A comparative study of two types of media, a newspaper and a museum, reveals substantive differences in the ways each of these communications organizations alters the information which it presents to the public. Interviews conducted with spokespeople from the Washington Post and the Smithsonian Institution focused on three major theories of communication which account for ways in which reality is transformed by the media: (1) the gatekeeping theory, which says that as witnesses, reporters, editors, etc., each leave their own mark on the initial news item, it is changed; (2) the community interaction theory, which says that the audience sometimes has the power to determine what form its media may assume; and (3) the social responsibility theory, which says that since the press enjoys a privileged position under the government, it has certain obligations in presenting the news. References and a 46-item bibliography are attached. (LLS)