Between 1959 and 1975, television replaced newspapers as the public's major source of news. To examine this trend in further detail, a national sample of 1,519 adults were asked to construct diaries of their activities during one day in the fall of 1975. These adults were also interviewed for their use of television news and newspapers. In a static context, the media appeared to follow a supplementary rather than complementary/competitive pattern. In a cross-time context, however, free time increased significantly from 1965 to 1975, while time devoted to newspapers decreased. Moreover, television viewing increased dramatically, particularly among older people. Increased television viewing was found for younger people, but the younger age groups also gave evidence of a "tradeoff" between newspapers and more specialized media (magazines and books). The results suggest that American television's second stage of development, in which news and reality-oriented content increased, made inroads on newspaper reading habits. In its third stage of development, the coming age of more personalized packaging via tapes and discs, television may challenge the specialized media of magazines and books. (RL)