Negro use of television and newspapers for political information, 1952–1964

Abstract An almost unheralded, but very important, communications phenomenon of the past couple of decades is the massive shift of Negroes from a “low media use”; pattern to a “high television use”; pattern for information gaining activity. The development is particularly clear with respect to the obtaining of political information by Negroes, as is shown in this secondary analysis of four Survey Research Center national probability samples, from 1952 through 1964. Maxwell McCombs, formerly on the faculty of UCLA, is presently assistant professor in the School of Journalism at the University of North Carolina.