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Donica MensingReynolds School of Journalism

University of Nevada, Reno

Purpose

• To begin understanding differences between types of online news sites over time

• To begin understanding what news factors online might relate to political learning

Method

• Collected news stories from online newspapers (The New York Times on the Web, USA Today Online), online broadcast sites (ABCnews.com, CNN.com) and online only sites (Salon and Slate)

• During the presidential primary seasons in 2000 and 2004

Method

• Randomly selected 10 days in the primary season. Analyzed the first four primary stories in each outlet on each sampled day.

• Coded 289 stories in 2000 and 2004 about the presidential primary

• Measured seven variables that the literature indicate could relate to political learning

Personal (0) --Institutional (1)

0

0.05

0.1

0.15

0.2

0.25

0.3

0.35

Mean

Online newspapers Online broadcast Online only newssites

Personal (0) v. institutional frame (1)

20002004

Contains issue information No info - 0

Has issue info - 1

0

0.05

0.1

0.15

0.2

0.25

0.3

Onlinenewspapers

Onlinebroadcast

Online onlynews sites*

Issue coverage

20002004

Use of photographsNo photo with story (0) -- Photo with story (1)

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1

Online newspapers* Online broadcast* Online only news sites*

Use of Photographs

20002004

Use of multimediaNo multimedia (0) -- multimedia available (1)

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

Online newspapers* Online broadcast Online only news sites

Use of Multimedia

20002004

Use of links from the story page0 to five (0) - More than 5 (1)

USA Today Story, Feb. 19, 2006

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1

Online newspapers* Online broadcast* Online only news sites

Use of links in sidebars

20002004

Action items related to the story0-1 actions (1) -- 2 or more actions (1)

CNN story -- Feb. 19, 2004

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1

Online newspapers* Online broadcast* Online only news sites

Action Steps

20002004

Ability to provide feedback linked from storyNo feedback (0) -- Feedback (1)

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1

Online newspapers Online broadcast* Online only news sites

Feedback

20002004

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

Online newspapers* Online broadcast sites* Online only news sites

Learning Index

20002004

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

NYT* USA Today* ABC* CNN Salon* Slate*

Learning Index

20002004