A case study of two metropolitan newspapers examined whether there was a relationship between type of newsroom management style--"authoritarian" or "democratic"--and journalists' perceptions of management style and leadership, editors' roles, career goals and job satisfaction, readers' news source contact, and community closeness. The study also examined whether management style is perceived differently by journalists with different personal and attitudinal characteristics. Subjects, 125 journalists (mostly reporters) at a morning and an evening newspaper, completed a 12-page questionnaire on perceptions and attitudes. The results indicated that the evening paper tended to be perceived as authoritarian while the morning paper was perceived as a blend of democratic and authoritarian styles. Journalists at both papers endorsed journalists' participation in decision making as important to improving the work environment, but the morning paper workers were no more likely than the evening paper workers to share in news decisions. Relationships among editors and between editors and reporters were more satisfactory at the evening paper. Differences in management style did not appear to increase the journalists' sense of closeness to their audience. (Tables of data and 27 footnotes are included.) (HTH)