Access to, use and credibility of mass media, alternative media and other alternative information sources during the Persian Gulf crisis and war with Iraq: A survey of information-seeking by college students of the post-Vietnam generation. (Volumes I and

The premise underlying this study is that the full range of debate on controversial foreign policy issues is realized across a wide range of information sources rather than within the mass media, which represent a truncated political spectrum in which critical views tend to be marginalized.;This study examined information-seeking during the 1990-1991 Persian Gulf crisis and war with Iraq and described the broader information environment within which it took place, with emphasis on access to or familiarity with alternative information sources.;A survey was administered to first year students at 13 colleges and universities in the Philadelphia metropolitan area, yielding a sample of 659 respondents between 18 and 21 years of age.;Access was measured for alternative media ranging from National Public Radio to magazines such as Z Magazine and National Review, for grass roots activities such as teach-ins and demonstrations, and for pro and anti-war information from organizations.;The most significant finding was that lack of access constituted a significant impediment to the use of alternative sources. For almost all alternative media and grass roots sources, respondents who had never heard of them outnumbered other non-users. Even for those with access, use of most alternative sources was limited.;Differences in access and use were analyzed for 18 independent variables. Respondent variables included age, gender, ethnic background, religion, type of schools attended, average grades, Gulf war opinion, opinion on and attention to prior foreign policy issues and knowing someone serving in the war zone. Parent or family background variables included parent education level, family income, parent discussion of and opinion on U.S. foreign policy, and parent military service. Three Vietnam-related parent variables were also used: parent military service in Vietnam, college attendance during the Vietnam war and Vietnam anti-war activism. The single most important variable was parent discussion of foreign policy issues. Those whose parents discussed foreign policy issues with them when they were growing up were significantly more likely to know about and use most types of alternative information sources.;Credibility was measured along two dimensions: trust and fairness. The mass media were rated as more trustworthy than the government and alternative sources. Most respondents found mass media coverage of the Gulf conflict to be fair and balanced. Those who did not were more likely to consider the media not critical enough than to find them too critical.