A study examined whether the Third World received less photographic coverage than more developed Western countries and whether this coverage was apt to be more sensational than that accorded more developed Western countries. Also examined was what kind of photo coverage Eastern nations received in the United States press. All photographs on the front pages of four prestige newspapers--"The New York Times,""Chicago Tribune,""Washington Post," and "Los Angeles Times"--during all weekdays of 1986 were analyzed. Of the 3,403 photographs identified, 1,374 (40%) were coded as international. The New York, Washington, and Los Angeles papers devoted about 46% of their photographic coverage to international topics, while the "Chicago Tribune" devoted only 30% of its coverage to international topics. Although Western nations received the most photo coverage, the Third World was also well represented; Eastern nations' coverage was far below that of Western nations or the Third World. Qualitatively, however, the East was covered in a much better balanced way than was the Third World. Of the 924 photos coded as Third World, 682 (73.9%) were sensational in nature. The greatest percentage of photos from the Third World was found in the military/war sub-category. For the West and the East, only about 50% of the total units were coded as sensational. Use of dominant photographs (three columns or more) in the sensational category was also high. Findings suggest that more research is needed to see how Americans perceive the Third World and to what extent photographs might influence those perceptions. (NKA)