The 2 November 1985 ban on photographic and sound recordings by the South African government provided an opportunity to investigate hypotheses concerning the effect of the ban on U.S. media coverage of South Africa and on public opinion toward South Africa. We hypothesized that the ban would result in (1) a decrease in coverage of protest-related stories, (2) a tapering off of the volume of coverage, and (3) a decline in the prominence of the South Africa story. We further hypothesized that (4) all of these effects would be stronger for broadcast than for print media, that (5) if the press ban reduced coverage of events in South Africa, there would be less attentiveness to the South African problem among the general public in the United States, and that (6) sympathy for the black population would decrease as a result of the press restrictions