the higher the occupational status, the more likely an individual is to consume and prefer print media (Samuelson, Carter and Ruggels, 1963; Westley and Severin, 1964; and Greenberg, 1966). The purpose of this study was not to deny these socio—economic status relationships, but to determine if physical mobility variables explain more consumption and preference or if the mobility variables operate only on certain levels of the demographic and socio-economic status variables. Rationale for the Hypotheses The hypotheses of this study were generated from diffusion and mobility literature and from isolated research findings on distance or mobility aspects of audience news perceptions. Information can be defined as reducing cognitive uncertainty. It arises when the individual perceives an insufficient level of knowledge within himself (Atkin, 1973). A need for information is the result of this perceived discrepancy, based on some criterion state of knowledge. The latter is the extent of the individual's awareness that environmental objects are affecting him. The net effect is to increase the individual's receptiveness to new information. The individual uses this descrepancy state as a constraint to 13 filter incoming messages, as well as selecting messages on the basis of time and availability costs. The major aspect of this information selection process for this study was the level of knowledge and the discrepancy aspects. Both are derived from the individual's experience. Experience, by definition, must precede message selection since it is a prerequisite in forming the predispositions that lead to attitude and to evaluation. The uncertainty level in any individual differs from other persons to the extent that prior experience differs. This is critical to mobility research from two standpoints: evaluation and awareness of knowledge discrepancy, which are inter-related. Attitude researchers indicate that predispositions produce a consistent network of evaluative responses based on experience. This means that if an individual changes his news consumption pattern as the type of information changes, the altered consumption pattern occurs because the new information does not fulfill his information need based on prior experience. For example, an individual who has a high intake of local news from the newspaper but a low intake of national news from the same medium is basing his selection on the relevancy of different types of information to his knowledge gap. But, if the amount of the same type of information varies according to the type of medium involved, the distinction must be because of channel factors since the information need is the same. The more important consideration here is the awareness of the discrepancy. This is directly related to physical mobility because the lack of mobility automatically reduces the amount of experience that is necessary to determine a knowledge discrepancy. Therefore, the simple act of traveling adds new experience which the individual can 14 utilize to become aware of his lack of knowledge. This creates uncertainty which makes the individual more likely to seek out additional information. If the individual is experientially ignorant of places or events, he cannot be aware of any discrepancy and will have little incentive to seek out information because he has no level of cognitive uncertainty. Any experience can lead to this uncertainty. It may be created by education, by interpersonal contacts or by chance media exposure. However, the physical act of traveling or of living in other areas gives the individual direct experience. Either by itself or in concert with other experiences, the act of mobility must automatically lead to a predisposition to seek information related to the mobility because the discrepancy factor creates uncertainty. The result is the spiraling exposure-creates-interest postulate with respect to message selection. The more one knows about something, the more one is likely to want to know more about it. If an individual lives in a traditional society he is restricted in his media consumption because of limited technology or economic feasibility. But, if he lives in a modern society he may also be restricted. Both Lerner (1958) and Rogers and Shoemaker (1971) note that increased media consumption and external environmental contacts create empathic capacity. If the individual has been physically limited in either residential or traveling mobility because of economic, educational or other limitations, this capacity to internalize external aspects must be less than that of an individual not restricted. While the less mobile person might have some interest in news from outside his environment, he filters this news through his information base which is local in nature. Secondly, the individual not restricted 15 has a greater set of information needs to satisfy. This individual defines himself in terms that encompass more than local society and has needs not met by local society. Given the restriction of available time and the widened range of interests operating because of an awareness of the knowledge discrepancy, it is likely that the highly mobile individual consumes less local news than the less mobile individual. However, types of mobility and channel factors operate to make the distinction less sweeping. The residentially mobile individual is more cosmopolite because of prior residence and therefore can be expected to have less interest, or need, for local news regardless of channel. However, the individual who travels frequently is not necessarily residentially mobile and may have a different evaluative base. If he is residentially stable, his basic local information needs are strengthened by having more information of other places for a comparative base. But, his information needs require more than the brief statement of events typical of the necessarily concise televised format. Therefore, while the traveling mobile individual requires more local news than the less traveling mobile individual, the channel varies according to residential characteristics It has been noted that individuals living in an area more than three years are more likely to be newspaper subscribers than are newer residents (Rarick, 1973). This becomes understandable in theoretical terms since the newer resident is that much more likely to have a wider range of contacts external to the local environment and because his awareness of knowledge of local events is not sufficient to trigger a state of cognitive uncertainty. Another study compared newspaper reading in a traditional society, 16 India, and found that the more mobile residents of Indian slums were much more likely to read a newspaper more frequently than were the less mobile. Again, this suggests that the less mobile, having less contact and less knowledge of events external to their immediate surroundings, have less of an internalized need to know because of a lack of any external experiential base which might product cognitive uncertainty. Therefore, the reward potential could not exceed the cost, in time or in seeking out the information, of consuming the message. In summary, individuals who have lived in an area for longer periods of time have more interest and more need for local information because of stronger environmental ties and because of less competition for their interest. Secondly, the lower residentially mobile individual is more likely to prefer television news over newspaper news because the cost of obtaining the information is less for television and because he does not have the cognitive uncertainty which would required the detailed newspaper account. The reverse is true for the residentially mobile individual. Traveling mobility differs from residential mobility in intent as well as in the amount of time involved. It therefore provides a different type of experiential base for evaluation and hence for mass media news consumption and preference. Unlike the residentially mobile, the traveling mobile individuals have not altered their environmental system. And, they do not have the same amount, or degree, of external contacts. They remain essentially oriented to the local system. Because their external mobility is based on different reasons, usually of a cultural or experience—seeking nature rather than the economic factor of residential mobility, the traveling mobile individual is more apt to utilize his experience for comparision purposes. This type of evaluation 17 requires detailed information. Therefore, the traveling mobile individual is more concerned with channel factors. He will read more local and national news than the lower traveling mobile individual but he will watch less local and national news. The higher traveling mobile individual will prefer newspapers over television for local, national and foreign news, as does the higher residentially mobile individual. The reason is the combined need for the more detailed information plus the decreased need for the vicarious experience provided by television's visual dimension. The less mobile, both residential and traveling, require less detailed information because they lack the level of cognitive undertainty created by awareness of a knowledge discrepancy. Secondly, the less mobile individual is more likely to require coupling of the simpler television report and the accompanying pictorial aspect to vicariously fill the void created by lack of direct experience. The underlying assumption of the hypotheses and their rationale is that man is the product or sum total of his experiences and, given that such experience exerts a logical and consistent base for evaluation and behavior, such behavior can be predicted. The importance of predicting such behavior is demonstrated by a study of a "tastemaker hypothesis" which found that the central thread of modern society is mobility (Britt, 1967). Some 27 per cent of the population were classified as "high mobiles" on the basis of their traveling and changing residences more often, as well as on social movement through occupational, economic and social environments. The study noted that travel was an especially critical factor. This highly mobile group was the first to use credit cards and other new products, pertinent to this study only because it indicates that mobility does affect consumption and preference patterns. 18 This study is limited in scope to that extent that, because of a lack of extensive prior research, it is primarily an exploratory study seeking a knowledge base in order to develop more sophisticated hypotheses. Such hypotheses and the beginnings of a mobility theory generated by the findings of this study should spur more complex investigations into the communication behavior of individuals. Such knowledge is needed because the mass media communication process ceases to be viable if any one of the four elements in the sender-message-channel-receiver formula does not function as expected. Because the receiver is the one aspect of the formula not under the control of the communicator, it is essential that communicators as well as researchers know more about the characteristics of the receiver in order to ensure more effective and meaningful communication. CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW The major purpose of communication is to transmit symbolic versions of ideas, opinions and observations via some shared terminology so that receivers obtain a relatively undistorted reassembly of the initial event or concept. A secondary function may or may not be to influence receivers in their evaluation of the factual material. The accurate transmission, and persuasiveness, of a message can be enhanced by the communicator through skillful packaging but the success- ful reception ultimately depends more on the characteristics of the receiVer than of the sender. The ability of the mass media to communi- cate diminishes in comparison with interpersonal communication because of the lack of immediate feedback and receiver self-selection. Unlike the individual reciting a message, the mass media cannot pick up spoken or facial cues that indicate the receiver's understanding of the message. This inability prevents the media from any immediate change in message output which might aid comprehension or reinforce some position. Both physical and psychological barriers affect the one—way communication flow from the mass media to the receiver. The inability of the media to receive effective feedback is primarily caused by the physical distance separating the communicator and the audience. The message selection process is determined by psychological factors which 19 20 may hinder exposure to, or absorption of, a particular message. One of the landmark studies in this area of research concluded that merely increasing the flow of information would not make the communication process successful because of five elements relating to information and to audiences (Hyman and Sheatsley, 1947). It was found (1) that about one-seventh of the population can be classified as "chronic know— nothings" who know very little about anything currently in the news; (2) that interested people acquire more information than uninterested individuals; (3) that people seek information congenial with their prior attitudes; (4) that information alone does not necessarily change attitudes; and (5) people interpret the same information differently. However, later studies found that considerable success in completing the communication process could occur, but that it depended on clearly defining the objectives of the message and identifying the target audience so the message could be properly tailored for the specific audience (Mendelsohn, 1973). The general question posed by such findings is whether there is an information-seeking attribute. Demographics and the Mass Media The traditional demographics, such as age, sex, educational level, income and occupation, have been found to be associated with an individual's consumption and believability of the mass media. Viewing itime tends to decrease, and reading time increase, as age and Ieducational level increase. White collar workers are more likely to believe newspapers instead of television, but blue collar workers are more likely to believe television over newspapers. Even when the 21 major demographics are combined, their explanatory power is limited. But, numerous studies indicate a consistent relationship. One of the first studies to systematically examine some attribute of the mass media---credibility---in relation to audience character- istics concluded that age, sex, education, place of residence, political preference and socio-economic status do make a difference in an individual's mass media behavior (Westley and Severin, 1964). Major conclusions from this study included: (1)--Higher socio—economic status individuals tend to give a higher credibility rating to newspapers and a lower credibility rating to television. (2)--Blue collar workers tend to give television a higher credibility rating than do white collar workers, but white collar workers give newspapers a higher credibility rating than do blue collar workers. (3)—-College-educated individuals assign more credibility to news- papers and lower credibility to television. (4)--Individuals who consider themselves middle class assign higher credibility to newspapers while individuals who consider themselves working class assign it to television. (5)--Men are more likely to consider newspapers as more truthful than television, but women are more likely to consider tele- vision more truthful than newspapers. (6)--Television is trusted more than newspapers by all age levels. (7)—-Rura1 residency correlates with a greater trust in television than in newspapers. (8)--Persons who have lived less than five years at their current residence are more likely to assign highest credibility to newspapers. Although the major thrust of this 1964 study focused on the standard demographics, it is particularly relevant that residency emerges as a factor affecting media credibility. This relationship, which is compatible with the communications patterns assumed from the cosmopolite literature of Lerner (1958) and Rogers and Shoemaker (1971), 22 becomes especially important in connection with a later finding that the four major demographics, age, sex, income and level of education, appear to have no individual power to predict mass media usage (Greenberg and Kumata, 1968). Combined, these four variables explain only 27 per cent of the variance newspaper reading. Both age and educational level have been found to be highly related to the type of mass media utilized by an individual and to the amount of time spent with the media. One study found that 65 per cent of American children are watching television by age four but newspapers are not read by that large a percentage until age nine (Schramm, Lyle and Parker, 1960). The study found that television dominates the early years but is replaced by radio as the major medium im the teenage years. Radio is supplanted by newspapers as increasing age modifies individual tastes and needs. As educational level increases, print media usage increases and television viewing declines although whether total media time increases or decreases is still at issue. An Alabama study found that among high school students, college students and university faculty the time spent with newspapers increase, and viewing time decreases, with each increased educational level (Mellen, 1971). This study reported that total time spent with the mass media decreased with increased education. However, time spent with the mass media may be as much a function of available leisure time as it is of educational level. A study which controlled for leisure time found that the time spent with the media increased, rather than decreased, with increased education (Samuelson, Carter and Ruggels, 1963). This study also reported that increased education was associated with an increase in newspaper reading time and a decrease in television viewing time. 23 In addition to studies on age, educational level, sex, income and occupation, researchers have also sought to relate race and/or ethnicity to mass media consumption. However, these aspects have been determined to have less of a bearing on media habit than do social network and socio-economic classifications (Williams and Lindsay, 1971). If the traditional demographics are only partially responsible for channel selection and time spent in media consumption, then consumption must be determined by different criteria than credibility since the relationship of believability and the demographics are more clear—cut. Subsequent studies tend to support the Westley-Severin findings relating credibility to demographics. One study (Greenberg, 1966) found: (l)--More women believe television over newspapers than do men. Some 78 per cent of females believe television instead of newspapers, but only 61 percent of males believe television instead of newspapers. (2)--Believability in television over newspapers decreases with increasing education. Some 80 per cent of the individuals with less than a high school diploma believe television over newspapers. Some 71 per cent of the individuals who have been graduated from high school but who have not attended college believe television instead of newspapers. The per- centage of individuals believing television drops to 66 per cent of the individuals who have some college education and to 63 per cent of the individuals who are college graduates. (3)--Women are more inclined to depend on television for their news than are men. Some 56 per cent of the women depend on television compared to only 40 per cent of the men. (4)--Believability in television over newspapers tends to decrease with increasing age. Some 72 per cent of people under age 30 believe television over newspapers. Some 78 per cent of the individuals in their 305 chose television as the more believable medium. Some 74 per cent of the people in their 40s chose television as more believable. Some 63 per cent of the individuals over age 50 chose television as more believable. However, the relation of individual demographics to media use and preference is not without some qualification because of conflicting results by researchers who disagree over inherent bias in questions 24 or even whether the right questions are being asked. Numerous Roper polls since 1959 indicate the general public prefers to use and to believe television rather than newspapers. Other.survey researchers found evidence of bias in the Roper-structured questions (Carter and Greenberg, 1965). They modified the Roper question so that the respondents could cite only one source for most of their news. The results were that while television remained more credible regardless of the question structure, newspapers were ahead of television in terms of usage. Another researcher questioned the value of even researching credibility. Rather than ask how, or even if, individuals judge media credibility, it would be more profitable to research how people use the media to understand a problem (Edelstein, 1972). Information Seeking Attention to news and interest in news appear to operate in a spiraling interest-creates-exposure-creates-interest pattern which tends to be goal-oriented. A Wisconsin study of information—seeking concluded that exposure to information aroused interest which then made particular issues more salient to the individual. This, in turn, caused the individual to be more likely to pay attention to subsequent information on the topic (Westley and Barrow, 1959). The utility of news for the receiver had earlier been incorporated into the definition of news as the recon- struction of the essential framework of an event in a frame of reference meaningful to the reader or viewer (Schramm, 1949a). Thus, the receiver exposure is based on prior information and attitudes. This relationship was explicitly examined on the basis of news utility_by a study which 25 (found that interest in news items is directly related to the perceived ’ usefulness of the articles in achieving goals of the individual (Carlson, 1964). Results were significant at the .001 level. This drive for useful experience mediated by the mass media can be viewed as an example of Newcombe's ABX theory of cognitive balance. It posits that individuals seek to establish a symmetry of orientations in order to reduce discrepancies. Individuals interact directly or vicariously in this model under the assumption that since people like other people and things that are similar to themselves, the more they interact the more the others become similar and attractive to them. Such an information-seeking attribute is related to the third of three factors necessary for media growth and consumption, cash, literacy and motivation (Lerner, 1973). This characteristic of motivation is dependent on the degree of three types of mobility required to have a modern participant society. The mobilities, in order of their occurrence, are physical, social and psychic. Once the individual becomes geographically mobile and unbound from the native soil, the traditional and inflexible status positions break down. The individual is able to become upwardly socially mobile and is therefore forced to become mobile in the psychic sense that he needs to work out a personality compatible with his life situation. This is accompanied by the empathic capacity of visualizing and adapting from the experiences of others which gives added impetus to both direct and mediated experiences. However, the social and psychic mobilities are predicated on the ability of the individual to be geographically mobile. The Importance p§_Proximity Journalists have long utilized the proximity maximum that the 26 nearer the news event is physically, and mentally, to the receiver the more likely the receiver will pay attention to that news. Schramm (1949a) uses the illustration of a mother more interested in a foreign battle involving her soldier-son than in a downtown riot. She has a greater expectation of a reward from the foreign item because of the greater possibility of identifying with that news. It is this ease with which the receiver identifies with a given news item that determines whether the item is likely to be consumed. Although this foreign battle news item does not possess the physical proximity of the newsman's evaluation process, it does possess what researchers refer to as a psychological proximity (Carter and Clarke, 1962). These researchers examined the reasons for specialized suburban news being interesting or uninteresting to city and suburban readers. In general, they found metro area readers more interested in news of the suburbs if they had friends living in the suburbs. However, the suburbanites were more likely to read news of other suburbs for comparison purposes on how similar areas handled similar problems. It is apparent that Lerner's psychic mobility, Carlson's perceived utility and Schramm's meaningful frame of reference are capable of explaining such news consumption. The city dweller with suburban contacts has little empathic capacity for involving himself in suburban news and little incentive to become involved since such news lacks any perceived utility. Without contacts and incentive, there is no frame of reference for evaluating such news. Because such information is familiar to another suburbanite, he has a meaningful frame of reference. Because he is a suburbanite, he has incentive to read, comparison and perceived utility. Hence, he does not need to have contacts in other 27 suburbs in order to pay attention to news from other suburbs. MobilityfiEffects Both geographic mobility and socio-economic status interact with physical and psychological proximity in determining incentive and frame of reference which, in turn, relate to media consumption and credibility. The number of years an individual has lived in an area and his income level have been found to be significantly associated with news- paper subscription (Rarick, 1973). Both subscribers and non-subscribers were analyzed on an index of income, home ownership and county residency length after all three were shown to relate to the probability of subscription. Households were scored from zero to three on the basis of their possessing each of the three attributes. Households with zero scores, incomes under $5,000, non-ownership and county residency less than three years, had only a one-in—five probability of subscribing to the local newspaper. However, 54 per cent of the households with a score of one on the index were subscribers compared to 77 per cent of the households with a score of two and with 89 per cent of the households with the maximum score of three. A cross-cultural study of media consumption and credibility reported significant relationships between newspaper readership and geographic mobility (Mishra, 1970). Slum dwellers of Delhi, India, were classified accoring to high, low or no geographic mobility and then analyzed on the basis of high readership of three times a week or more, low readership of twice a week or less, or no readership. Some 43 per cent of the higher mobility group read the newspaper three times a week or more compared to 23 and 22 percent of the low mobility and non-mobile groups, respectively. Only 47 per cent of the high mobility group were 28 non-readers but 70 per cent of the low mobile group and 67 per cent of the non-mobile group were non-readers. In this study, residents of a Pittsburgh ghetto were more like the Delhi slum dwellers in their credibility perceptions than were the ghetto residents and the rest of the U.S. Neither the slum dwellers nor the ghetto residents rated newspapers as the more credible medium. Only 11 per cent of the Indians and six per cent of the ghetto residents said newspapers were more credible than other mediums while 24 per cent of the general U.S. population said newspapers were the most credible medium. Physical distance and psychological distance are interrelated in their determination of news interest (MacLean and Pinna, 1964). A study of 375 residents of a small Italian community indicated that subjects were more likely to be interested in news from nearer locations but that psychological proximity influenced their interest. Subjects were asked about their interest in news of the neighborhood, the village, nearby Borgo San Lorenzo, south Italy, north Italy, Rome, Florence, Russia, China, the United Nations and the United States. Respondents were scored on a one-to-five scale of increasing interest. Florence ranked highest in interest although obviously more distant than the neighborhood, the village or Borgo San Lorenzo. The United States ranked tenth by distance but seventh by interest. However, the .88 correlation between physical distance and psychological distance indicates that physical nearness increases awareness since nearer events would be perceived as having a greater chance of affecting the individual. Since both physical and psychological distance do relate to an individual's interest in news, it follows that physical mobility can unite both into one proximity factor. Traveling to a location creates 29 the familiarity necessary for psychological proximity and also serves to mentally reduce the distance between two locations. The result is different news consumption patterns for individuals with different types and levels of physical mobility. A study of the reading habits of Michigan State University students found that foreign mobility was significantly related to readership of minority news (Tillinghast, 1973). Almost one-third of the students who made frequent or occasional trips overseas classified themselves as reading minority news more than twice a week while only 15 per cent of the students who rarely or never traveled abroad said they read that much foreign news. The difference was significant at the .001 level. Comparable results were found for national mobility. Results, significant at the .01 level, indicated that more than 23 per cent of the highly nationally mobile group read minority news more than twice a week compared to only five per cent of the low mobility group. Socialization Despite the discrediting of the hypodermic needle theory of mass media communication effects, the mass media's power to reinforce, and even shape, attitide formation is a major determinant in the American socialization process. Because of the amount of time spent with the mass media, as well as the nature of opinion crystalization, the mass media now equal, if not surpass, the traditional cornerstones of society's learning and opinion-making insitutions. The amount of time spent with the mass media ranks communication as an individual's third largest time—consuming capability, behind work and sleep. It is estimated that one of every ten Americans Spends at least four hours per day watching television (Steiner, 1963). The 30 average American watches two hours and 15 minutes of television daily (Greenberg and Kumata, 1968). Even educated individuals spend quite a bit of time with television. Although the Alabama study found that time spent with television decreases with increased education, university faculty members averaged 17.5 hours weekly watching television compared to 29 hours weekly for college students and 35.5 hours for Tuscaloosa high school students (Mellen, 1971). Americans also spend a large percentage of their leisure time reading newspapers. High school students in the Alabama study averaged 21 hours weekly reading newspapers. College students and university faculty averaged 24.3 hours and 25 hours, respectively with newspapers. A study of Michigan and California residents found that 52 per cent read two or more newspapers daily (Greenberg and Kumata, 1968). Population density also affects news consumption. A Minnesota study reported that the percentage of news content read increases as population density decreases (MacLean, 1952). The typical metropolitan reader in this study spent 50 minutes daily reading 17 per cent of the news. Small town readers spent 42 minutes reading 30 per cent of the news. But village residents spent 45 minutes reading 40 per cent of the news. The importance of time spent with the mass media is demonstrated by a study which concluded that the media have become the new "parents" of the young, replacing church, family, school and friends (Hollander, 1971). When asked to list their sources of information about the Vietnam War, 84.6 per cent of a high school sample listed the mass media. The second highest group were the schools with only 42.1 per cent of the students listing them as a source. Among the mass media, television was listed as an information source by 50.8 per cent. Newspapers were listed by 31 only 27.7 per cent, magazines by 17.1 per cent, and radio by 6.7 per cent. Since individuals do spend a considerable amount of time with the mass media, and do receive much of their information from the media, the prime question becomes one of the impact of the media's message, par- ticularly because an individual evaluates incoming information against prior experience. Social judgment theory suggests that even a discrepant position may eventually be adOpted by an individual as his position (Norris, 1973). This occurs under a step-by-step process where the individual is exposed to a series of messages over a period of time. Each message is only slightly more discrepant than the preced- ing message. Eventually, the final message with the totally discrepant position may be accepted because at that stage it does not appear to be that discrepant. This type of a mass media effect was considered analagous to falling water in an underground cavern long before technology made the communication process a daily torrent (Schramm, 1949b). The dripping water was seen as ever-so-slowly forming a residue that created a structure growing in the direction of the source. This, coupled with the generally-held assumption that the mass media reinforce existing opinion, leads to the position that learning from the mass media is proportional to the degree of attention. Such attention is caused by motivation, the degree to which the individual can relate, or empathize, with a situation and expect to receive some reward for his attention. Individuals must relate differently to a given situation since each would have different experiential bases and different degrees of physical, social and psychic mobility from which to evaluate the situation. 32 Summary Information exposure is a product of individual motivation, a complex mental network which determines message reward value on the basis of prior experiences, including the person's demographic characteristics and the degree to which he possesses physical, social and psychic mobility. Prior research indicates that media habits, time spent with the mass media, the type of media utilized and the believability of the media, are associated with demographic characteristics. But such associations are not nearly strong enough to adequately predict mass media news behavior. This lack of explanatory power suggests that much media behavior is caused by as-yet untapped individual motivations. The limited amount of research focusing on physical mobility offers fertile ground for researchers to examine in their quest of defining the information—seeking attribute. CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY The impetus for this exploratory study originated in the question: To what extent do residential and traveling aspects of geographic mobility aid in determining mass media news consumption and preference? If physical mobility is related to news usage, secondary considerations are (a) whether such relationships are confounded with demographic characteristics, and (b) which of the two mobility features explains more receiver news behavior. The study of 652 Lansing area residents focused on six physical mobility attributes of individuals in addition to measuring the traditional demographics, age, sex, education and occupation. Four of the variables measured the individual's residency, including length of current Lansing area residency, length of anticipated Lansing area residency, the number of states lived in since age 18, and if the individuals had lived in any of seven specific locations. The locations were Detroit, Chicago, Wisconsin, New York City, Los Angeles, Mexico and either England or France. The locations were also used to index the individual's other two mobility variables, national and foreign traveling. The six mobility attributes and the demographics were used as independent variables to analyze consumption and preference of a news medium for local news, national news and foreign news. In addition to preference, the study examined medium believability 33 34 in foreign news reporting and the perceptions of national and foreign news accuracy. Distinguishing preference, believability and accuracy by distance was necessary because of the distance element in the mobility variables. This is theoretically grounded in the research of Lerner (1958) and Rogers and Shoemaker (1971) which indicates that media usage changes as mobility extends outward from the environment. Spiraling mobility and the media-as-mobility—multiplier concept make the distance trichotomy more profitable for examination when coupled with information-seeking based on knowledge discrepancy. The more one knows about local, national and foreign places, events and people, the more criteria one has that are likely to induce information-seeking based on a higher reward probability. News consumption was measured by eight different aspects of news usage: (1) whether or not the individual subscribed to the Lansing State Journal; (2) amount of reading time devoted to daily news; (3) number of local news items read in an average day; (4) the number of national news items on the front page read in an average day; (5) the average number of days of local television news viewing per week; (6) the average number of days of national television news viewing per week; (7) the amount of attention paid to national news items; and (8) the amount of attention paid to foreign news items. Rationale for Usipg_Telephone Survpy‘ It was necessary to determine the data gathering method before operationalizing the measurement of the variables in order that the measuring instruments be appropriate. Depending on the objectives, time, money, manpower and techniques, data gathering may involve instruments that are too crude, too sophisticated or unfeasible. 35 The controlled laboratory environment was neither necessary nor desirable since no variable in this study was manipulated to determine effects under varying conditions. The artificiality of the laboratory experiment with its forced compliance and expert communicator, in the form of the physically present project director, creates attention levels and credibility ratings not comparable with the normal everyday circumstances of mass media news consumption. Because the research objectives required that the environment be that of the individuals, the field survey method was more appropriate to fulfill both exploratory and hypothesis-testing aspects of the study. Such research seeks to discover significant variables, lay the groundwork for subsequent testing of more systematic hypothesis—testing and is more able to test hypotheses indicated by communication literature (Kerlinger, 1973). Survey methodology was more applicable for this study because the intent was to examine relationships that enable the generating of propositions about human nature (Babbie, 1973). Field surveys are better adapted to achieve such propositions because their measurements are taken in real world situations. Therefore, field study relationships are more likely to have external validity than are those derived in the laboratory. All data collection techniques have particular advantages and disadvantages. Mail surveys are relatively inexpensive but generally have lower response rates, no opportunity for probing or question clarification nor any way of ensuring that questions are answered in sequence. Personal interviewing and panel studies are capable of deeper probing by the interviewer but are much more time consuming and expensive as well as being subject to the biases caused by the interviewer-respondent interaction. Direct observation would, of 36 course, eliminate any chance of the subject giving an incorrect answer but is prohibitive because of the time and cost involved in observing a large sample even if the researcher had the ability to do so. Telephone surveys are weakened to the extent that they are limited to individuals who have telephones, and who are home to answer them. In addition, the questionnaire must be relatively short with uncomplicated question and response categories. However, they are cheaper, faster, and they limit interviewer bias because the interaction is restricted to vocal cues. Because the nature of this exploratory survey did not call for any complicated questions or answers, a telephone survey was judged as more than adequate in eliciting proper responses. Secondly, the telephone method seemed the least likely to introduce interviewer-respondent bias, a vital factor in this study because the interviewers were university journalism sudents rather than middle-aged women who, past research indicates, introduce the least amount of bias into study results. Operationalization of Hypotheses Although there were no independent variables in the experimental sense of manipulation, there were independent variables from the standpoint of presumed causes and effects (Kerlinger, 1973). Since the independent variables is the antecedent condition, the independent variables in this study were those comprising the respondent mobility and demographic characteristics. Preference and consumption variables constituted the dependent variables. Residential mobility was examined in this study by operationalizing length of current area residency, anticipated length of future area residency, number of states lived in since age 18, and whether the respondent had lived in any of seven locations, Detroit, Chicago, 37 Wisconsin, New York City, Los Angeles, Mexico and England or France. The response set for this latter residential mobility variable was the dichotomous "yes" or "no." Response categories for the two area residency variables ranged from zero to eight. Responses were coded one through six for each year. Residency length of seven, eight or nine years were coded as seven. Category eight was reserved for individuals whose residency length was ten years or more. The one individual who failed to answer an area residency question was coded as nine. State residency was coded one through seven with each number representing the actual number of states in which the person had lived in since age 18. No subject had lived in eight or more states. Traveling mobility was examined in this study by operationalizing the amount of time spent in each of five American locations and in two foreign locations. A national traveling index and a foreign traveling index were created by averaging responses within the categories. The U.S. locations were selected on size and on a distance continuum. The locations were Detroit, Chicago, Wisconsin, New York City and Los Angeles. Although Detroit had been selected because of its proximity to the sample pOpulation, it was omitted from the national traveling index because 94 per cent of the sample had traveled to Detroit and it therefore failed to contribute any measureable variance to the index. The other three U.S. cities were chosen because they are cities that are more likely to be visited by mobile individuals. Wisconsin was inserted in the measuring instrument because, unlike Ohio or Indiana, it represents a location that Lansing area residents would not normally be passing through enroute to some other location. Seven response 38 categories were created. Possible answers to the question: Have you ever traveled to (location)? were No, one to three days, four to six days, one week, two weeks, three weeks, and four weeks or more. The same response set was used for the two foreign locations. Places such as Tahiti, Tangiers or the Soviet Union were excluded as being exotic and not typical of a generalized foreign traveling mobility. Mexico was selected since it is on this continent and does not have the confounding implications for Michigan residents that Canada has. Many Michigan residents pass through Canada enroute to New York, thus exercising national mobility rather than foreign mobility. England and France were selected because they represent the two places that Americans would be most likely to visit if they journeyed to Europe, and therefore they are better able to serve as indicators of a foreign traveling mobility. It was decided that either European location could serve since the question being probed was a generalized foreign mobility rather than a specific location. It was necessary to include both since many individuals might have journeyed to one but not the other and would appear as non-mobile if only the second country was utilized. Since mass media news consumption can be operationalized by medium, by time, by amount, or by news focus, categories were constructed to examine those levels as they seemed appropriate to a given news medium. Thus, after finding out which, if any'newspapers the respondents sub— scribed to, newspapers consumption was examined in three ways: reading time, local news readership and national news readership. The time spent reading the newspaper on an average day could be responded to by the subject in a particular number of minutes which were then coded 39 into one of nine classifications. The response categories were: none, one to seven minutes, eight to 17 minutes, and every 10 minutes thereafter until the ninth category of 68 minutes or more. Both item readership categories were coded in interval-level responses ranging from none to seven for the corresponding number of articles read and an eighth category for readership of eight or more articles. Television news was also separated into two categories, l233l.2!. news viewing and national TV news viewing. Although an individual could not watch programming seven days a week, response categories ranged from zero to seven days to allow for individuals who either watched more than one such newscast in a given day or who perceived themselves as watching every day. In addition to different amounts and types of news consumption, the study's theoretical base implied differences in attention due to the varying empathic and mobility capacities of the individuals. Two attention concepts, national news attention and foreign news attention were built into the study design. Becauselattentiopris.difficult_to detegmineihgyeneinualself-reportL response categoriesmweremlimited to an p{dinallscalelof_fournincreasing“lovels, attention to none of the news from a geographic location, attention to some of the news from that location, attention to about half the news, and attention to most of the news. A logical follow-up to attention is accuracy of news. Respondents were asked to evaluate the mass media as a whole in two areas, national news accuracy and foreign news accuracy. An attempt was made to classi- fy the accuracy of news from each of the seven locations on a percentage scale. Respondents were asked to indicate what per cent of the 40 news from a location did they believe, from zero to 100 per cent or any number within. It was assumed that individuals could more easily rate accuracy on this ratio level measurement. The seven locations were later collapsed into the two news accuracy categories partly because respondents failed to distinguish accuracy by location. Most subjects tended to give the same answer for all locations. Because one assumption of the study was that physical mobility would create differences in preference for a particular news medium, this aspect was examined in terms of news geography. Subjects were asked to select a local news preference, a national news preference and a foreign news preference. Response categories included "other people" and a "no preference" answers in addition to the four major units of mass media, television, radio, newspapers and magazines. Because demographic questions are more likely to offend some individuals and because they were secondary to the purpose of this study, demographic classifications were kept to a minimum. Subjects were asked their occupation, age and educational level. Interviewers recorded the sex of the subject upon completion of the interview. Of all questions that might antagonize an individual, probably those on his or her salary are likely the leading offenders. Income level is also highly correlated with education and occupation and therefore repetitious without adding additional information. Income was not included in this study because of that correlation and because its increased tendency to offend subjects makes the probability that much higher that subjects might terminate the interview. Hypothesized Results Under the general framework of the preceding operationalizations, 41 every hypothesis in this study was testable by at least one, and usually two or three measures. The following matrix of the hypothesized relationships serves to focus on the similarities and dissimilarities that were predicted as the effects of high and low mobility on the consumption and preference variables. TABLE 1 PREDICTED MOBILITY RELATIONSHIPS WITH NEWS BEHAVIOR NEWS CURRENT EXPECTED STATES NATIONAL FOREIGN BEHAVIOR RESIDENCY RESIDENCY LIVED IN TRAVELING TRAVELING Local Item Readership L > H L > H L > H H > L H > L National Item Readership H > L H > L H > L H > L H > L Local TV NEWS L > H L > H L > H L > H L > H National TV news 1 $ H L > H L > H H > L H > L National Iii News Attention H > L H > L H > L H > L' H > L Foreign News Attention H > L H > L H > L H > L H > L Local HN>HT HN>HT HN>HT HN>HT HN>HT News Preference LT>LN LT>LN LT>LN LT>LN LT>LN National HN>HT HN>HT HN>HT HN>HT HN>HT News Preference LT>LN LT>LN LT>LN LT>LN LT>LN Foreign HN>HT HN>HT HN>HT HN>HT HN>HT News Preference LT>LN LT>LN LT>LN LT>LN LT>LN Believability HN>HT HN>HT HN>HT HN>HT HN>HT Of Foreign News LT>LN LT>LN LT>LN LT>LN LT>LN L and H represent low and high mobility, respectively. N and T represent newspapers and television, respectively. The relationships expressed by the "greater than" symbol may represent percentages, product-moment correlations or partial correlations. Table 1 indicates that with two exceptions, all five of the mobility variables are expected to result in the following generalization: Increased physical mobility is associated with increased national and 42 foreign news attention and with a preference for newspapers for local, national and foreign news, but differences in the mobility variable attributes render news consumption a complex factor of channel, type of news and mobility. All of the mobility variables are generally expected to predict identical results. The two exceptions involved both channel and type of information. It was predicted that residential mobility was negatively associated with increased local news readership and with increased national television news viewing. But, it was hypothesized that traveling mobility was positively related with those two dependent variables. Questionnaire Construction The measuring instrument in this study should technically be labeled a recording schedule rather than a questionnaire. However, the fact that the responses were filled in by the interviewer rather than by the respondent has only one relevant aspect. The questionnaire form must concentrate on visual attractiveness for the respondent but the recording schedule should be designed for efficient use by the interviewer (Moser and Kalton, 1972). This distinction is noted because the instrument was pre-coded and included interviewer instructions which would have been diverting to the respondent. The first step in instrument construction, clarifying objectives, usually leads to the problem to be undertaken and the questions to be asked. Many questions were omitted because lengthy, rambling“ schedules are demoralizing for the interviewer as well as for the respondent. The completion rate also tends to increase proportion-; ately to the schedule length. This is crucial in'a telephone datai gathering instrument. This instrument was limited to 41 questions, 43 excluding the interviewer-recorded variable of sex, requiring not more jthan 10 minutes to complete. The next decision in instrument construction is the type of response. Although researchers disagree over the relative advantages and disadvantages of open and close-ended questions, the merits of the fixed alternative categories outweighed the disadvantages for this study. In addition to avoiding biases created by nonprofessional interviewers, the structured responses did not fall into the danger areas commonly associated with structured questionnaires. Open-ended questionnaires are superior to closed questionnaires if a wide range of responses is expected or if the major interest is in voluntary information and respondent motivation (Backstrom and Hursh, 1963). But, the physical mobility relationship to media news behavior was essentially a probing for factual data rather than attitude or opinion formation. It was also possible to meet the two major guidelines pertaining to structured questionnaires, mutual exhaustiveness and mutual exclusivity (Babbie, 1973). A pre-test of 15 subjects yielded no difficulty with the fixed format but did aid in eliminating some ambiguous and double-barreled questions. The remainder of questionnaire design falls under the general category of question order. This instrument followed the generally accepted format of beginning with a brief introduction followed by a few easy-to-answer questions. The latter are needed to put the interviewee at ease and to build up rapport between the interviewer and the respondent (Raj, 1972). Classification questions concerning personal attributes, age, sex, education and occupation, were placed at the end in order to prolong the interview past the point where all 44 independent and dependent variable questions had been successfully answered. This tentative version was used in the pre-test of the 15 individuals who were then asked their opinion and interpretation of the major questions. A few questions, notably those involving the news accuracy, were restructured for clarity and the final draft of the questionnaire (Appendix A) was prepared. Sample Size and Selection Before drawing a list of respondents from the sampling frame, the Lansing area telephone directory, it was necessary to determine the ap- proximate sample size. Sample size is normally determined by the ex— tent of homogeneity of the population that is to be generalized to, the amount of tolerated error and the desired confidence limits. Although population homogeneity on traits other than specified census demogra— phics is never really known, researchers usually assume a 50 per cent level. But, traveling and residency are not typical characteristics. It is estimated that about one out of five Americans changes residences every five years. With this as a general guideline, it was decided that the probability was more likely to be about 25 per cent instead of 50 per cent. A sample size of some 600 persons was needed to keep the tolerated error at less than five percent. The actual sample for data analysis consisted of 652 respondents. When it is inserted into the standard error formula (one standard deviation equals the square root of the product of the probability and nonprobability of homogeneity idivided by sample size) the actual tolerated error at the 95 per cent level of confidence was computed as 3.4 per cent. Because the telephone directory had been in use for about 10 months in a known area of high mobility, a capital city with a major university near- 45 by, 1,000 telephone numbers were drawn. It was assumed about 15 per cent would be nonworking or business numbers and another 10 per cent would be of individuals unavailable or of those who would decline the interview. A telephone directory is not the ideal sampling frame from which to draw a sample but no perfect list exists that gives every member of the»/ population an equal probability of being included, a necessity for true systematic random sampling. Since the sample consisted of telephone numbers rather than individual names, it was felt this would mitigate biases caused by individuals having unlisted numbers. A few such indi- viduals were included in the survey. In the past, unlisted numbers were typically the domain of the upper income group. But in recent years, un- married females, individuals who work at night, less affluent prople who prefer not to be pestered by salesmen and people who simply prefer their privacy have taken unlisted telephone numbers. This dilutes any particu- lar characteristic associated with unlisted numbers. A skip interval was calculated by estimating the number of telephone numbers per page, multiplying by the size of the residential pages minus the governmental sections and then randomly selecting the number 37 as the starting point of a range from one through 79. Every 79th number was then selected, excluding known business numbers. Completion Rate Of the 1,000 telephone numbers selected for inclusion in this study, 652 completed the interview, 129 refused, 63 never answered the telephone even after six callbacks, and 156 were disconnected or improper numbers. fIt first appears that only slightly more than 65 per cent completed the iinterview. However, once the disconnected numbers are removed, 77 per lcent completed the interview, 15 per cent refused, and eight per cent 46 were unavailable. Interviewer Training Forty students in two upper level Michigan State University journ- alism courses served as interviewers in exchange for access to part of the data and assistance in interpreting frequency distributions for clear newswriting. Each student was given a list of 25 telephone num- bers and instructed to make three attempts to obtain a completed response or a refusal. Completion rate by interviewers varied from a low of four to a high of 20 for an overall 482, or 48.2 per cent of the total list. The two-week interviewing period in late February, 1975, was extended to allow the project director and two students to complete another 170 interviews from the lists of individuals who had refused or not been available during earlier calls. Upon completion in March, the sample totaled 652 subjects with none of the original 40 lists of 25 names having fewer than 13 completed interviews nor more than 21. Prior to interviewing, the students were instructed in interview- ing techniques including telephone manner and avoidance of connotative words or phrases indicative of correct answers. The students practiced in class with each student interviewing another. They were also told to use the exact phrasing and sequence of questions and when to probe for more specific answers. The interviewers were informed that a percentage of their com- pleted interviews would be subject to verification. Approximately five per cent were verified by call backs. Only one interview appeared to be a possible fraud. It was discarded from the sample. All interviews were coded on machine-scored sheets for automatic computer card production. This encoding, all done by the project 47 director, included the coding of the open-ended occupation category which had been determined in the pre-test to be too difficult for interviewers to code while conducting the interview. After preparation of the computer cards, the data deck was cleansed of coding errors and lreadied for analysis. QEEEIAnalysis Three statistical tests were used to examine the study data, depending on the nature of a given hypothesis. The tests were the fChiWSquare goodness of fit, Analysis of Variance and correlation. Elaboration and partial correlation techniques were used in addition to the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient. Analysis of Variance was used when the differences of more than two groups were tested. It expresses the ratio of the variance in the differences caused by the independent variable to that of the error or chance cause. This technique was used to test the hypothesis that predicted news attention in relation to prior residency in the seven geographic locations. Correlation and Chi Square were used for the major portion of the data analysis because the inherent weaknesses in each are corrected by the other. AlthoughIChi.Square indicates a level of significance for theflobserxedarelationships as opposed to the expected distribution when f’ ¢ QQLIElationshipslare predicted, sample size influences the estimate. Because a sample size of 652 would produce many significant relation- ships not significant in any other sense, a second test was needed (Blalock, 1972). Correlation is not subject to fluctuation because-of Ehgflgii_igflfiflfifl§§mgl§lfiize.m“However,.the productrmoment correlation mfigsnresuonly'linear relationShips.p It does this by measuring the 48 lspread of scores from the various points along the straight line of ibest fit. Changes in the direction of the relationship or in the iamount of deviation in the scores at various points in the relation- :ship cannot be detected by the product-moment correlation. The Chi Square test compensates for the lack of sensitivity to curvilinearityif by the correlation methods. Chi Square is not a correlational test but it is related to the basic technique. Chi Square is the same as; multiplying the samply size by the square of the Phi coefficient, a shortcut version of the product-moment correlation used for dichoto- mous distributions (Nunnally, 1967). Partial correlation and elaboration, essentially the same thing, were used to counter any demographic effects in the variable rela- tionships. If the relationships differ at various levels of the variables, the Pearson test is not likely to reveal that relationships are stronger at certain levels than at others. Elaboration techniques control for such effects by splitting the sample into sub-groups and examining for relationships within each. If any deviation in relationship caused by the independent variable remains the same for two given sub-groups, the overall relationship is attribu- ted solely to the treatment of the independent variable. However, if the presence of the test factor, age, sex, or education in this study, causes the relationship to change, the predicted relationship is said to be spurious because the antecedent demographic variable causes both sub-groups to vary. If elaboration indicates the relationship holds for one but not the other of two sub-groups, the technique is said to have specificed the conditions for the relationship and the relationship is a conditional correlation. The final technique used to eliminate 49 _the contaminating effects of the demographics was partial correlation. It tests for the degree of relationship between two variables while eliminating the effects of other variables. By using a weighted aver- age to control for age, sex, education and occupation, partial corre- lation effectively reduces their impact to zero. The remaining rela- tionship is that of the independent and dependent variables. Correlations are restricted to the shape of the two distributions being measured. Unless two variables are identical in virtually every way, correlation will never be +1.0 or_l.0. But whether a given correlation is said to be high, moderate or weak depends on past re- lationships of the two variables and what use one intends to make of the relationship (Glass and Stanley, 1970). In this study, it was primarily to indicate whether two given variables are related in any discernible pattern. The strength of the association is secondary. Correlations as high as .70 are rare and the average of all corre- . lations reported in psychology literature is less than .40 (Nunnally,: 1967). Area and Sample Demographics Survey research is usually designed to generalize to a population based on the sample results. To the degree that a sample differs from the population parameters, the sample is deficient in its ability to be representative of the population. Although the national breakdown of the U.S. population by age and sex uses different age categories than those used to differentiate both the sample and the Lansing Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area (SMSA), the extreme similarity of the national and SMSA sex percentages indicates that the Lansing area is very similar to the rest of the 50 nation. National figures indicate that 53 per cent of the 119,871,831 Americans over age 21 are female (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1970c) while similar figures for the Lansing area indicate that 52.9 per cent of the 91,419 area residents over age 15 are female (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1970d). Table 2 indicates the degree to which the study sample deviated from the breakdown of the SMSA. TABLE 2 SAMPLE, LANSING SMSA AND U.S. AGE AND SEX PERCENTAGES SAMPLE LANSING SMSA U.S. Men Women Men Women Men Women N= 260 392 43,102 48,317 56.8* 63.0* AGE AGE 15-19 2.3% 3.2% 6.5% 6.8% _ 5% 5% 21-24 20-29 15.0 16.4 13.0 13.7 10 10 25-34 30-39 7.2 11.2 7.4 7.5 9 10 35-44 40-49 501 7.5 702 7.8 16 18 45-64 50-59 5.4 8.9 6.0 6.9 7 10 65+ 60+ 4.9 12.4 7.0 10.2 TOTALS 39.9 60.1 47.1 52.9 47 53 *The decimal point is placed before the hundreds of thousands in the U.S. population figures. Actual numbers are: Men, 56,847,444; Women, 63,024,387. Some 53 per cent of the Lansing area population are women but more than 60 per cent of the sample subjects are female. Although this sex difference may be relevant in terms of statistical testing, most of 51 the age relations are fairly well in line with the population para- meters. The largest deviation is in the 15-to-l9-year-old category. This has little impact on this study since the main focus was on physi- cal mobility since age 18. The 5.5 per cent of the sample group in that age category comprises mainly young marrieds and Michigan State University students. However, the corresponding age category in the general population would also include high school students living at home. Thus, the study could not, and did not intend to, typify that segment of society. The educational relationships are more difficult to establish because, as Table 3 indicates, segments within the SMSA are not homogenous. TABLE 3 U.S., LANSING AREA AND SAMPLE EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT EDUCATIONAL UNITED LANSING CITY OF EAST LEVEL STATES SMSA LANSING LANSING OKEMOS SAMPLE COMPLETED N= 99 million 176,862 65,751 13,727 3,803 652 Eight Years Or Less 20.4% 18.7% 21.3% 3.3% 4.2% 4.8% Some High School 17.9 18.2 20.2 3.8 3.4 9.5 High School Graduate 37.5 36.2 30.4 15.7 22.6 24.2 Some College Education 12.2 12.0 12.2 18.4 19.2 28.4 College Grad Or More 11.5 14.9 15.9 58.8 50.6 33.1 It is apparent just must as the sample deviates from the overall 52 SMSA and U.S. educational attainment percentages, so do the elements within the SMSA (Bureau of the Census, 1970e). The sample's propor- tion of individuals over age 25 who are collegefieducated is much greater than either the U.S. or the SMSA percentages but lower than the suburban yfigures. The total SMSA is not apprOpriate for comparison with the sample because the tri-county area includes communities and farming areas that are too far from Lansing to be listed in the telephone dir- ectory. However, none of the three population units, Lansing, East Lansing and Okemos, are appropriate by themselves because the intent of the study was more than just generalizing to one of the subunits of the area. Since the random sample should approximate the population from which it was drawn, to produce results generalizable to that population, it was necessary to consider the three population subunits as one en- tity. But even when the three units, Lansing, East Lansing and Okemos, are totaled as one unit, the percentages still differ. 'Of the 83,281 persons over 25 in the three communities, 17.6% did not attend high school compared to only 4.8% of the sample; 16.7% attended but did not graduate from high school compared to only 9.5% of the sample; 27.6% re- ceived a high school diploma but did not attend college compared to 24.4% of the sample; only 13.5% received some college education com- pared to 28.4% of the sample; and only 24.6% graduated from college compared to 33.1% of the sample. To the extent that education affects audience behavior toward the mass media, the study results are not easily generalizable to the Lansing area. Since the communities within the SMSA also deviate from each other and from the total area it is inevitable that such generalizability would be difficult to ascertain. 53 The same type of variance within units of the metropolitan area occur with regard to occupational classification. Although the 652 sample respondents were classified according to an eight-category breakdown, approximately one-third of the sample had to be ignored for comparison purposes because of noncomparable census categories. The original occupations categories of the sample, and the percentage of respondents in each classification, were; unskilled laborer, 13.4%; skilled laborer, 12.0%; clerical, sales or service, 15.5%; business owner, 3.2%; professional or managerial, 29.0%; retired, 13.5%; student, 11.2%; and unemployed, 2.2%. Because census data did not list categories for the retired, the student, the unemployed or the business owner in its occupational breakdowns, these figures were eliminated for comparison purposes (Bureau of the Census, 1970F). Again, the subunits of the Lansing SMSA deviate from each other and from the total unit. But the differences among the units and the total unit are not nearly as great as were the differences in their levels of education. TABLE 4 U.S., LANSING AREA AND SAMPLE OCCUPATION LEVELS UNITED LANSING CITY OF EAST OCCUPATIONAL STATES SMSA LANSING LANSING OKEMOS SAMPLE LEVEL N= 56,318,480 119,987 42,444 18,718 3,301 456 Unskilled Laborer 6.6% 4.2% 4.5% 2.6% 1.7% 19.1% Skilled Laborer 19.9 16.1 16.7 3.5 5.8 17.3 Clerical, Sales Or Service 41.3 49.4 56.3 47.1 36.8 22.1 Professional Or Managerial 32.2 30.3 25.2 46.8 55.7 41.5 All total Ns represent individuals over age 16 employed in jobs classifiable in one of the four listed ctaegories. 54 The occupational levels of the subjects in the sample deviate from the p0pu1ation units although they indicate the same basic trends. How- ever, the high percentage of unskilled laborers listed in the sample is incongruent, especially when considering the higher educational level of the sample. This occurred because of a more restrictive defini- tion of skilled labor than that used for census data. When the three population subunits are combined for comparison purposes with the sample, breakdowns and comparisons are: 3.8% unskilled laborers in the popula- tion unit compared to 19.1% in the sample; 12.3% skilled labor in the pOpulation unit compared to 17.3% in the sample; 50.8% clerical, sales and service workers in the population unit compared to 22.1% in the sample; and 33.1% professional or managerial in the population unit compared to 41.5% in the sample. Two factors caused the sample percentages to differ from the SMSA and the subunit percentages. An overabundance of the sample was drawn from the East Lansing and Okemos areas, causing the professional and managerial category to be inflated beyond the expected percentage. Secondly, the classification of unskilled labor is radically different in the sample than in the population units. It is obvious that this distinction occurs in the classification rather than in the subjects selected for inclusion in the study because of the education factor. Occupation is highly associated with education. Since the educational level of the sample is much higher than that of the population units, it is more likely that the classification schema caused the departure from expected occupation occurrences. To that extent, occupation ceases to be a viable category for generalizing from the sample to the popula- tion. To some extent, the difficulty with occupation classifications can be eliminated by substituting education. 55 Education and occupation are more highly correlated than are any of the demographic characteristics measured. To the extent that DEMOGRAPHIC CORRELATIONS TABLE 5 SEX SEX EDUCATION +.l4 AGE -.13 OCCUPATION +.07 EDUCATION +.l4 +.1O +.55 AGE -013 +.10 -013 OCCUPATION they are correlated, one is able to substitute for the other. Although the above demographic correlations are generally low, they and the previously-cited demographic deviations of the sample to the popula- tion units do not represent an insurmountable problem for the study. The internal demographics are not expected to highly inter-correlate, with the exception of such closely related variables as education, income, and occupation. The differences between sample demographics and their corresponding population characteristics does affect one of the two aims of this study. To the degree that one of the deviant sample demographics influences a mobility-usage relationship, the relationship is not generalizable. However, this lack of generaliza- bility to the population at large involves only indicating population percentages that would react in a given way. If higher-educated 56 individuals believe or behave in certain communication patterns, the sample relationship also holds for the general population. What is missing is the ability to transfer a statement, such as thirty per cent of the sample prefer one medium over another, from the sample to the population if education influences such preference. The lack of demographic similarity does not affect the study's major goal, discern- ing what, if any, effects mobility has on communication patterns, the comparative strength of mobility relationship to demographic influences, and the confounding of mobility by demographics. CHAPTER IV FINDINGS OF THE STUDY The results of this physical mobility study are presented in the following order for a comprehensive view of the hypothesized rela- tionships: (1)--A frequency distribution of the findings on questionnaire items; (2)--The creation of indexes for news attention, news accuracy and traveling; (3)--A correlation matrix of the major independent and dependent variables; (4)--A partial correlation matrix, controlling for demographic effects of sex, age, education and occupation; (5)--Conditional correlation matrices explaining effects on news consumption for demographic groupings; and (6)--Cross-tabulations of the relation of residential and traveling mobility, and demographics, with news consumption and preference. This mobility study found news consumption behavior that could be expected, based on prior research findings. For example, the 1973-74 American Newspaper Markets, Inc., analysis of newspaper subscription indicates Ingham County penetration by the Lansing State Journal at 60.8 per cent and the Detroit newspapers combined penetration at 17.2 per cent. The mobility study found similar penetration results. Of the 652 subjects in the mobility study, 68 per cent were subscribers to the State Journal, 17 per cent subscribed to one of the Detroit newspapers, four per cent subscribed to the Towne Courier, and seven 57 58 percent subscribed to other newspapers. Although subscription to the State Journal is some eight per cent higher in the sample than would be expected, based on the penetration figures, the increase may be because of the higher level of education in the sample than that in the general population. Frequency Distributions The following 13 tables indicate the overall consumption and preference patterns of the Lansing area sample and the extent of their residential and traveling mobility. TABLE 6 AMOUNT OF DAILY NEWSPAPER READING TIME N = 652 D0 NOt Read ---------------- 12% 38 to 47 Minutes ----------- 7% l to 7 Minutes=—— - 5 48 to 57 Minutes ----------- 2 8 to 17 Minutes ------------ 18 58 to 67 Minutes ----------- 10 18 to 27 Minutes ----------- 14 More----—-------e .......... 8 23 to 37 Minutes ----------- 23 Average ----------- 31 Minutes The sample's reading time is comparable to prior findings on the average number of minutes spent with the newspaper on a typical day. Research reported by the American Newspaper Publishers Association Foundation (Bush, 1969) indicates the average man reads 36 minutes on a typical weekday and the average unemployed woman spends 30 minutes reading each weekday. Other reports indicate similar results (Bush, 1966, 1967). A 1966 report found that almost 52 per cent of the male readers of the South Bend (1nd.) Tribune read the newspaper more than 30 minutes per day in comparison with about 47 per cent of the female readers. The 1967 study found that almost 64 per cent of the male 59 readers of the Omaha (Neb.) World Herald spent more than 30 minutes per day with the newspaper as did about 63 per cent of the female readers. Respondents were then asked to indicate the type of their news consumption by quantity and by medium. The 74 individuals who said they did not read the newspaper were eliminated from consideration for local and national newspaper consumption but were included for questions on local and national television news consumption. Subjects were asked how many items of each they usually read on a typical weekday and the average number of days per week they watched television news. TABLE 7 NEWS CONSUMPTION BY TYPE AND BY NEWS MEDIUM NEWSPAPER READING TELEVISION VIEWING NUMBER OF Local National Local National ITEMS OR News News News News DAY N= 567 568 652 652 None ------------- 5% 7% 9% 10% One - 4 10 4 5 Two -------------- 10 18 6 8 Three - - -- 14 17 6 8 Four ------------- 9 12 8 6 Five ------------- 10 8 13 16 Six -------------- 8 4 11 9 Seven 40 24 43 38 AVERAGE: ITEMS: 5.2 4.0 DAYS: 5.0 4.7 The 30 minutes per day spent with the newspaper by the average subject includes slightly more local news than national news. This is to be expected, given the news maxim of proximity being a major factor in news interest. However, while the same pattern holds for tele- vision news, the difference is much smaller. It is more important to note than even with this highly-educated 60 sample, about 10 per cent do not watch either local or national TV news. The percentages are even more startling for newspapers. Only five and seven per cent, respectively, do not read any local or national news but these percentages are misleading. Thirteen per cent of the sample indicated prior to the question that they did not read the newspaper at all. When this non-readership is combined with those who read the newspaper but do not read local or national news, there appears to be a group of about 17.3 per cent, who have no contact with news in newspapers. The subjects were next asked to indicate a single preference of mediums for local, national, and foreign news and to state which they thought was more believable in foreign news reporting. TABLE 8 PREFERENCE AND BELIEVABILITY OF THE NEWS MEDIA Preferrred Local National Foreign Most News News §E§Ei New§_ Believable N= 652 650 649 651 Television 50% 68% 58% 47% Newspapers 27 17 21 17 Radio 17 6 5 3 Magazines 1 4 8 10 Other People 1 0 0 1 No Preference 4 5 8 22 The believability results are similar to findings of researchers testing possible biases in question construction used by the Roper 61 surveys. Roper surveys have found that television is the most believed medium in cases of conflicting reports. However, researchers have found that the Roper question structure inflated the bias in favor of television (Carter and Greenberg, 1965). However, when two methods were used to check the Roper question, using the question alone and using it preceded by separate questions on media believability, TV was still perceived as being more believable. Researchers found that when the Roper question was used alone, 29 per cent believed newspapers compared to 46 per cent for television and 15 per cent for radio. When separate questions preceded the Roper question, the percentages were newspapers, 21; television, 53; and radio, 13. A lS-year study of the relative credibility of the media indicates that in the event of conflicting reports from the four major news media, the percent of the population who believe television has steadily increased while the per cent who believe newspapers has steadily decreased (The Roper Organization, Inc., 1975). In December, 1959, 29 per cent believed television compared to 32 per cent who believed newspapers. In November, 1974, television was believed by 51 per cent of the sample and newspapers by only 20 per cent. Hoever, the response is mixed concerning both newspapers and television as the major source of news. The most recent Roper data, November, 1974, indicate 36 per cent of the population get most of their news from television only compared to 19 per cent who get the news from newspapers only. Another 23 per cent get most of their news from both television and newspapers. Although this mobility study also found television to be the preferred source of news and the most believable in foreign news 62 reporting, no element of conflicting reports was expressed in the questions. Television's position as the most believable medium, by 47 per cent of the sample, is within the 46 per cent and 53 per cent found by Carter and Greenberg, but the newspaper percentage is much lower. The newspaper most believable rating by 17 per cent of the mobility sample in contrast to the 29 and 22 per cent found by Carter and Greenberg, may be lower because of the 10 per cent of the mobility sample who selected magazines. In order to create indexes of national and foreign traveling mobility, respondents were categorized in seven increasing levels of travel to the five U.S. and the two foreign locations. TABLE 9 AMOUNT OF TIME SPENT IN SEVEN GEOGRAPHIC LOCATIONS TIME SPENT U.S. LOCATIONS , . IN U.S. Detroit Chicago Wisconsin New York Los Angeles LOCATIONS N= 651 651 651 651 651 None 4% 24% 48% 47% 60% 1 to 3 Days 16 24 22 13 ll 4 to 6 Days 8 10 5 6 6 One Week 8 10 9 ll 6 Two Weeks 11 10 5 7 5 Three Weeks 5 3 2 5 2 More 48 19 9 11 10 TIME SPENT IN FOREIGN Mexico England/France LOCATIONS N= 651 651 None 75% 80% 1 to 3 Days 10 3 4 to 6 Days 2 1 One Week 4 2 Two Weeks 4 3 Three Weeks 1 2 More 4 9 Two aspects of the traveling percentages are noteworthy. Distance is a factor in the extent of an individual's mobility as indicated by 63 the decreasing numbers of people who have traveled to the more distant locations. This indicates that the locations selected represent not just a continuum of physical distance but a distance continuum based on some combination of need, desire and accessibility. The second item of major interest is that the percentages do indicate a high degree of mobility, a necessary condition for this study. Besides traveling to these locations, approximately one-third of the sample had lived in one or more of the locations. TABLE 10 PRIOR RESIDENCY IN THE SEVEN U.S. AND FOREIGN LOCATIONS N = 652 Lived In None ----------- 67% Lived in Los Angeles ------- 3 Lived in Detroit -------- 13 Lived in Mexico ------------ 0 Lived In Chicago -------- 3 Lived in England/France---- 2 Lived in Wisconsin ------ 3 Lived in Two Or More ------- 6 Lived in New York City-- 3 This high residential mobility was also indicated by the fact that some 43 per cent had lived in other states. TABLE 11 TOTAL NUMBER OF STATES LIVED IN SINCE AGE 18 N = 652 One State (MiChigan) ------- 57.3% Five States -------------- 3.4 Two States ----------------- 19.8 Six States --------------- 1.3 Three States --------------- 10.6 Seven States ------------- ,5 Four States—— — 4.6 Eight States Or More ----- 2.0 Although the sample indicated high prior state mobility, both current and anticipated future area residential mobility were much less. Subjects were asked to indicate both the amount of time they had lived 64 in the Lansing area and the amount of time they expected to remain in the area. TABLE 12 CURRENT AND ANTICIPATED LENGTH OF LANSING AREA RESIDENCY Current Anticipated Residency Residency Residency Period Length Lepgth N = 652 N = 652 Less Than One Year 2.3% 6.6% One Year 2.5 7.8 Two Years 6.1 6.9 Three Years 4.8 3.8 Four Years 4.3 4.5 Five Years 4.5 4.5 Six Years 4.3 .6 Seven to 10 Years 7.1 2.0 More Than 10 Years 63.2 65.7 Two aspects of the area residential mobility are nOteworthy. The fact that both current and anticipated area residency lengths show remarkably similar patterns indicates area stability, neither acceler- ated growth nor declining population. Secondly, the fact that 20 per cent of the sample have lived in the area less than five years and that nearly 30 per cent do not plan on living in the area more than five years can not be construed as mobility typical of the average popula- tion area. Such high residential mobility is more likely descriptive of areas similar to Lansing, those with nearby universities and those housing state government. After determining mobility patterns, the next objective was to isolate news attention and accuracy perceptions for news of the seven specified locations. Subjects were asked whether they paid no attention 65 to news items from each of the locations, attention to a few of the items, to about half of the items, or to most of the items. TABLE 13 NATIONAL AND FOREIGN NEWS ATTENTION Attention NATIONAL LOCATIONS Paid To Detroit Chicago Wisconsin New York Los Angeles News Items N = 651 646 642 642 642 None 8% 20% 41% 20% 24% To A Few 31 46 38 41 43 To Half 26 17 10 21 17 To Most 35 17 11 18 16 Attention FOREIGN LOCATIONS Paid To Mexico England/France N = 639 637 None 40% 28% To A Few 38 40 To Half 11 14 To Most ll 18 The relation of news attention and physical distance is not nearly as strong as was that of distance to traveling. Although the nearest location, Detroit, still leads in the amount of most attention, Chicago, New York City and England/France are about the same. And Wisconsin, physically closer than all but Detroit and Chicago, receives the same percentage as does Mexico. When the "half" and "most" categories are com- bined, Wisconsin receives slightly less a percentage than does Mexico. The perception of accuracy of news does not appear to be related to the location of the news. The perception of news accuracy was nearly identical across the seven locations. 66 TABLE 14 NATIONAL AND FOREIGN NEWS ACCURACY Per Cent NATIONAL LOCATIONS Of News Detroit Chicago Wisconsin New York Los Angeles Believed N = 625 591 570 582 582 H 69 N d? w 69 N O on N O O whommmwmbomq 59 Zero 1 To 9% 10 To 19% 20 To 29% 30 to 39% 40 To 49% 50 To 59% 60 To 69% 70 To 79% 80 To 89% 90 To 99% 100% N H o O N N O O O I N N O‘NOOU‘IONOQHNUI N O \DflNQb-fi-HHQNO‘N N O O O toms—ammmooooommb N O O O meomempqnm P'P‘k) u>k)u)b-G\hnh'k*h‘h' F‘P‘AJ K>u)P‘U10\U1k) P‘P‘k) socbtacbtn~4Io O P‘P‘AJ G>kJC>uJO\U1hJF*hJPJ O l-‘UlOl-‘U‘lule-‘l-‘N O hah‘haai AVERAGE 68.6 67.1 0‘ O) (I) m G" O \l O‘ OW O N Per Cent FOREIGN LOCATIONS 0f News Mexico England/France Believed N 570 571 w o mucowmmNr-oqmoog N w memmmwwqwmg Zero 1 To 9% 10 To 19% 20 To 29% 30 To 39% 40 To 49% 50 To 59% 60 To 69% 70 To 79% 80 To 89% 90 To 99% 100% N P‘F‘k) \DIQmqme es.+ mm.+ 00.+ 00.+ VH.+ 0H.+ ~0.- H0.+ 0302 20000002 ~0.- 00.+ em.+ 00.+ HH.+ 00.+ 0H.+ NH.+ 0302 H0000 m0.+ 00.+ Hm.+ 0H.+ mm.+ 00.+ 0H.+ eH.+ mane 0000000 00.+ ~0.- 0m.+ 20.+ 00.+ 00.+ mm.+ mm.+ conumes00nsm 000000302 non .osom 0mm xwocH xmch CH 60>HA Samson numcmq cmwmuom Hmcoauwz moumum pmuowmxm ucmunso moemmamoozmo oqum>ama sozmonmm MU0 00.- 00.- 00.+ ~0.+ 0n02 no 0000000 0000 00200002 00.- 00.- 00.- 0~.+ 0000 no 00n0 000000 0000 00.- 00.- 00.+ m~.+ 00003 00.- 00.- 00.- 00.+ 002 00.- 00.- 00.- m~.+ n000o no 000 0n000 00 0203003 00.- 00.- ~0.+ 00.+ 00o 0n000 00 000a n000000 0302 >0 m0.- 00.- 00.- 00.+ 0n02 no 0000000 0000 000O0 00.- 00.- m0.- 0~.+ 0000 no 00n0 000000 0000 00.+ ~0.+ 00.+ 00.+ 00003 m0.+ 00.+ 00.+ 00.- 002 0200000 00.+ 00.+ 00.+ 00.- n000o no 000 0n000 00 0302 00.+ 00.+ ~0.+ 00.+ 00o 0n000 00 000a n000000 002oHe02 00.+ 00.+ 00.+ 00.+ 0n02 no 0000000 0000 00 020020 00.+ 00.+ 00.+ 00.+ 0000 no 00n0 000000 0002 00.+ 00.+ ~0.+ 00.+ 00003 00.+ 00.+ 00.+ 00.+ 002 0200000 00.+ 00.+ 00.+ 00.+ n0000 no 000 0n000 00 0302 00.+ 00.+ 00.+ 00.+ 00o 0n000 00 0000 n000000 00000 00 00.+ 00.+ 00.+ 00.+ 0n02 no 0000000 0000 020020 00.+ 00.+ 00.+ 00.+ 0000 no 00n0 000000 0002 m0.+ m~.+ 00.- -.+ 00003 00.+ 00.+ 00.+ 00.+ 002 00.+ mm.+ 00.+ 00.+ n000o no 000 0n000 00 0200 00.+ 00.+ 00.+ 00.+ 00o 0n000 00 0000 n000000 0202000 00.+ HN.+ HH.+ mN.+ 0002 no 0000000 060m 00.+ 0~.+ 00.+ 00.+ 0000 no 00n0 000000 0002 020003009 m2wam>mne 20 vm>00 202000002 2000000 00200002 mmumuw 0200020 mmddem¢> MBHAHmOZ Mm mmqdeM(> ZOHBASDmZOU m3mz m0 wZOHfiflmOmfiqm UHmm¢mOOEmQ NH mamfla 74 00.+ 0o.+ 0o.+ 00.: 00003 00.: mo.+ mo.: oo.+ 002 00.+ m0.+ 00.: mo.+ n000o no 000 0n000 00 00000000 00.: mo.+ m0.+ 00.: 000 0n000 o0 0000 n000000 0302 mo.: 00.: 00.: ~o.: 0n02 no 0000000 0000 2000000 00.: 00.+ mo.+ 0o.+ 0000 no 00n0 000000 0000 00.+ oo.+ no.+ 00.: 00003 00.+ 00.+ 00.+ oo.+ 002 0o.+ oo.+ o0.+ 00.: n000o 00 000 0n000 00 200020000 00.+ 00.+ mo.+ mo.+ 00o 0n000 00 0000 n000000 0302 m0.+ 00.+ 00.+ 0o.: 0n02 no 0000000 0000 2000000 mo.+ 00.: 00.: 0o.+ 0000 no 00n0 000000 0000 00.+ 00.+ 0o.+ 00.: 00003 00.: mo.+ mo.: 0o.+ 002 mo.+ m0.+ 00.: 0o.+ n000o no 000 0n000 o0 00000000 oo.+ 0o.+ 0o.+ mo.+ 00o 0n000 00 0000 n000000 0302 oo.+ 00.: 00.: oo.+ 0no2 no 0000000 0000 00200002 00.: 00.+ 00.+ 00.+ 0000 no 00n0 000000 0000 mo.+ moi. oo.+ mo.+ 200003 00.: 0o.+ 0o.+ mo.: 002 oo.: 00.+ 00.: 0o.: n000o no 000 0n000 00 200020000 oo.+ 00.+ oo.: 0o.+ 00o 0n000 o0 0000 n000000 0302 oo.+ 0o.+ 00.+ 0o.: 0n02 no 0000000 0000 00200002 00.: mo.+ 00.: 0o.+ 0000 no 00n0 000000 0000 020000000 020000000 20 00000 002000000 2000000 00200002 000000 0200000 mmqdem€> MBHHHmOZ wm MUGfiDUUd 02¢ ZOHBZMBE€ mSWZ m0 mZOHadmOmdqm UHmmdeOEmQ ma mdmda 75 item readership of men and the higher educated; (8) foreign traveling mobility and national item readership by men; (9) state residency and local news viewing by sex and age; (10) current residency and item readership of men and the higher educated; (ll) national news viewing and state residency of the higher educated and younger people; (12) state and residency and national news viewing of women; and (13) foreign traveling mobility and national news viewing of men. Residential Mobility and Perception Correlations It is important to note the relation of prior residency in a location with news and accuracy of news from that location before any examination of any independent variable effects on news consumption. Under the assumptions of this study, time spent in a location increases knowledge of an interest in that location. The attention and accuracy perceptions of news from those locations should be stronger han any other location perceptions. It is important to consider this specific prior residency first because if such news attention is not different than general news attention, the theoretical base of the other, more generalized residency relationships would be weakened. Since it is assumed that residency creates an interest in a location stronger than the individual's interest in other locations, aggregates of individuals from that location should have higher interest scores. Analysis of Variance (Table 19 on Page 76) tends to confirm this hypothesis. The underlined attention mean in each column indicates that individuals who have lived in those locations pay more attention to news from those locations than they do to news from any of the other locations. This is also indicated by determining the mean of the underlined means. The resulting grand mean is 2.2 which is greater than all but two of the attention means. And those two means, 2.3 and 76 2.5, are the respective underlined means of Detroit and England/France prior residency. The 2.2 mean is greater than any residency relation with non-residency news. The other half of hypothesis 15 is supported TABLE 19 MEANS OF PRIOR RESIDENCY AND ATTENTION TO NEWS RESIDENCY* ATTENTION 2 Or Over PAID TO: None Det. Chi. fli§_ EZE_ L.A. Eng. More All N= 435 84 24 18 l9 19 12 38 649 Detroit 1.8 ‘ELE 1.4 1.9 1.6 1.7 1.8 2.1 1.9 Chicago 1.3 1.1 2;2_ 1.4 .9 1.1 1.3 1.7 1.3 Wisconsin .9 .7 1.2 1:2. .7 .6 .8 1.2 .9 New York 1.3 1.3 1.6 1.2 3:1. 1.3 1.8 1.6 1.4 L.A. 1.2 1.2 1.4 1.2 1.3 2;1_ 1.2 1.5 1.3 Mexico .9 .8 1.0 .9 .7 .8 1.2 1.2 1.9 England/ 1.2 1.2 1.3 1.1 1.3 1.0 3;§_ 1.6 1.2 France *Because only one individual in the sample had resided in Mexico, it was removed from the residency column. Scores represent mean attention values computed from the index where O= No Attention; 1= Attention to a Few Items; 2= Attention to Half the Items; and 3= Attention to Most of the Items by examining the row means of the table. Interpreted in this manner, news of any given location is more apt to be read by former residents than by any other individuals. Although not stated in hypothesis form, the study did examine the relationship of prior residency in a location with the perception of news believability. The results are quite mixed (Table 20 on Page 77). None of the percentage means varied by any significant degree in terms of Analysis of Variance testing. Although the mixed results lead to significance levels varying 77 from .68 to.l7, it is interesting to note that two groups, former Wisconsinites and former New Yorkers, rate the mass media's foreign believability about 10 per cent higher than do other individuals. It is evident from the matrix of means that the believability of new accuracy is not related to prior residency in a given location. TABLE 20 GEOGRAPHIC RESIDENCY AND BELIEVABILITY OF GEOGRAPHIC NEWS PRIOR RESIDENCY BELIEVE 2 Or Over NEWS None Det. Chi. Wis. NYC L.A. Eng. More All FROM N= 418 81 23 18 17 19 12 38 626 Detroit 68% 5211 67% 73% 76% 63% 69% 76% 69% Chicago 67 66 i5. 75 76 69 69 73 67 Wisconsin 67 65 7o _7_4 77 61 80 73 66 New York 67 63 67 73 _7_5_ 62 69 71 67 L.A. 66 64 67 72 72 6O 74 7o 66 Mexico 63 61 62 75 76 '6'6' 65 67 64 England/France 66 63 64 76 75 62 El 70 66 MEANS 66 64 66 74 75 62 7o 71 66 Non-Residential Means 66 64 66 74 75 63 71 Overall Non- Residential Means 66.3 Overall Resi- dential Means 67.6 TABLE 21 CORRELATIONS OF NEWS ATTENTION FOR GEOGRAPHIC LOCATIONS Chicago .51 Wisconsin .32 .59 New York .46 .56 .48 Los Angeles .39 .49 .48 .65 Mexico .31 .53 .56 .54 .47 England/France .32 .47 .47 .55 .46 .65 Det. Chi. Wis. NYC L.A. Mexico 78 The overall residential believability mean is only slightly more than one per cent above that of non-residents. Believability of the media and attention to news from locations are more highly intercorrelated with other accuracy and attention measures than they are with each other. TABLE 22 CORRELATIONS OF NEWS ACCURACY FOR GEOGRAPHIC LOCATIONS Chicago .88 Wisconsin .81 .84 New York .83 .85 .85 Los Angeles .82 .88 .86 .83 Mexico .75 .79 .79 .80 .81 England/France .78 .81 .80 .78 .82 .87 Det. Chi Wis. NYC L.A. Mexico TABLE 23 _ CORRELATIONS Or ATTENTION WITH ACCURACY FOR LOCATIONS ATTENTION ACCURACY Det. Chi. Wis. NYC L.A. Mex. Eng. Detroit 'Lli .13 .13 .12 .12 .10 .10 Chicago .14 ';15 .15 .13 .12 .08 .09 Wisconsin .14 .15 L39’ .15 .16 .13 .11 New York .19 .17 .20 ;l§_ .15 .15 .17 Los Angeles .11 .15 .15 .12 .14. .10 .11 Mexico .10 .09 .14 .14 .14 :15_ .14 England/France .12 .13 .18 .12 .14 .14 .20 If the correlations between news attention by location and news accuracy by location are unclear, although of moderate to strong relationships, the relationships of news attention by location with news accuracy is even less clear. Results are mixed. In some instances, notably Wisconsin and England/France, the increase in news attention to those locations is 79 associated with a perception of news accuracy of those places being higher than that of other locations. Others, particularly Los Angeles and New York City, appear to fall in the middle of the accuracy range, even though in New York's case it is the higheSt accuracy relationship. Area Residencnyffects gn_News Behavior The length of an individual's current residency in the Lansing area is a factor in determining much of his or her news behavior. This residency affects newspaper subscription, daily news reading time, the number of local news items read, and the amount of local and national television news viewed. It also affects the preference of a medium for national news and the believability of a medium in foreign news reporting (Table 24 on Page 80). The residentially mobile individual, who has lived in the area less than six years, is twice as likely to be a nonsubscriber to the State Journal as is the less residentially mobile individual, spends only about half as much time reading a newspaper, reads less local news and watches less television news. The mobility of the individual also affects preference of a news medium for national news and the believability of a medium for foreign news. Although both the residentially mobile and the less mobile are much more likely to prefer television for their national news, the 10 per cent decrease for the mobile group is significantly related to mobility. In similar fashion, the mobile group is not as likely to perceive television as the more credible medium. However, the effects of residency length are not uniform. Sex, age or education level accentuate or eliminate the basic trends. Although all of the residentially mobile group spend less time with the newspaper than do the residentially stable group, this tendency 80 is significantly related for women (Table 25 on Page 81) but only weakly related for men. Education was a much stronger factor. The college-educated residentially stable persons spent significantly TABLE 24 CROSS-TABULATIONS OF CURRENT RESIDENCY AND NEWS BEHAVIOR CURRENT RESIDENCY 6 Years 5 Years Or More Or Less STATE JOURNAL SUBSCRIPTION N = 486 N = 166 Subscriber 77% 42% X2 = 47.8 Nonsubscriber 23 58 p < .00] DAILY NEWSPAPER READING N = 486 N = 166 18 Minutes Or More 68% 55% X2 = 7.9 17 Minutes Or Less ---------------- 32 45 p < .01 Mean Number of Minutes --------- 36.3 18.0 LOCAL NEWS READERSHIP N = 426 N = 141 4 Items Or More Daily ----------- 69% 59% X2 = 5.1 3 Items Or Less Daily 31 41 p < .05 Mean Number of Items ---------- 5.3 4.647 LOCAL TV NEWS VIEWING N = 486 N = 166 4 Nights Or More Weekly --------- 80% 58% X2 = 28.5 3 Nights Or Less Weekly --------- 20 42 p < .001 Mean Number of Nights --------- 5.3 4.0 NATIONAL TV NEWS VIEWING N = 486 N = 166 4 Nights Or More Weekly --------- 73% 57% X2 = 16.7 3 Nights Or Less Weekly --------- 27 43 p < .001 Mean Number of Nights --------- 4.9 4.0 NATIONAL NEWS PREFERENCE N = 407 N = 107 Television ------ — 83% 73% X2 = 16.7 Newspapers 17 27 p < .01 MOST BELIEVED FOREIGN NEWS N = 299 N = 109 Television -- 78% 61% X2 = 10.9 Newspapers 22 39 p < .001 more time reading a daily newspaper than did less-educated residentially stable persons. However, the college-educated mobile group spent less time reading than did the less-educated mobile group. Thus, college 81 education appears to decrease rather than increase reading time for the TABLE 25 SIGNIFICANT CROSS-TABULATIONS OF CURRENT RESIDENCY AND NEWS BEHAVIOR PREDICTED BY DEMOGRAPHIC ELABORATIONS CURRENT RESIDENCY 6 Years 5 Years Or More Or Less WOMEN N = 302 N = 90 Read 18 Minutes Or More ---------- 67% 52% x 2 = 6.2 Read 17 Minutes Or Less ---------- 33 48 p ;<.02 COLLEGE-EDUCATED N = 263 N = 138 Read 18 Minutes Or More --------- 75% 54% x 2 = 18.1 Read 17 Minutes Or Less ----------- 25 46 *p ;<.001 COLLEGE-EDUCATED N = 237 N 8 118 Read 4 Or More Local Items -------- 71% 57% x2 :- 6.9 Read 3 Or Less Local Items -------- 29 43 p «<.01 MEN N = 161 N = 68 Read 4 Or More National Items ----- 48% 66% X7- = 6.8 Read 3 Or Less National Items---- 52 34 ' EL «<.01 HIGH SCHOOL OR LESS N = 223 N = 28 See National News 4 Or More ------- 71% 36% X2 = 14.2 See National News 3 Or Less ------- 29 64 p < .001 residentially mobile. This is supported by the fact that the difference in the college-educated reading time was significant at the .001 level while the nearly identical reading time of the less-educated was statistically nonsignificant. This education effect was also evident in the amount of local news read daily. The college-educated residentially stable group are much more likely to read more local items daily than are the college-educated mobile group. Education also influenced national news viewing. But this time it reduced the viewing time of the less educated rather than of the college educated. 82 In effect, length of residency does influence media behavior, but by itself does not adequately predict behavior. Demographics, especially education, filter mobility impact in different ways depending on the type of news behavior under consideration. State Residency Effects on News Behavior State residency effects of mass media news consumption are comparable to those of current areas residency. Neither are clear cut, but are dependent on the type of news consumption being examined and on inconsistent demographic effects. State residency, by itself, influences only national news consumption and the preference for the most believable medium in foreign news reporting (Table 26 on Page 83). Individuals who have lived in other states besides Michigan are significantly more likely to read and view national news than are the individuals who have not lived in any state but Michigan since age 18. Although both groups tend to be heavy news viewers, the more mobile individuals are more strongly inclined. The more mobile group also reads more national news than the less mobile group and is therefore not as likely to select television as the more believable medium in the reporting of foreign news. Sex was the demographic variable that most contaminated the impact of state residency on news consumption (Table 27 on Page 84). Multiple state residency increase the amount of reading time for men but not for women. It also decreases local news item readership for women but it increases national news readership for men. Similarly, residentially mobile women are heavier viewers of local news but the mobile men are more likely to be heavier viewers of national news. Education was a significant factor in only one news consumption 83 TABLE 26 CROSS-TABULATIONS OF STATE RESIDENCY AND NEWS BEHAVIOR STATES LIVED IN Just Others Michigan Also NATIONAL NEWS READERSHIP N = 324 N = 243 4 Items Or More Daily ------------ 44% 55% X2 = 6.5 3 Items Or Less Daily ------------ 56 45 p ;<.02 Mean Number of Items ----------- 3.8 4.3 NATIONAL TV NEWS VIEWING N = 373 N = 278 4 Nights Or More Weekly ---------- 65% 74% x2 = 5.8 3 Nights Or Less Weekly ---------- 35 26 p <.02 Mean Number of Nights — 4.0 4.9 MOST BELIEVED IN FOREIGN NEWS N = 237 N = 172 Television ————— 77% 68% x2 = 4.2 Newspapers- 23 32 p <.05 relationship with state residency. Although college-educated individuals are more inclined to read more national news than the less educated, state mobility increases this inclination for the college educated. National Traveling Effects on News Behavior The extent of traveling in the United States is limited in its effects on news consumption (Table 28 on Page 85). The readership of local news items is not affected by travel but preference of a medium for local news is, as are the amount of national news items read and the amount of time spent with the newspaper. Travel also significantly affects the perception of a medium's crediblility in foreign news reporting. The low traveling group spends only about 18 minutes per day reading the newspaper but the medium and high travel groups average 84 TABLE 27 SIGNIFICANT CROSS-TABULATIONS OF STATE RESIDENCY AND NEWS BEHAVIOR PREDICTED BY DEMOGRAPHIC ELABORATIONS STATES LIVED IN Just Others Michigan Also MEN N = 128 N = 131 Read 18 Minutes Or More— 59% 73% X2 = 5.5 Read 17 Minutes Or Less ----------- 41 27 AP__< .02 WOMEN N = 215 N = 150 Read 4 Or More Local Items -------- 65% 54% X2 = 4.7 Read 3 Or Less Local Items -------- 35 46 pp < .05 MEN N = 109 N = 119 Read 4 Or More National Items ----- 43% 60% X2 = 8.6 Read 3 Or Less National Items ----- 57 40 p < .01 COLLEGE-EDUCATED N = 176 N = 188 Read 4 Or More National Items ----- 49% 63% X2 = 7.6 Read 3 Or Less National Items ----- 51 37 p, < .01 WOMEN N = 150 N = 135 See Local News 4 Or More Nights--- 66% 77% x2 = 4.2 See Local News 3 Or Less Nights--- 34 23 p < .05 MEN N = 128 N = 131 See National News 4 Or More ------- 58% 70% X2 = 4.4 See National News 3 Or Less ------- 42 30 p < .05 33.3 and 38.8 minutes, respectively. In addition, the more mobile the individual is, the more national news items he tends to read. However, the most striking effect of national travel is its impact on preference of a medium for local news. Although television is invariably the preferred medium by almost all groupings of persons, a majority of the highly national traveling mobile group prefer newspapers over television for local news. Television remains the most credible news medium in foreign reporting although the percentage 85 TABLE 28 CROSS-TABULATIONS OF NATIONAL TRAVELING AND NEWS BEHAVIOR AMOUNT OF NATIONAL TRAVEL Low Medium High DAILY NEWSPAPER READING N = 209 N = 2-1 N = 233 18 Minutes Or More ------------ 52% 67% 73% x2 = 22.9 17 Minutes Or Less 48 33 27 p < .001 Mean Number of Minutes ----- 18.0 33.3 38.8 NATIONAL NEWS READERSHIP N = 166 N = 188 N = 214 4 Items Or More Daily --------- 39% 50% 55% X2 = 10.8 3 Items Or Less Daily --------- 61 50 45 p < .01 Mean Number of Items -------- 3.4 4.1 4.6 LOCAL NEWS PREFERENCE N = 165 N = 158 N = 178 Television-- 75% 61% 49% X2 = 9.1 Newspapers— - — 25 39 51 p <.001 MOST BELIEVED IN FOREIGN NEWS N = 141 N = 125 N = 142 Television— 81% 75% 65% x2 = 9.1 Newspapers 19 25 35 p < .02 of individuals who perceive it as more credible than newspapers in foreign reporting diminishes with increasing national traveling mobility. With the exception of the perception of older individuals toward national news accuracy, national traveling mobility did not signifi- cantly affect any population group. Older individuals were much more TABLE 29 SIGNIFICANT CROSS-TABULATIONS OF NATIONAL TRAVEL AND NEWS BEHAVIOR PREDICTED BY DEMOGRAPHIC ELABORATIONS AMOUNT OF NATIONAL TRAVEL ACCURACY OF NATIONAL NEws Low Medium High 40 Years Old Or Older N = 66 N = 56 N = 169 50 Per Cent Or Less — 48% 58% 38% x2 = 6.7 More Than 50 Per Cent --------- 52 42 62 p < .05 86 likely to perceive the mass media as being accurate in national news reporting if they were highly mobile. But the picture is muddled (Table 29 on Page 85). Although nearly two-thirds of the highly mobile group perceive the media as being more than 50 per cent accurate, just over half of the low mobile group perceive the media as being that accurate but only a little more than 40 per cent of the medium mobile group rate the news media as that accurate. Foreign Traveling Effects on News Behavior Foreign mobility is more a factor of attention and preference than are the other mobility variables (Table 30 on Page 87). It does, however, relate to the amount of newspaper reading time and local news viewing but is more significantly associated with attention to national and foreign news, to preference of a news medium for local and national news, and to perceived credibility in foreign news reporting. The average time spent reading a newspaper by the highly foreign mobility group appears only a slightly more than that of the low mobile and non-mobile groups. However, the proportion of individuals who are more apt to spend more than 18 minutes with the daily newspaper does continually increase with increasing foreign travel. The impact of foreign travel on local television news watching is significant, and in the same general direction as the impact of Lansing area residency. As with area residency, the more an individual has traveled abroad, the less he watches local television news. Foreign travel is significantly related to attention to news, particularly to foreign news. More than half of the highly foreign mobile pay attention to more than half of the foreign news appearing in the news media compared to less than one-third of the low mobile 87 TABLE 30 CROSS-TABULATIONS OF FOREIGN TRAVELING AND NEWS BEHAVIOR AMOUNT OF FOREIGN TRAVEL None Low High DAILY NEWSPAPER READING N = 408 N = 104 N= 140 18 Minutes Or More ------------ 61% 67% 73% x2 = 7.3 17 Minutes Or Less ------------ 39 33 27 p <.05 Mean Number of Minutes ----- 21.9 25.6 28.0 LOCAL NEWS VIEWING N = 408 N = 104 N = 140 4 Nights Or More Weekly ------- 78% 75% 64% X2 = 10.9 3 Nights Or Less Weekly ------- 22 25 36 p < .01 Mean Number of Nights ------- 5.1 5.1 4.4 NATIONAL NEWS ATTENTION N = 408 N = 104 N = 140 Attention To More Than Half--- 36% 42% 43% X2 = 13.7 Attention To Some ———- 35 26 41 p < .01 Attention To Few Or None ------ 29 32 16 FOREIGN NEWS ATTENTION N = 408 N = 104 N = 140 Attention To More Than Half--- 28% 31% 56% X2 = 52.6 Attention To Some ------------- 43 38 38 p < .001 Attention To None --- 29 31 6 LOCAL NEWS PREFERENCE N = 308 N = 84 N = 109 Television-— -—- 68% 76% 49% X2 = 18.5 Newspapers 32 24 51 p < .001 NATIONAL NEWS PREFERENCE N = 336 N = 92 N = 119 Television — -------- 82% 84% 73% x2 = 6.6 Newspapers -------------------- 18 16 27 p < .05 MOST BELIEVED IN FOREIGN NEWS N = 258 N = 54 N = 96 Television ------- 79% 78% 57% x2 = 18.7 Newspapers—= - _ ---- 21 22 43 4p, < .001 and non-mobile individuals. Six per cent of the high mobiles pay no attention to foreign news while about 30 per cent of the other two groups pay no attention. The highly mobile are also more inclined to pay attention to national news but so are the low mobiles. 88 TABLE 31 SIGNIFICANT CROSS-TABULATIONS OF FOREIGN TRAVEL AND NEWS BEHAVIOR PREDICTED BY DEMOGRAPHIC ELABORATIONS AMOUNT OF FOREIGN TRAVEL None Low High 111:3 N=126 N==39 N=64 Read 4 Or More National Items---- 48% 51% 64% X2 = 4.3 Read 3 Or Less National Items---- 52 49 36 p < .05 COLLEGE-EDUCATED N = 209 N = 60 N = 123 Attention To Most Foreign News--- 34% 31% 52% x2 = 20.4 Attention To Some Foreign News--- 41 42 41 p < .001 Attention To Few Or None --------- 25 27 7 Foreign travel has the same impact on preference of a medium for local news that national traveling mobility has. A majority of the highly mobile in both groups prefer newspapers for local news. This characteristic of the foreign traveling impact is cluttered to some extent because the preferences for newspapers does not increase directly with mobility. The pattern of less than a clear line of increasing preference is also evident in the preference of a medium for national news. While all three groups prefer television by a large majority, the low and non-mobiles prefer television by even higher percentages. The highly mobile group is not as apt to believe television is the more credible medium in foreign news reporting as the other two groups are but do consider television the more believable. The foreign traveling characteristic is similar to the national traveling trait in that it also does not appear to differ in its impact on various consummatory variables according to demographics of individuals. Only two relationships were affected by the demographics (Table 31 on Page 88). Sex affects national news readership of the 89 foreign mobile individuals and education influences attention to foreign news. Although foreign travel does not significantly affect the amount of national news read by women, it increases the amount read by men. Foreign travel does not affect the amount of attention paid to foreign news items by the less educated individuals, although it increases the attention of the college-educated. More than half of the highly foreign mobile college-educated individuals paid attention to most foreign news items. Effect of Sex on News Consumption Some of the prior impact on news consumption by the mobility variables was influenced by the sex of the respondent (Table 32 on Page 90). In general, women are more likely to subscribe to the State Journal than are men, but they are not as likely to read as many national news items. Women are significantly more likely to prefer television as their source of national news than men are and they also watch more local and national television news than do men. WOmen are more likely to be at the extremes on their readership of national news items than are men. While both average the same number of items read daily, much less than half of the female respondents read more than four items daily while the vast majority of male respondents read that much or more. Both men and women tended to be heavier viewers of local and national television news but women watch more of both than did men. Both watched less national news than local news. Both men and women are more likely to prefer television as the source of their national news rather than newspapers, but women are much more likely. 90 TABLE 32 CROSS-TABULATIONS OF SEX AND NEWS BEHAVIOR MEN 'WOMEN STATE JOURNAL SUBSCRIPTION N = 260 N = 392 Subscriber 63% 71% X2 = 4.9 Nonsubscriber — 37 29 p < .05 NATIONAL NEWS READERSHIP N = 229 N = 339 4 Items Or More Daily ---------- 62% 40% X2 = 28.1 3 Items Or Less Daily ---------- 38 60 p < .001 Mean Number of Items --------- 3.8 3.8 LOCAL TV NEWS VIEWING N = 260 N 8 392 4 Nights Or More Weekly ------- 68% 78% X2 = 7.5 3 Nights Or Less Weekly ------- 32 22 p < .01 Mean Number of Nights ------- 4.5 5.2 NATIONAL TV NEWS VIEWING N = 260 N = 392 4 Nights Or More Weekly------- 64% 72% X? = 5.1 3 Nights Or Less Weekly ------- 36% 28 p < .05 Mean Number of Nights ------- 4.3 4.9 NATIONAL NEWS PREFERENCE N = 216 N = 331 Television — — 76% 83% X? = 4.9 Newspapers — —— 24 17 p < .05 Effects of Age on News Behavior Age appears to have more impact on the news than does sex. The age factor how individuals perceive and use influences every variable in the study that is influenced by sex except one. In addition, it significantly relates to several others. Besides filtering uses and perceptions of newspaper subscription, national news readership and local and national television news viewing, age also has an impact on local news readership, amount of time spent with the newspaper and the accuracy of the mass media in both national and foreign news. Older individuals, 40 years of age or more, are much more inclined 91 TABLE 33 CROSS-TABULATIONS OF AGE AND NEWS BEHAVIOR UNDER 40 OVER 39 STATE JOURNAL SUBSCRIPTION N=361 N=291 Subscriber ------------------ 56% 82% x2 = 55.0 Nonsubscriber — 44 18 p < .001 DAILY NEWSPAPER READERSHIP N=361 N=29l 18 Minutes Or More 40% 74% x2 = 21.2 17 Minutes Or Less ---------- 60 26 p < .001 Mean Number of Minutes-- 18.5 25.0 LOCAL NEWS READERSHIP N=298 N=269 4 Items Or More Daily------- 60% 74% X2 = 11.5 3 Items Or Less Daily ------- 40 26 p < .001 Mean Number of Items ------ 4.7 5.6 LOCAL TV NEWS VIEWING N=361 N=291 4 Nights Or More Weekly---— 70% 80% x2 = 8.3 3 Nights Or Less Weekly---- 30 20 p <.01 Mean Number of Nights---- 4.7 5.3 NATIONAL TV NEWS VIEWING N = 361 N = 291 4 Nights Or More Weekly---- 64% 75% X2 = 9.4 3 Nights Or Less Weekly---- 36 25 p < .01 Mean Number of Nights---- 4.2 5.3 NATIONAL NEWS ACCURACY N = 361 N = 291 More Than 50 Per Cent ------ 67% 56% x2 = 8.6 50 Per Cent Or Less -------- 33 46 p < .01 FOREIGN NEWS ACCURACY N = 361 N = 291 More Than 50 Per Cent ----- 59% 47% X2 = 10.1 50 Per Cent Or Less------- 41 53 p < .01 to be State Journal subscribers, spend more time with the newspaper, read significantly more local news, watch significantly more local and national news but rate the mass media as less accurate in national and foreign news than do younger people (Table 33 on Page 91). 92 TABLE 34 CROSS-TABULATIONS OF EDUCATION AND NEWS BEHAVIOR COLLEGE OR MORE HIGH SCHOOL OR LESS STATE JOURNAL SUBSCRIPTION N - 251 N 401 Subscriber ---------------------- 73% 65% x2 = 4. 3 Nonsubscriber ------------------- 27 35 pp < .05 NATIONAL NEWS READERSHIP N = 251 N 400 4 Or More Items Daily ----------- 47% 60% X2 = 9.5 3 Or Less Items Daily ----------- 53 40 p < .01 Mean Number of Items ---------- 4.2 4.8 LOCAL TV NEWS VIEWING N = 251 N 401 4 Or More Nights Weekly --------- 79% 71% x2 = 4.9 3 Or Less Nights Weekly --------- 21 29 p < .05 Mean Number of Nights --------- 5.3 4.8 NATIONAL NEWS PREFERENCE N = 204 N 343 Television ---------------------- 87% 76% x2 = 9.7 Newspapers ---------- 13 24 ppp < .01 LOCAL NEWS PREFERENCE N = 194 N 307 Television — ———— 80% 56% x2 = 31.5 Newspapers =—-== 20 ‘44 p < .001 MOST BELIEVED IN FOREIGN NEWS N = 155 N 253 Television - 85% 67% X2 = 15.6 Newspapers ---------------------- 15 33 p < .001 NATIONAL NEWS ATTENTION N = 251 N 401 Attention To More Than Half ----- 35% 41% X2 = 7.6 Attention To Some 33 36 p < .05 Attention To None= —— 32 23 FOREIGN NEWS ATTENTION N = 251 N 401 Attention To Most ——— — 27% 39% X2 = 15.4 Attention To Some — 38 44 p < .001 Attention To None- -— -- 35 17 NATIONAL NEWS ACCURACY N = 251 N 401 More Than 50 Per Cent 55% 67% x2 = 9.1 50 Per Cent Or Less ------------ 45 33 pp < .01 FOREIGN NEWS ACCURACY N = 251 N 401 More Than 50 Per Cent ---------- 46% 58% X2 = 9.2 50 Per Cent Or Less ----------- 54 42 p < .01 93 Effect of Education on News Behavior Of all the demographics, education influences more of the relationships in the study yet did not significantly affect some relationships that age or sex influenced. Education was much more likely to filter preference relationships and attention to national and foreign news than were the other demographics but not as strongly related to the consumption variables (Table 34 on Page 92). In general, the effect of increased education was to increase the accuracy rating of the media in both national and foreign news, increase the individual's attention to those types of news and to reduce the percentage of subjects who preferred television for local and national news and who believed television was the more believable medium in foreign news reporting. Increased education also increased the reader- ship of national news items but decreased subscription to the State Journal and local television news viewing. Although the higher educated subjects were less likely to be subscribers to the newspaper than were the less educated, the higher educated watched less local television news. Although a majority of the less educated and of the higher educated prefer television as the source of their local and national news, and believe television is more credible in reporting foreign news, education greatly reduces this perception. And, while four-fifths of the less educated prefer television for local news, only a little more than half of the higher educated do so. It is equally as striking in foreign news credibility. Most of the less educated consider television as more credible than newspapers in foreign news reporting but only two-thirds of the higher educated do so. 94 TABLE 35 TRAVELING INDEXES AND THE PREFERRED SOURCES OF NEWS NATIONAL TRAVEL . FOREIGN TRAVEL Low Medium High Low Medium High PREFERRED SOURCE N = 208 210 232 407 104 140 OF LOCAL NEWS Television ----- 59% 54% 38% 51% 62% 38% Newspapers -------------- 20 21 39 24 19 40 Radio ------- 16 l7 17 17 16 17 Magazines --------------- 0 l l l 0 0 Other People ------------ l 2 l 2 0 1 No Preference — - 4 5 4 5 3 4 PREFERRED SOURCE OF NATIONAL NEWS Television 72% 70% 62% 68% 74% 62% Newspapers ------------- 13 15 21 15 14 23 Radio ------------------ 7 6 6 6 6 7 Magazines -------------- 2 4 6 4 3 5 Other People ----------- 0 0 0 0 0 0 No Preference ---------- 6 5 5 7 3 3 PREFERRED SOURCE OF FOREIGN NEWS Television — -- 60% 63% 53% 60% 59% 51% Newspapers--— — - 20 19 22 17 ' 22 26 Radio --- 5 4 6 5 7 6 Magazines -------------- 4 8 ll 7 6 14 Other People ----------- 1 0 0 l 0 0 No Preference ---------- 10 6 8 10 6 3 MOST BELIEVABLE IN FOREIGN REPORTING Television —-—- 56% 45% 40% 5]% 41% 39% Newspapers — — 13 15 21 13 12 29 Radio — 2 3 4 3 3 2 Magazines - ----- 7 ll 13 9 4 14 Other People -- l 0 0 l l 0 No Preference 21 26 22 23 29 16 Education also increases attention to both national and foreign news. More of the higher educated pay attention to more than half of the national and foreign news but few of the less educated pay that much attention. 95 The perception of the media as being accurate in national and foreign news also increases with increased education. Just over half of the less educated consider the media to be more than 50 per cent accurate in national news reporting but two-thirds of the higher educated consider the media that accurate. Less than half of the less educated rate the media as more than 50 per cent accurate in their foreign coverage but more than half of the higher educated rate the media that accurate. Because, in the overall perspective, television seems to be the more dominant medium in terms of preference and credibility, the effects of national and foreign traveling on local news preference is all the more noteworthy. The highly traveling mobile individual prefers newspapers over television for his or her local news. In no other category did newspaper selections surpass the 50 per cent mark. Although newspapers and television generally were the mediums most reported, two aspects about media preference and believability are interesting (Table 35 on Page 94). The percentage of individuals expressing no preference, although usually mentioning both newspapers and television, increases with the distance of the news but decreases with increased traveling. A related aspect in connection with believability is that roughly one-fourth of the sample did not, would not, or could not distinguish between or among the media in these terms. CHAPTER V SUMMARY AND DISCUSSION Individual experience shapes perceptions and behavior of mass media usage. Demographic differences influence the amount of infor- mation consumed, the type, and the medium utilized. This study focused on possible influences of a different set of audience characteristics, traveling and residential mobility, to determine if they had similar effects and whether these effects formed any identifiable pattern. The study found that mobility does have an impact. The strength of these influences is only weak to moderate. This is partly because of the complexity of the relationships analyzed. This complexity causes difficulty in interpreting findings because the measuring instruments may not have been refined enough for clear distinctions and because the objective of the study was to trace finer and less substantive patterns. If they had not been finer and less substantive, they would have been diagnosed, categorized and utilized long before now. They are finer and harder to define because they are associated with continual change, change within the individual as well as by the individual. The findings of this study support the hypotheses predicted by generalizations drawn from diffusion and modernization theories. Both Rogers and Shoemaker (1971) and Lerner (1958) base their concepts of the individual's communication behavior on an empathic capacity. This capacity enables the individual to relate to others through 96 97 mediated experiences and therefore alters the basic communication needs of the individual. These researchers note that the media become a mobility multiplier with a spiraling effect. The more the individual is empathic and mobile, the more his interactiOns extend outward and the more his communication needs exceed his local environment. Thus, his communication patterns change because of this actual and mental mobility. The base of this study was that more mobile individuals had communication needs in excess of, less than, or somehow different than those of the less mobile. It was hypothesized that the mobile individual needed the more detailed information provided by the newspaper in order to gratify or utilize knowledge derived from mobility. Therefore, his newspaper consumption should be greater than his television consumption and his newspaper consumption should be greater than that of the less mobile. In the same manner, it was hypothesized that the mobile individual would pay more attention to news of places he had previously been to than would the less mobile and that he would pay more attention to news of other places as well. Because his needs would result in greater newspaper consumption, it was predicted his news preference for a particular medium would also differ from the less mobile and that the mobile person would prefer newspapers over other mediums. Study results tend to support some of the specific hypotheses advanced but to disconfirm others. In other hypotheses, the findings are mixed. While this is at first confusing, it is not detrimental to the study since the purpose was exploratory, to determine if mobility had an effect and what kinds of mobility had what kinds of effects. 98 Discussion of the Hypotheses H : Higher residentially mobile individuals will read and 1 watch less local news than will lower residentially mobile individuals. The findings are mixed. The area mobility measure supports the hypothesis concerning both reading and viewing of local news. The Pearson correlations are +.12 and +.21, respectively, indicating that news consumption of local events increases as residency length increases. The state residency measure is less clear. Although the -.05 correlation with local news viewing is weak, it does get slightly stronger for some subunit elaborations, such as -.08 for men, and therefore it indicates that the more states an individual has lived in, the less the individual watches local television news. However, state residency does not support the news readership part of the hypothesis. Increased state mobility correlates at +.09 for the population as a whole and up to +.16 for men. H : Higher residentially mobile individuals will read more 2 national news but watch less national news than will lower residentially mobile individuals. The two mobility variables are exactly opposite in their impact on the dependent variables. State residency correlates at +.l4 and +.01 with reading and viewing of national news, respectively. Area residency correlates at +.01 and +.l4, respectively.. The two larger correlations support the hypothesis. As the number of states lived in increases, so does readership of national news. And, as area residencyiiength increases, so does viewing of national news increase. Thus, the more mobile read more national news than the less mobile but watch less national news than the less mobile. Demographics contaminate the lower correlations. While the overall correlation of news reading and area residency is +.01, the correlation between 99 area residency and national news reading is -.08 for men which supports the hypothesis but the correlation for women is +.09. It is much the same with the +.01 correlation for viewing and state residency. The correlation is +.09 for persons under age 40 which denies the hypothesis but it is -.09 for persons over age 40 which supports the hypothesis. Therefore, the validity of this hypothesis is dependent on the unit of the population involved. H3: Higher residentially mobile individuals will pay more attention to national and foreign news than will lower residentially mobile individuals. Correlational analysis indicates the overall relationships between the two residency variables and the attention variables are nearly nonexistent. Area residency only correlates +.01 with national attention and not at all with foreign attention. State residency correlates at a very weak +.O4 and +.06, respectively. There is some spread in the subpopulation, however. State residency correlates at -.19 with national attention for older persons. This would tend to disconfirm the hypothesis. H4 and H : Higher traveling mobile individuals will read more locaI and national news than will lower traveling mobile individuals but will watch less local and national news than will lower traveling mobile individuals. Both the reading and viewing of local and national news relation- ships specified in the hypothesis are supported by the foreign travel measure, although the support for national viewing is rather weak. Foreign travel correlates at +.05 and +.09 with local and national news readership, respectively, and at -.14 and -.04 with local and national television news, respectively. National traveling correlates at +.ll and +.l4 with local and national news reading, respectively, and at -.08 and +.01 with local and national television news, respectively. 100 The hypothesis is supported by the national travel measure for all but national news viewing. Although all elaborations but one indicated the predicted inverse relationship between national news viewing and national traveling, they are extremely weak. Secondly, the correlation of the two variables is +.08 for women which tends to disconfirm this part of the hypothesis. All correlations are negative, as predicted, for national travel and local news viewing while foreign travel is weakly negatively correlated, as predicted, with local news readership. The correlations for national readership and foreign travel and for foreign travel with local news viewing is slightly stronger but the latter's relationship with national news viewing is extremely weak. H : Higher traveling mobile individuals will pay more attention to national and foreign news than will lower traveling mobile individuals. This set of hypotheses is supported, in part, but the demographic effects make any analysis less than clear cut. For example, national travel only correlates with attention to foreign news at +.04, partly because of Opposite effects on individuals with different educational levels. College-educated individuals have a +.08 correlation, the direction predicted by the hypothesis, but individuals without any college education have a -.08 correlation. A similar reversal causes, in part, foreign travel not to correlate at all with national news attention. Women have a correlation of +.05 between their foreign travel and their national attention, but men have a -.05 correlation. The other two relationships are more clear although they are also weak. All correlations here are positive and to stronger degrees. National travel only correlates at +.06 with national news attention while foreign travel correlates at +.ll with foreign news. 101 H.7through H : Higher residentially mobile individuals will prefer ngaspapers over television for local, national and foreign news, as will higher traveling mobile individuals, but lower residential and traveling mobile individuals will prefer television in all three categories. Only one segment of this series of hypotheses is supported by the analyses, largely because of the wording. With the exception of local news preference, all categories result in television being the preferred source of news by majorities of all of the groups. But, increased national and foreign mobiligy increases the preference for newspapers for local news to the point where newspapers surpass television.. Chi Square analysis, significant at .001 for both traveling relationships, indicate that 51 per cent of the highly mobile in both groups prefer newspapers over television for local news. None of the other variables indicated an increase to that extent, although the tendency was for preference for newspapers over television to increase with increasing mobility. H13 and H : Higher residential and traveling mobile indiVlduals will rate newspapers as more believable than television in foreign news reporting and lower residential and traveling mobile individuals will rate television as more believable than newspapers. These hypotheses are not supported by the results, largely because of their wording. All four mobility measures do show significant relationships indicating that believability of newspapers increases with increased mobility. But, none of the findings show newspaper believability exceeding that of television. In general, only about 20 per cent of the low mobility groupings believed newspapers over television. The highest believability for newspapers was 43 per cent by the highly mobile in foreign traveling. 102 H15: Individuals who have previously lived in a location will pay more attention to news from that location than to news from other locations and they will pay more attention to news from the prior residency location than will individuals who have not lived there. This hypothesis is supported by the matrix of means (Table 19 on Page 76) which indicates that a person's highest news attention is to news from places he has lived. Secondly, with one exception, this amount of attention is to half or more of the news from that location. In addition, people who have lived in a location pay more attention to news from it than doipeople who have not lived there. The question becomes whether these results form a pattern fitting the general view of cosmopolite mobility expressed by Lerner (1958) and Rogers and Shoemaker (1971). Both suggest that the cosmOpolite, who by definition is mobile, has more media contacts, and contacts that are outside his local environment. The crucial point is the connecting of this media consumption quality to message selection based on Atkin's (1973) cost-reward ratio when an insufficient level of knowlege is perceived. While it may be assumed that a localite could perceive an insufficient knowledge base, the cosmopolite is more likely to because of his greater experiential base. Secondly, the cosmopolite should logicaly derive more reward for his message selection, either in comparing the information with his own knowledge, gratification, or by utilizing the new information with his knowledge. In either case, the cosmopolite will be the one who consumes more news that has some relation to mobility. 103 The hypotheses indicate that the higher area residentially mobile individual reads and watches less news. But the state residentially mobile individual watches more local news. These findings are not inconsistent with the pattern expected by the general mobility thesis although they appear to be. The area mobile individual has less of a reward base for local news than does the residentially stable person. He also has less of the local experiential base to perceive insufficient information. This lack of a reward, caused by little utility and no cognitive uncertainty, results in his reading and watching less news. However, the highly state mobile individual differs from the area mobile individual in two ways. His area residency may or may not be greater than the area mobile individual. And, his outside-the-area residency is likely to be greater. He may be induced by the first to consume more media, based on insufficient knowledge. But his state residency will indicate less of a likely reward, so he will select the message based on channel factors since it is cheaper and easier to receive a message watching television than by reading a newspaper. This consumption pattern continues with national news. Newspaper reading increases with state mobility because the newspaper offers more detail on more subjects than can a 30-minute newscast. Thus, the reward is higher for the mobile individual. Viewing of national television news increases with area stability because the less mobile individual, having less of an experiential base, has less need for the detailed information in a newspaper and less of a reward for seeking it out. 104 Nevertheless, the relationship of prior geographic experience is clearly demonstrated by residency. Without exception, individuals who lived in a location pay more attention to news about it than they do to other locations. This is apprOpriate because of their knowledge base of that location and the fact that such information is more likely to have a reward for them than it would for other individuals or more reward for them than would news of other areas. The highly mobile individual does exhibit the expected channel preferences compatible with the general theory. His greater potential reward results in an incentive to seek more information than a newscast can provide and thus the preference is for newspapers. This is not without qualification, however. Even the highly mobile tend to prefer television over newspapers but by less of a margin than the less mobile. It would require a finer measurement than that utilized in this study to determine if this tendency would ultimately result in newspapers being the preferred medium of the highly mobile in all cases as it was in the case of the foreign and nationally mobile for local news. In summary, this study indicates that the highly mobile consume more news, pay more attention based on their mobility and prefer more detailed information. Since the latter was not specifically asked, it can only be inferred from the fact that their preference inclination seems to hold for local, national and foreign news. Weakness of the Study The strongest correlations in this study were only moderate at best and most were much weaker. This may be because of the crudeness of the measuring instruments. But it may be because even if mobility 105 influences news behavior, such behavior is the product of a complex cognitive network and not simply that of physical mobility. This is indicated by the differences in the two mobilities. Residential mobility appears more of an influence factor than traveling mobility. This is likely to be the general case because while any mobility is only a small aspect of an individual's life, traveling mobility is even less. Unless an individual is extremely mobile, moves and travels frequently, mobility is not an everyday occurrence and consequently must be superceded by the individual's daily experiences. Friendships, peer orientations and local environment constantly shape and re-shape the cognitive needs of the individual. This does not lessen the importance of the mobility variables for two reasons. Traditional demographic measures were not any more capable of predicting news behavior than were the mobility variables. In some cases, demographics appeared stronger and in some cases weaker. Secondly, when the effects of the demographics were controlled, the mobility variables still retained varying degrees of relationship with the behavior variables, indicating they do have an impact and are worthy of future study. Because the mobility variables do associate with the news variables, their lack of strong association may be as much a function of study weaknesses as they are of any inherent weak relationships. For example, the traveling mobilty and even part of the residential mobility variables were structured by the researcher rather than by the subjects because this was an exploratory study with a necessarily limited amount of subject responses. It is possible that an individual could be highly mobile yet show up as having little mobility because ,. “any 106 the study restricted mobility to specified locations. An individual could possess the same news behavior patterns as the highly mobile yet his mobility could be to areas not included in the mobility index. He would be classified as a nonmobility subject and his responses would be analyzed from that standpoint. This would confound the effects of mobility. Sample size may also be a problem. While the size of the sample is more than abundant for most survey purposes, there is some question as to whether it is large enough for any refined classifications. This is critical particularly when the demographics have different effects. First, only about one-fifth of any sample can be expected to possess any great amount of mobility. Secondly, even the mobile group will not be consistent in their responses. Finally, the effects of education, age and sex interact resulting in finer and finer categorical breakdowns with insufficient subjects for meaningful analysis. Regardless of these possible deficiencies, the study has merit in terms of being at least a partial answer to news behavior. The primary beneficiary should be subsequent studies of geographic mobility effects on news consumption and preference. Future Research This study suggests research focusing on two aspects. The first is for a more complex integration of information-seeking and the cognitive uncertainty concept with the characteristics of cosmopolites and localities in modernization and diffusion theory. The second is the need for finer measurements of mobility and news attention to more clearly examine their relationships for different individuals. If 107 research can relate mobility to specified news behavior, the results should be beneficial to future researchers and to the media. Researchers are unable to explain any great amount of news behavior on the part of individuals and the media lack the substantive feedback necessary to determine the extent of consumption and its effects. This is becoming more acute for the mass media, particularly in areas with continually changing populations. To the extent that newspapers can improve news selection as it relates to audience backgrounds, their product will be improved and possibly their readership will increase. To the extent that television, especially local television stations, are aware of audience mobility, they can structure formats to provide more of a reward for message selection. To the extent that news content is tailored to the audience characteristics, the receiver ceases to be the weak link in the sender-message-channel-receiver formula of the communications process. APPENDIX APPENDIX / RESPONDENT PHONE DATE INTERVIEWER NO. INSTRUCTIONS: Read to the respondents all material that is not capitalized. ALL CAPITALS are not to be read to them. ALL CAPITALS are answers or instructions. Hello, I'm from Michigan State University. We are COLUMN conducting a newspaper and television survey in which you were CODE scientifically selected to represent persons from the Lansing area. It takes five or six Study No. .__(l-3) minutes. We'd appreciate it if you'd answer a few questions.....First..... Resp. No. (4-6) l---Do you subscribe to a daily or weekly newspaper? IF Yes: Which newspapers do you subscibe to? o--NO, I DON'T 4--TOWNE COURIER (7) l--LANSING STATE JOURNAL 5--OTHER MICHIGAN NEWSPAPERS 2--DETROIT NEWS 6--OUT-OF-STATE NEWSPAPERS 7--FOREIGN NEWSPAPERS 2---About how many minutes a day do you usually read newspapers, not counting Sundays? 0--NONE 3--18-27 A 6--48—57 (8) l--1-7 4--28-37 7--58-67 2--8-l7 5--38-47 8--68 OR MORE 3---IF READS NEWSPAPER:How many news items on local events do you usually read in the newspaper on an average day? 0--NONE 3--THREE 6--SIX (9) l--ONE 4--FOUR 7--SEVEN 2--Two 5--FIVE 8--EIGHT OR MORE 4---IF READS NEWSPAPER: How many national news stories on the front page do you usually read on an average day? 0--NONE 3--THREE 6--SIX (10) l--ONE 4--FOUR 7--SEVEN 2--TWO 5--FIVE 8--EIGHT OR MORE 5---How many days a week do you usually watch local television news? 0--NONE 3--THREE" (10) 6--SIX (11) 1--ONE 4--FOUR 7--SEVEN 2--TWO 5--FIVE 8--EIGHT OR MORE 108 109 5—--How many days a week do you usually watch local television news? 0--NONE 3--THREE 6--SIx (11) l--ONE 4--FOUR 7--SEVEN 2--TWO 5--FIVE 6---How many days a week do you usually watch national TV news? 0--NONE 3--THREE 6--SIX (12) l--ONE 4--FOUR 7--SEVEN 2--TWO 5--FIVE 7---Which news medium do you prefer for local news....television, radio newspapers, magazines....or other people? O--NONE 2--NEWSPAPERS 4--MAGAZINES (l3) l--TELEVISION 3--RADIO 5--OTHER PEOPLE 8--Which news medium do you prefer for national news? o--NONE 2--NEWSPAPERS 4--MAGAZINES 14) 1--TELEVISION 3--RADIO 5--OTHER PEOPLE 9---Which news medium do you prefer for foreign news? 0--NONE 2--NEWSPAPERS 4--MAGAZINES (15) l-—TELEVISION 3--RADIO 5--OTHER PEOPLE 10---For reporting foreign news, which news medium do you think is the most believable? - 0--NONE 2--NEWSPAPERS 4—-MAGAZINES (16) l--TELEVISION 3--RADIO 5--OTHER PEOPLE Now, we'd like to ask you a few questions about places that you may have traveled to. Have you ever been to (NAME OF PLACES BELOW ? IF BEEN THERE: About how many days have you spent there altogether? 0 1-3 4-6 1 2 3 4 WEEKS NO DAYS DAYS WEEK WEEKS WEEKS OR MORE ll--Detroit--- (l7) 12--Chicago--- (18) l3--Wisconsin- (l9) l4--New York-- (20) 15-—Los Angeles?--- (21) l6--Mexico? ------- (22) l7--England or France (23) ~———— 110 l8—-IF BEEN TO ANY: Have you ever lived in any of those places? IF YES: Which? 0--NONE 3--WISCONSIN 6--MEXICO 1--DETROIT 4--NEW YORK CITY 7--ENGLAND OR 2--CHICAGO 5--LOS ANGELES FRANCE When you see or read news items on do you pay attention to most of the items, about half of the items, a few of the items, or none of the items? NONE A FEW HALF MOST l9--Detroit ------------------- 20--Chicago- ------------------ 21--Wisconsin ----------------- 22--New York City ------------- 23--Los Angeles ----- 24--Mexico ----- 25--England or France --------- 9 .2. 3 he Now, I want to ask you how accurate you think the news is about these places. What percent of the items you've seen or read about NAMES OF PLACES) do you believe? IF SUBJECT SAYS "SOME" OR "MOST" ASK HIM TO ESTIMATE A PERCENT. 26--Detroit —-- 27--Chicago -------------------- 28--Wisconsin ------------------ 29--New York City - 30--Los Angeles ---------------- 31—-Mexico-— —— --- 32--England or France ---------- 33--Now we'd like to ask some questions about your background. How long have you lived in the Lansing area? O--LESS THAN ONE YEAR 5--FIVE YEARS 1--ONE YEAR 6--SIX YEARS 2--TWO YEARS 7--SEVEN TO TEN YEARS 3--THREE YEARS 8--MORE THAN TEN YEARS 4--FOUR YEARS (24) (25) (26) (27) (28) (29) (30) (31) (32-33) (34-35) (36-37) (38-39) (40-41) (42-43) (44-45) (46) lll 34--About how much longer do you plan on staying in the Lansing area? O--LESS THAN ONE YEAR 5-‘FIVE YEARS l--ONE YEAR 6--SIX YEARS 2--TWO YEARS 7--SEVEN TO TEN YEARS 3--THREE YEARS 8--MORE THAN TEN YEARS 4--FOUR YEARS 35—-How many states, counting Michigan, have you lived in since you were 18? 1--ONE 4--FOUR 7--SEVEN (48) 2--TWO 5--FIVE 8--EIGHT OR MORE 3--THREE 6--SIX 36--What is the occupation of the head of the household? WRITE DOWN A SPECIFIC JOB, LIKE DOCTOR, REALTOR, PLUMBER, GROCERY CLERK. DO NOT CHECK ONE OF THE CATEGORIES.. OCCUPATION IS: l--UNSKILLED LABORER 5--PROFESSIONAL OR MANAGERIAL (49) 2--SKILLED LABORER 6--RETIRED 3--CLERICAL OR SALES 7--STUDENT 4--BUSINESS OWNER 8--UNEMPLOYED 37--How many years of formal education have you completed? 1--EIGHT YEARS OF LESS 4--SOME COLLEGE (50) 2--SOME HIGH SCHOOL 5--COLLEGE GRADUATE 3--HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATE 6--M.A. OR PH.D. DEGREE 38--What age category are you in...under 20, in your 20's...30's... 40's...50's...60's or older? l--UNDER 20 3--IN 30's 5--IN 50's (51) 2--IN 20's 4--IN 40's 6--IN 60's INTERVIEWER: PLEASE RECORD THE SEX OF THE RESPONDENT. IF IN DOUBT! SAY SOMETHING LIKE "THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR TIME, MR.???" 39--THE RESPONDENT'S SEX IS: l--FEMALE 2--MALE (52) Thank you very much sir (or ma'am) for you participation in the survey. Good-bye. INTERVIEWER: NOW DOUBLECHECK TO SEE THAT ALL QUESTIONS HAVE BEEN ANSWERED. BIBLIOGRAPHY BIBILOGRAPHY 1974 Circulation '73/‘74. American Newspaper Markets., Northfield, Ill. 1966 News Research for Better Newspapers, Vol. 1, Chilton R. Bush (ed.). New York: American Newspaper Publishers Association Foundation. 1967 News Research for Better Newspapers, Vol. 2, Chilton R. Bush (ed.) New York: American Newspaper Publishers Association Foundation. 1971 News Research for Better Newspapers, Vol. 5, Chilton R. Bush (ed.). 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