Noting that both the structural characteristics of television and the characteristics of the viewer may influence comprehension of television news, a study tested the hypothesis that the synchronous presentation of television news will maximize learning for viewers with low prior knowledge of program content. Synchronous and nonsynchronous programs were developed by manipulating original network broadcasts. In both treatments, the audiotrack and visual information were identical; only the order of the visual information was different. Measures of prior knowledge were taken for 45 college freshmen, who were then randomly assigned to view either a synchronous or a nonsynchronous program. Comprehension measures were used to evaluate recall of program content. Results indicated that with prior knowledge held constant, viewers had higher comprehension scores in the synchronous treatment than those in the nonsynchronous one. The study demonstrates that structural features of television news production can help decrease the "knowledge gap," and that visual-verbal synchrony can reduce the differential acquisition of knowledge by helping viewers with low prior knowledge learn as well as viewers with high prior knowledge. (Author/HTH)