Titles and brief summaries of selected articles from the Newspaper Research Journal, Volume 29, No. 3, Summer 2008

“How Newspaper Readership Affects Political Participation” by Tien-Sung Lee and Lu Wei. NRJ summary: This analysis reveals that a decrease in newspaper readership among 17- to 24-year olds is associated with their decreasing political participation but not with a decrease in their political knowledge.

“Foreign News Stories More Likely to Include Unnamed Sources” by Michael Sheehy. NRJ summary: An analysis of The Washington Post found widespread use of unnamed sources in foreign news and these stories were more likely to contain unnamed sources than were political stories.

“Newspapers Focus on Conflict in Stem Cell Coverage” by Nicole Smith Dahmen. NRJ summary: This analysis of coverage of stem cell research shows three major newspapers focus on the political aspects – the controversy – and provide much less scientific understanding of the issue.

“Newspapers Get High Marks On Environmental Report Card” by Daniel Riffe and Daniel Reimold. NRJ summary: National survey data compares newspapers with other media as sources of environmental information and assesses how well they cover causes, victims, responsibility, solutions and costs of environmental problems.