8 COMMUNICATION AND READING

THE USE OF OTHER MEDIA BY BOOK READERS To what ex-
tent does book reading correlate with use of the other com-
munication media? Do readers of books tend to use the other
media more than nonreaders do, or do they tend to rely less on
the other media because of their use of books? In the case of
every major medium of communication except radio, book
readers listen and see and read more than those who do not
read books (Table 1); they give greater attention to public
speeches and to such other media as government bulletins.

TABLE 1

REeraTioNsHIP OF Book REeapING TO THE Usk orF
Ot1HER TyPES oF COMMUNICATION®

Communications Percentage of Percentage of
Bebavior Book Readers® Nomnreaders
of Books
Read one or more mnewspapers
every day 91 76
Listen to the radio two or more
hours a day 69 68
Read two or more magazines regu-
larly 71 39
Attend two or more motion pic-
tures a month 58 45
Hear one or more speeches or talks
in a year 29 14
Sometimes read government bul-
letins 58 37

“Source: SRC, 1948.

*Book readers” are defined as adults who have read one or more books
during the past year.

The reasons for this are several: income level, education, gen-
eral cultural alertness of the persons concerned, and the
accessibility of the various media. The major implication is
that the book readers are not limited to that one form of com-
munication. Instead, they also give a good deal of atten-