Mass Media and Interpersonal Communication in the Diffusion of a News Event

A NECESSARY component in the systematic development of knowledge dealing with communication is a body of descriptive information concerning various aspects of this dynamic behavior. The literature devoted to such description is both rich and varied, but few students of communications problems would claim that it is complete. The present study attempts to add to this body of descriptive material centering on the question, How does the news get around? Similar to Miller's 1945 study,' the present observations deal with the diffusion of the news of a national political figure's death. On Friday, July 31, 1953, at 7:30 a.m. (PST), Senator Robert A. Taft died in a New York City hospital. Senator Taft, known as Mr. Republican, had a long and distinguished career in American politics. When the Senator died, news of this event was flashed to all parts of the country by the media of mass communication. A manner of estimating media effectiveness would be to discover through what channels people first learned such a news event, how long it took for the news to get around, what sources were consulted for additional information, and how much interpersonal communication was prompted. Such a study of the process by which local communities become informed of news having national significance could define more clearly the role of the media of communication in modern society. In addition, the nature of certain patterns of community interaction and influence might be observed. This paper reports some descriptive answers to the multiple question, Who learned the news, when, by what means, and how did such knowledge affect subsequent communications behavior?