Use of the mass media as a teaching instrument in the classroom has increased considerably at all grade levels in the past few years. The newspaper is the most widely used of the media, the direct result of a national campaign by publishers, known as "Newspapers in Education" (NIE). This initiative encourages the use of newspapers as an educational tool both to complement and to supplement traditional classroom texts and resource materials. There are a number of ways teachers can use newspapers to teach comprehension and critical thinking and to help students develop sensitivity and awareness of the self, the community, the nation, and the world. Some teachers have developed classroom materials using the newspaper for specialized instructional purposes, while others employ the newspaper as a foundation for law-related courses. Still others have devised a newspaper course for older students that helps prepare them for effective citizenship in an independent world, providing instruction in global concepts such as economic interdependence, the migrations of people, environmental independence, cultural diffusion, the communication revolution, and cultural diversity. Newspapers can also prove to be beneficial for teaching adult education students and learning disabled students. For readers at all levels, the newspaper can be a versatile tool to obtain useful and interesting information while developing an individual's ability to read. (MS)