A study examined the United States television networks' news coverage of human rights in Central America during the administration of President Jimmy Carter to determine whether the President's hopes for greater media coverage of human rights issues were acknowledged by network newscasts. A content analysis of "Television News Index and Abstracts" was conducted for weeknight reports of the three major network newscasts. The results showed that the number of news stories related to Central America in Carter's first year was surprisingly low, given the amount of political unrest in Nicaragua and Panama. In 1978, the number of stories related to human rights increased considerably. The number of reports from the field decreased in 1979, probably due to the events in Nicaragua as American journalists tried to leave the country. By 1980, all of the NBC and CBS newscasts covering Central America referred to some aspect of human rights. The analysis showed that the number of human rights-related stories did increase during the Carter Administration, but the total amount of time allotted to Central American issues remained small. (HTH)