The major interest of this study was to examine the interaction between selected ethnic cues in the aural and visual channels and the effect they have on student perception of an information source. Some 186 sixth grade students were divided equally along black and white racial lines into two groups and shown a filmstrip on drug abuse. Three identical filmstrips were assembled, using either a black, white, or integrated cast and narrated by either a distinctly black or white voice. Information retention was measured by a multiple choice test while subjective attitudes were measured by a semantic differential scale. Seven statistical hypotheses were generated and analyzed by a 3x2x2 multivariate analysis. Little significant difference was found in the effect of aural or visual cues on retention. However, the visual subjective attitudes showed that whites perceived information from all black casts to be less "expert" than information from all white or integrated casts. The author concluded that the effectiveness of a communication is at least partially determined by the ethnic characteristics of the source or receiver. (MC)