A study highlighted the extent to which TV news directors and subordinates perceived negative reinforcement to be used to help establish working climate in their newsrooms, and examined the differences in their perceptions that working climate affects personal ability to do "best" work on the job. Twenty news directors and 40 subordinates from TV newsrooms randomly selected in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah were surveyed for their perception of negative reinforcement techniques in use, and their ability to do best work within the working climate established. Rankings to statements involving perceptions of interpersonal communication, job satisfaction, and program ratings were obtained for ancillary data, and response means and standard deviation were determined. Results indicated that news directors overwhelmingly reported use of negative reinforcement, and reported less ability to do "best work" on the job. Results also showed that subordinates reported greater perception of negative reinforcement in use, but reported better interpersonal relationships and more job security than that perceived by news directors. Students and scholars of organizational communication will welcome this useful study of employee attitudes, and further research should concentrate on confirming the existence of negative reinforcement in TV newsrooms nationally. (One hundred twenty-six references and six appendixes including survey instruments and statistics are attached.) (Author/PRA)