A study of 258 news personnel from 17 newspapers indicated that professional attitudes toward contemporary newspaper journalism fell into three distinct clusters: traditional, interpretative, and activist. Traditional journalists focused on local and spot news, downgraded interpretative and national/international material, and shared their audience's news preferences. Less concerned with local interests, interpreters stressed national news and human interest stories, while activists emphasized international news. Both interpreters and activists stressed investigative reporting. According to multiple-regression analyses, traditionalism indicated both local orientation and pragmatic efficiency--spot news can be processed quickly using newswriting conventions. Results were supported by L. Kohlberg's six-stage model of moral/ethical development. Stage 1, emphasizing arbitrary, fixed rules, reflected the traditionalist stance. Stage 4--basing beliefs on logical reasoning rather then on majority opinion--suggested the interpretative attitude, while stage 6--positing a concern for universal ethical principles--described the approach of many activists. Further research is needed on the possible associations between belief clusters and professionals in journalism. (MM)