An illustration of the dependence and vulnerability of the Third World in relation to the First World--especially North American--news flow is illustrated by the news coverage of the events surrounding Jim Jones and the People's Temple in Guyana. Three editorial attitudes emerged in that coverage: an almost total absence of interest in the country where the tragedy occurred; a seeming determination on the part of the North American media to pursue an editorial policy supportive of accusatory, as distinct from investigatory, reporting; and an almost universal determination on the part of editors to protect the reputations of their reporters. Accusatory reporting followed by editorial censorship aimed at protecting reputations of reporters may be seen in articles that accused the Guyana government of not anticipating the tragedy and of not having full access to Jonestown, that accused the deputy prime minister and the wife of the prime minister of having personally taken possession of one million dollars in cash and jewelry and of taking it to "government headquarters," and that accused the prime minister's wife of being a "strong advocate" of the People's Temple. When corrections and apologies for the factual errors were sought by Guyanese government officials, there were no satisfactory results. (TJ)