News Research Journal

Most people don't get most of their news from television. They do use television more for the three types of national news included in this study, but dearly it is newspapers they turn to for local news, which raises the question of which is more important.

Deceiving news sources has been an ethical problem for the press and lately has become a legal problem, too. Tort liability for concealing one's identity or otherwise misleading news sources seems unlikely, but posing as a public employee could result in criminal penalties.

This second national census of minority journalists in the college press finds that numbers have remained more or less static. If the newspaper business really is committed to increasing diversity, it must develop and nurture the pipeline of promising minority students from high schools into college journalism programs and campus papers..

Use of news services may be an indicator of quality and completeness of a newspaper's content. This examination of how 180 newspapers use wire services finds no significant differences on this measure of content quality between independent and chain-owned papers, more data in the debate over the impact of chain ownership.

Sister newspaper are perhaps the most endangered species in an already beleaguered industry. Predicting such failures using available economic data is impossible, since other social and political factors – and an owner with deep pockets – can contribute to keeping an economically unprofitable paper afloat indefinitely.

Newspapers play a role in maintaining community identity and cohesiveness. This study, conducted in the nation's largest retirement community, found that as readership of the paper increased, people were more involved yet less satisfied living in the community.

City editors at 187 daily newspapers ranging in size from less than 5,000 circulation to 100,000-plus say they have policies to safeguard against bogus information getting into print. But enough papers still report problems with bogus letters to the edior and fake obits to raise concerns about accuracy and the impact on credibility.

What appears in the newspaper depends on who's tending the newsgate, right? This replication of David Manning White's 1949 examination of news gatekeeper “Mr. Gates” indicates a consistency of news judgment of wire service copy, even when “Ms. Gates” is on duty.

How much and what kind of images of the Third World do Americans get through their daily newspapers? This study suggests that critics may be correct when they complain that U.S. press coverage of developing nations is distorted and concentrates on crises and conflicts at the expense of a more balanced view.