A Comparative Study Of Newspaper Contacting Of Urban And Rural Residents In Jiangsu Province

Most of the data in the present report is from the newspaper study conducted among the rural residents of Jiangsu Province in 2001, which is part of the research "the Interactive Relationship Between the Mass Media and the Development of Politics, Economics and Culture". The other two data sources are 1) the two reports of the 1980s on the media use by the residents in the countryside of Jiangsu Province and 2) the investigation on newspaper reading by the residents in Nanjing carried out by the author in the summer of 2001.The present study analyzed, with the principles of different fields, the contact with newspapers by the rural residents. Some suggestions are provided about strategies and methods for publicizing in the countryside through mass media.The conclusions reached in the study are as follows:1. The significant difference exists in contacting with newspapers by the urban and the rural residents in Jiangsu Province.2. The newspapers of easy access to readers get higher evaluation.3. The key factor which influences audience's choice of newspapers is the function of news.4. The voicing function is highly recognized, whereas the service function fails to live up to readers' expectations.5. The city lies in the information highland, whereas the countryside in the lowland, as the urban residents have easier access to newspapers. Information moves between the two.6. The rural area in Jiangsu Province, which is now undergoing the urbanization, is a potential market for the newspaper development.7. More attention should be paid to the specialized economic information of which is in bad need by town and township enterprises.