This thesis examined the utility of using seven characteristics of newspapers--specifically 46 Indiana newspapers--to predict how these newspapers use photographs.To this end, a composite index of picture use was developed from multiple measures of the source, content and play of newspaper photographs appearing during a composite week representing March 1985. This index, used as a criterion variable, was regressed on seven specific characteristics of the sample newspapers. These characteristics were: (1) newspaper circulation; (2) editorial and (3) photography staff size; (4) use of a photography editor; (5) the experience of the person primarily responsible for the use of photographs; and the (6) age and (7) time of publication of a newspaper.It was concluded: The size of the photography staff (beta = -0.33) and the use of a photography editor (beta = 0.38) were both practical and significant predictors of picture use by the sampled newspapers (R2 = 0.24, p <_0.05). It was also concluded: Circulation, editorial staff size, time of publication, the experience of the person primarily responsible for the use of photographs, and the age of a newspaper were neither practical nor significant predictors of picture use by the sampled newspapers.Two profiles were developed in the course of this thesis. The first profile describes the typical daily Indiana newspaper based on data collected from 46 of 65 Indiana newspapers. In this profile, the typical Indiana newspaper is described as: A morning newspaper that has been published for approximately 107 years and which employs 16 editorial staff members and two photographers in the production of a newspaper with an approximate daily circulation of 17,400 copies.The second profile describes how Indiana newspapers typically used photographs during the sample period. In this profile it was reported that newspapers used an average of one photograph on each page of the newspaper--pages devoted either mostly (greater than 50 percent) or solely to editorial copy--and that the mean size of these photographs was approximately 18.5 square inches. A little more than 64 percent of all of the photographs appearing in the sample newspapers were taken by an in-house photography staff. Of these locally produced photographs, 43.5 percent were classified as news photographs while an additional 23 percent were considered to be feature photographs. / Department of Journalism