A study examined the treatment and portrayal of political parties on Soviet and American television. The content of six newscasts of "World News Tonight" and "Vremya" during June of 1984 were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. The overall results suggest that 15 stories (24% of the total allotted time) pertaining directly to political parties appeared on ABC while 18 stories (27% of the total allotted time) appeared on Soviet television. Evidence suggests that similarities exist in the manner in which political parties present information to media systems under exceedingly different political environments. For example, presidential candidates in the United States extol the virtues of their political party by pointing to the deficiencies and failures of the opposing party. Similarly, Soviet Communist Party leaders seek to solidify their relative position within Soviet society by pointing to the weaknesses of democratic forms of government. Results of the study suggest that while differences exist in the manner and style of political party information presented, many of the same types of stories receive attention in both countries and parties in both countries rely on the media to solidify support. An appendix provides the titles of the news stories examined in this study (with dates of telecasts and lengths of stories). (SRT)