Representing the earliest findings in an ongoing national survey examining how black elected officials view the community press, 113 black state senators and legislators (33% response rate) from 50 states were surveyed using five-point Likert-type items with responses ranging from "Strongly Agree" to "Strongly Disagree." Mean respondent age was 49 and education level was 21 years. Results indicated that the lawmakers were polarized in their response to the question of whether the community newspaper was a help or a hindrance to their objectives as public officials. In addition, most respondents were neutral in responses to the question of whether they viewed the reporters assigned to them as adversary, supporter, friend, or opponent. More than half of the officials agreed that assigning a black reporter to the lawmaker's office would help the newspaper understand black issues and concerns. Overall, findings suggest that the black state legislator has an unfavorable view of local paper performance, with most seeing the community press as obsessed with conflict coverage. The hometown paper's coverage of the lawmaker's office was judged as particularly poor compared to statehouse specialist reporters. Few black legislators in the 1980s feel fairly treated, and they feel that whites have more influence at the community newspaper and receive more favorable news coverage. (Eighteen notes and three tables of data are attached.) (ARH)