A study examined American newspaper coverage of the Harvard Medicare Project proposal of 1986, a major health policy proposal calling for comprehensive reforms in the national health program. Using Burrelle's news clipping service which includes every daily newspaper (over 1500) in the United States, all 75 newspaper articles on the project from March 11 through April 6, 1986 were examined. The content of each story was evaluated on 14 characteristics, consisting of: (1) publication date; (2) newspaper; (3) state; (4) story source; (5) headline topic; (6) mention of Harvard in the headline; (7) lead topic of the story; (8) mention of "New England Journal of Medicine"; (9) mention of Harvard medical project in the story; (10) citation of experts in the story; (11) issues discussed by the expert; (12) critical comments of proposal's impact; (13) tone; and (14) inclusion of outside critical source. Results revealed substantive and stylistic distinctions in amount of coverage, headlines, featured topics, use of experts and prestigious sources, critical commentary, and story source. Regional variations in coverage were also identified. In addition, analysis showed a lack of coverage in the daily print news media, including some of the country's largest newspapers. (Thirty-two notes are included.) (MM)