Selected stories from the most recent issue of the Newspaper Research Journal that may be of interest to the journalism community:

Copy Editing Not Great Priority for Online Stories, by John Russial 

Responses from 155 U.S. newspapers revealed about half always copy edit their online stories. More than 15 per cent reported they never copy edit, among them 25 per cent with more than 100,000 circulation.

An Analysis of Slogans Used to ‘Sell the News’, by Salma Ghanem and Kimberly Selber 

This examination of 744 newspaper slogans at print and online daily and weekly newspapers found that 75 per cent of the slogans mentioned a key benefit of the newspaper.

Newspaper Managers Report Positive Attitudes about Blogs, by Brad Schultz and Mary Lou Sheffer 

A survey showed that managers were positive about the role and value of blogging. More than 61 per cent of the managers stated that their blog site contained advertising, yet only 39 per cent reported profits.

How to Report Quantitative Information in News Stories, by Coy Callison, Rhonda Gibson and Dolf Zillmann 

Researchers tested various ways of presenting numerical information in news stories and how math aptitude affects recall, if at all. They study suggests that both the audience and journalists need to be better prepared to deal with numbers.

Benefits Dominate Coverage of Vision Corrective Surgery, by Seok Kang 

Findings of a content analysis of news stories about vision corrective surgery showed writers sought patients’ opinions about the benefits of surgery and that surgeons were the most frequently used source.

Rating Citizen Journalists Versus Pros: Editors’ Views, by Seungahn Nah and Deborah Chung 

A statewide survey of community newspaper editors rated the importance of professional journalists’ roles higher than they rated citizen journalists’ roles.

Papers Endorse Republicans in Nearly 60 Percent of Races, by Mark D. Ludwig

This analysis of daily U.S. newspapers found that they were conservative in their editorial endorsements and that publicly owned newspapers endorsed Republicans 63 per cent of the time.