Online versions of US Daily Newspapers: Does Size Matter?
by
Thimios Zaharopoulos
Department of Mass Media
Washburn University
Topeka, KS 66621
785-231-1010 ext. 1804
[log in to unmask]
Submitted to the Newspaper Division of the Association for Education in
Journalism and Mass Communication paper competition
April 1, 2003
Online versions of US Daily Newspapers: Does Size Matter?
This content analysis of online versions of U.S. daily newspapers attempts
to ascertain the type of content and related techniques that newspapers use
on-line. It also examines the relationship between newspaper circulation
and types and amount of content on their online version. Most online
newspaper home pages are still traditional in their approaches, presenting
primarily news in a textual manner, and advertising. Larger newspapers
tend to have a greater online presence, with more and more diverse content.
Online versions of US Daily Newspapers: Does Size Matter?
Introduction
In the early stages of the development of any new medium, it is important
for scholars to engage in descriptive research so that the new medium can
be adequately described and understood. The World Wide Web has been part
of our lives for over a decade. However, its ability to be useful to old
media such as newspapers and broadcast stations is under constant
discussion. There is no doubt that the Internet can be useful to old
media, but there is still some doubt as to the way in which it can be
useful. Even more in doubt is the ability of the Internet to generate
profits for old media channels.
Old media such as newspapers and broadcast stations have flocked to the
Internet. This was not necessarily because they saw in it a way to
directly enhance their profit potential, but because they were convinced
that the Internet is important to them, even though they were not certain
as to how this importance would play out.
Newspapers have had an online presence since the mid 1990s. Garrison
(2001) reports that by 1997 67.3% of the daily newspapers in the United
States had their own web sites, while by 1999 about 90% of the daily
newspapers were on the Web. Pavlik (1997) reports that newspapers are
progressing through three stages in their online presence: First,
repurposing newspaper content for their online edition; second, adding
interactive features such as search engines and hyperlinks; and third,
providing original content for the Web that is not found in the print
version of the same newspaper.
Despite the growing presence of newspapers on the Web, print versions of
newspapers are still more preferable, especially if the content is the same
(Chyi & Lasorsa, 1999). Furthermore, online versions of traditional
newspapers have more credibility in this new competitive environment—an
environment that includes online news from non-traditional media (Russell
2001). For one thing, newspaper sites continue to use the same legitimated
sources and provide a similar version of events as their print version
(Russell 2001).
Generally, however, readers seem to find the two versions of a single
newspaper as complementing each other, not competing. As expected, people
under the age of 35 are more likely to read online versions of newspapers.
However, Stempel, Hargrove and Bernt (2000) found that "those who use the
Internet are more likely than those who don't use it to be regular
newspaper readers." These people are simply more active, or information
seeking people.
Online versions of out-of-town newspapers are attractive to readers, given
their accessibility and relatively low cost (Chyi & Lasorsa, 1999). Chyi
and Lasorsa (1999) also report that "national newspapers seem to take more
advantage of the Web as a delivery channel to overcome geographic
constraints and to generate new audiences" (p. 11). They recommend that
newspapers should target out of town audiences and should provide
additional services for in-towners to succeed.
For the most part, online versions of newspapers have given priority to
providing textual rather than graphical information (Li, 1998). In fact,
at least a few years ago, online versions were less likely than their print
versions to use large pictures and graphs to illustrate news articles (Li,
1998).
Online versions of newspapers have the ability to use web technologies to
go beyond the traditional print content. For example, links used in online
versions allow readers to spend more time reading the online version
(Ketterer, 2001), as they choose the direction of their online reading
experience. As Dibean and Garrison (2001) suggest, such technologies change
routines and practices. However, over the past five years, scholars have
bemoaned the fact that online versions of newspapers do not take full
advantage of the technology available (Li, 1998). For example, Dibean and
Garrison (2001) found that although newspapers of all sizes use
technologies to provide customer service, and regional newspapers have a
large technological base reflected on their sites, very few papers use
plug-in technologies. Thompson and Wassmuth (2001) also found that although
91% of the newspapers have classified ads online, they differ greatly on
interactive features. Nevertheless, one area where newspapers are beginning
to excel is in providing breaking news coverage, many times faster that
broadcast media (Heyboer, 2000).
A variety of content analyses of the WWW have been examined by McMillan
(2000), who finds three themes among the findings: First, there is
diversity in content, funding sources, and communication models on the
Web. Second, although there is commercialization on the Web, it has given
voice to small political entities. And third, the Web is not being used to
its full potential in terms of its interactive capabilities.
Various scholars have used content analysis to describe Web versions of
newspapers. Lin & Jeffres (2001) found that newspapers provide "a greater
emphasis (than broadcast media) in such technical elements as links to
community sites and links to print media" (p. 566). In addition, online
papers provide much in terms of community service, advertising, news, as
well as email and feedback.
In some of these studies a variable that has been examined is newspaper
circulation or market size. For example, most publishers report that they
are on the Web primarily to reach new readers and secondarily to generate
more revenue (Peng, Naphtali & Xiaoming, 1999). However, differences exist
between larger and smaller newspapers in this regard. For example, larger
city newspapers say generating more income is the main reason for being on
the Web, followed by promoting the paper. Smaller papers say their primary
reason is promoting the paper, followed by generating more income (p. 56).
Similarly, newspapers tend to vary their approach to their online
presence. Larger dailies provide a more traditional newspaper page online,
while smaller ones have more links with directories (Peng, Naphtali &
Xiaoming, 1999.) Lin and Jeffres (2001, p. 568) found that market size is
largely irrelevant in how media website content is shaped. However, larger
market papers tend to provide more advertising content than smaller
markets. They also state that "the development of content services on the
Internet is moving so rapidly that repeated snapshots must be taken to
track changes in how the media react in this fast-changing competitive
online media environment" (p. 555).
This study is in response to the need to keep monitoring the online media
environment. It attempts to answer the following questions:
Research Question One: What type of content and related techniques do
newspapers use for their online versions?
Research Question Two: Is newspaper circulation related to online content?
Method
This study involves a content analysis of the Internet version of U.S.
daily newspapers. A sample of newspapers across the United States was
generated using the systematic random sample process. The sampling frame
was websites of daily newspapers appearing on AJR's "newslink.org" under
newspapers by state, which listed 1161 U.S. newspapers. The systematic
random sample process intended to gather at least 10 percent of newspaper
websites, resulted in a sample of 144 sites. Two of these were no longer
available when the content analysis started, thus 142 sites make up the
final sample. According to (McMillan, 2000) content analysis for this type
of research is acceptable because it attempts to describe the
characteristics of communication as Holsti (1969) defined it.
For this study, content categories were created first by using examples of
other studies, such as Lin and Jeffres (2001), Massey and Levy (1999), and
some suggested by David Kamerer, who published an early study on electronic
newspapers (Mueller & Kamerer, 1995). In addition, other content
categories were created following some initial examination of a few
newspaper websites.
In addition to the items recorded via the content analysis, circulation
figures of sample newspapers were also noted, as reported in 2003 Working
Press of the Nation (2002). For use in analysis of variance tests,
newspapers were separated in three groups according to circulation. Small
newspapers were designated those with circulation up to 20,000. These make
up 52.6% of the sample. Medium-sized newspapers, or 34.6% of the sample,
were those with circulation over 20,000 but no more than 80,000. And
finally, large newspapers were those with circulation over 80,000 copies,
and they making up 12.8% of the sample.
Initially two newspaper websites, not part of the sample, were content
analyzed to ascertain the level of agreement among five different dyadic
groups of coders. The achieved level of agreement was 100 percent using
Holsti's (1969) method. Thus, ten trained undergraduate students in a
research methods course undertook the task of content analyzing the sample
websites (see coding procedure on Appendix A). In most cases coders simply
noted whether a particular online paper carried, or not, a certain content
item.
Composite variables were created by putting together a number of content
items of online versions of newspapers, similar to Lin and Jeffres (2001).
For example, Editorial Content was made up (by adding) the following
content items: business news, columns, editorials, entertainment news,
features, hard news, obituaries, photographs, sports, stock quotes, and
weather.
The composite variable Community was made up of the following content
items: community news, city guide information, jobs finder, calendar of
events, homes finder, movie schedule, television listings, yellow/white
pages, goings on, colleges or universities listings or links, city
government information, restaurant guide, church listing, chamber of
commerce, non-profit organizations.
Communication, as a composite variable, included chat rooms, guestbook,
message boards, email the newspaper, email individuals at the paper,
information desk, polls, customer service, letters to the editor, contacts
for advertising in the paper, and contacts for subscribing to the paper.
Technology as a composite variable was made up of the following: archives,
animation, audio clips, video clips, search engine, customization, live
sports, live weather, cool sites links, and own domain name.
Interactive Entertainment was made up of games, puzzles, contests, and
auctions. Advertising was made up of classifieds and display ads. In
addition two other types of content were recorded: horoscopes and recipes.
Again, coders simply coded each category as present or absent on each
newspaper's home page. Included here were links to other content but only
the links were coded as present or absent. No analysis was performed on the
other pages, although coders were instructed to visit the link in order to
get a clarification about the type of content displayed.
A few content items were coded individually in terms of the number of such
stories that appeared on the home page of each newspaper. These were
numbers of local sports stories, national sports stories, total news
stories, local news stories, national news stories, feature stories,
entertainment stories, and number of business stories.
Findings
A total of 142 online versions of US newspapers were content analyzed for
this study. A diversity of online content was found. Generally, daily
newspapers attempt to have some kind of presence on the Internet. However,
they vary as to the number of different items they carry.
In response to the main research question, most newspapers carry the
following information on their websites: classified ads are carried by
88.6% of sample websites, weather information by 87.1%, sports 85.4%, news
83%, display advertising 82%, photographs 77.7%, obituaries 77%, a way to
subscribe to the paper 75.5%, community news 68.3%, and newspaper archives
67.6%. Items least carried by sample newspapers were live sports (only 2%
carry it), auctions (6.5%), links to non-profit organizations (9.3%), chat
rooms (11.5%), audio clips (12%) and video clips (13.7%) (see Tables).
The study finds a positive correlation between circulation and the content
categories as expressed by each composite variable, except Advertising [r
(N = 130) = .10; p = .25]. The larger the circulation of a newspaper, the
more items making up each composite variable it carries. For example,
Editorial Content is positively correlated with circulation, r (N = 118) =
.27; p = 002. This means that the higher the circulation of a newspaper,
the more editorial content items it carries. The correlation between
circulation and Communication was also positive, r (N = 120) = .23; p =
011; as was the correlation between circulation and Community, r (N = 120)
= .18; p = 047; between circulation and Interactive Entertainment, r (N =
130) = .30; p = 0001; and between circulation and Technology, r (N = 113)
=.39; p = 0001.
In terms of the number of editorial content items found on newspaper home
pages, circulation is found to be significantly correlated to the number of
entertainment news stories, r (N = 133) = .23; p = .007; to the number of
feature articles, r (N = 133) = .17; p = .046; and the number of national
news stories, r (N = 133) = .31; p = .000. This means that the higher the
circulation, the more such stories a paper carries on its home page.
The study does not find a significant correlation between circulation and
the number of hard news stories, r (N = 133) = .07; p = .42; the number of
sports stories, r (N = 133) = .08; p = .31; the number of national sports
stories, r (N = 133) = .03; p = .73; the number of local news stories,
r (N = 133) = -.02; p = .77); or the number of business stories, r (N =
133) = .10; p = .21.
Generally, online versions of newspapers list an average of a little over
three news stories on their home pages, and most of these are local news
stories (see Table 1).
An analysis of variance test was used to gauge differences among the three
groups of newspapers and each content item as well as each composite
variable. Overall, the larger newspapers tend to carry more content, and
in many cases they use a wider array of technological applications.
Significant differences between the three newspaper groups exist in
carrying features, business news, entertainment news, and columns (see
Table 1). Larger newspapers (those with circulation higher than 80,000) as
a group are more likely to carry the above items on their website than
medium and small size newspapers. For Editorial Content overall there is a
significant difference found among the three groups of newspapers, F (2,
115) = 15.02; p = 0002, in terms of the number of content categories they
carry under Editorial Content.
-------------------------------------------
Table 1 about here
------------------------------------------
Examining the newspapers' Community related content and links, again there
is a significant difference between three groups of newspapers. Overall,
larger circulation newspapers carried more of this type of content and
related links, F (2, 117) = 12.5; p = 0000. Specifically, significant
differences exist in terms of the presence of a jobs finder, homes or
apartment finder, movie schedule, links to local colleges or universities,
and restaurant guide (see Table 2). In each of those categories, larger
newspapers as a group, were more likely to carry these items than medium
sized and small newspapers.
-------------------------------------------
Table 2 about here
------------------------------------------
Another composite variable examined is Communication. Overall, there is a
significant difference found among the three groups of newspapers in the
number of items carried in this category F (2, 119) = 6; p = 0021. Larger
newspapers were more likely to have a way for the public to reach the paper
for advertising, and they were more likely to have message boards or forums
in which the public could participate. No significant differences were
found on other items in this area (see Table 3).
-----------------------------------
Table 3 about here
------------------------------------
Technology as a composite variable was also examined. Larger newspapers
once again, were more likely to carry more categories within this composite
variable, F (2, 110) = 8.45; p = 0004. Specifically, larger newspapers
differ significantly in that, they are more likely to use animation, live
weather, and video clips on their home pages (see table 4).
--------------------------------
Table 4 about here
-----------------------------------
Similarly, the larger newspaper group differed significantly from the other
two groups in the advertising category, as more of them carry advertising
than newspapers in the other two groups, F (2, 127) = 3.82; p = 024. It
must be noted, however, that there is no significant difference found when
examining classified advertising and display advertising individually among
the three groups of newspapers, only when classified and display
advertising are taken together (see Table 5).
--------------------------------
Table 5 about here
-----------------------------------
Finally, another composite variable examined was that of Interactive
Entertainment. Larger newspapers carried these items more than the other
groups of newspapers, F (2, 128) = 8.7; p = 0003. Larger newspapers were
more likely to carry games, puzzles and contests (see Table 6).
--------------------------------
Table 6 about here
-----------------------------------
Discussion
This study attempted to examine the diversity of content of online versions
of US daily newspapers. In addition, it examined the relationship between
newspaper size and amount and diversity of content on these newspaper home
pages.
Generally, it finds, as others have found earlier, that newspapers are
still slow to utilize the full technological potential of the Web. Most
newspapers carry advertising and editorial news and sports items. However,
less than half of the sample newspapers seem to offer community-related
links and multiple communication channels for their readers. Even fewer
newspapers are taking advantage of interactive technologies available on
the Internet, other than for search engines and online archives.
The relationship between newspaper size and available material on their
websites for the most part is a simple one—the larger the paper the more it
offers. This is especially true in area of technology. In other areas,
however, larger newspapers provide certain services, like movie schedules
and restaurant guides, because such services are more likely to be found in
larger markets. Most newspapers, however, are lucking in certain
interactive services that could be used to entice readers to actively seek
out the online version rather than the print version of the
paper. Certainly this will follow as soon as newspapers figure out a way
to reach the income generating potential of the Internet.
Needless to say, online versions of newspapers are evolving rapidly. As
such, continued research must be undertaken to track these
changes. Furthermore, others may find that composite variables used in
this study may not be suitable for the examination of different
relationships. In any case, this is not intended to be the definitive
study on this issue, but only a snapshot of the development of newspaper
Web pages.
References
2003 Working Press of the Nation. (2002). Newspaper directory, 53rd
ed. New Providence, N.J.: R.R. Dowker.
Chyi, Hsiang Iris & Lasorsa, Dominic. (1999, fall). Access, use and
preferences for online newspapers. Newspaper Research Journal 20(4), 2-13.
Dibean, Wendy & Garrison, Bruce. (2001, spring). How six online
newspapers use Web technologies. Newspaper Research Journal 22 (2), 79-93.
Garrison, Bruce. (2001, August). Diffusion of online information
technologies in newspaper newsrooms. Journalism 2 (2), 221-239.
Heyboer, Kelly. (2002, January). Going live. American Journalism Review
22 (1), 38.
Holsti, Ole R. (1969). Content analysis for the social sciences and
humanities. Reading: Addison-Wesley.
Ketterer, Stan. (2001, spring). Links engage readers of online crime
stories. Newspaper Research Journal 22 (2), 2-13.
Li, Xigen. (1998, summer). Web page design and graphic use of three U.S.
newspapers. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 75 (2), 353-365.
Lin, Carolyn A. & Jeffres, Leo W. (2001, autumn). Comparing distinctions
and similarities across Websites of newspapers, radio stations, and
television stations. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly 78(3),
555-573.
McMillan, Sally J. (2002, spring). The microscope and the moving target:
The challenge of applying content analysis to the World Wide Web.
Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 77 (1), 80-98.
Massey, Brian L. & Levy, Mark R. (1999, spring). Interactivity, online
journalism and English-language Web newspapers in Asia. Journalism & Mass
Communication Quarterly 76 (1), 138-151.
Mueller, Jennifer & Kamerer, David. (1995, summer). Reader preference
for electronic newspapers. Newspaper Research Journal 16 (3), 2-12.
Pavlik, John V. (1997, July/August). The future of online
journalism. Columbia Journalism Review.
Peng, Foo Yeuh Tham; Naphtali Irene & Xiaoming, Hao. (1999,
spring). Trends in online newspapers: A look at the US web. Newspaper
Research Journal 20(2), 52-63.
Russell, Adrienne. (2001, August). Chiapas and the new news: Internet and
newspaper coverage of a broken cease-fire. Journalism 2 (2), 197-220.
Stempel III, Guido, H., Hargrove, Thomas., & Bernt, Joseph, P. (2000,
spring). Relation of growth of use of the Internet to changes in media use
from 1995 to 1999. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly 77 (1), 71-79.
Thompson, David R. & Wassmuth, Birgit L. (2001, fall). Few newspapers
use online classified interactive features. Newspaper Research Journal 22
(4), 16-21.
Table 1
Online newspapers' Editorial Content and Links
Content type Newspaper Size
Present /absent small medium large p =
in % in means (1=present)
Weather 87.1 12.9 1.17 1.10 1.0 .14
Sports 85.4 14.6 1.18 1.10 1.0 .12
Hard News 83.0 17.0 1.21 1.17 1.0 .10
Photographs 77.7 22.3 1.23 1.19 1.05 .26
Obituaries 77.0 23.0 1.20 1.24 1.11 .54
Features 63.7 36.3 1.48 1.22 1.18 .006*
Business News 61.2 38.8 1.53 1.28 1.05 .0002*
Entertainment News 55.0 45.0 1.56 1.39 1.17 .009*
Editorials 50.0 50.0 1.60 1.34 1.47 .22
Stock Quotes 35.0 65.0 1.66 1.66 1.53 .60
Columns 25.0 75.0 1.85 1.72 1.35 .0001*
CONTENT TOTAL mean = 15.02 15.7 14.5 13.0 .0002*
News Items Number of Items Newspaper Size
(in means)
Local Sports Stories 0.76 0.55 0.84 1.25 .12
National Sports Stories 0.44 0.24 0.39 0.76 .38
Total News Stories on page 1 3.40 3.00 3.47 3.94 .67
Local News Stories 3.27 2.82 3.95 2.94 .36
National News Stories 0.88 0.47 1.00 1.82 .001*
Feature Stories 0.85 0.44 1.15 1.82 .09
Business News Stories 0.52 0.27 0.66 1.17 .019*
Entertainment Stories 0.32 0.11 0.28 1.17 .0018*
*statistically significant
Table 2
Online newspapers' community-related web content and links
Content type Newspaper Size
Present /absent small medium large p =
in % in means (1=present)
Community News 68.3 31.6 1.36 1.26 1.23 .43
City Guide information 48.9 51.1 1.59 1.46 1.41 .24
Jobs Finder 48.0 52.0 1.69 1.43 1.05 .0001*
Calendar of Events 44.9 55.1 1.56 1.59 1.41 .44
Homes/Apt. Finder 44.3 55.7 1.73 1.47 1.05 .0001*
Movie Schedule 40.7 59.3 1.71 1.58 1.11 .0001*
TV Listings 40.0 60.0 1.67 1.53 1.47 .16
Yellow/White Pages 32.0 68.0 1.60 1.71 1.64 .81
What's Up/Goings On 27.5 72.5 1.73 1.71 1.70 .94
Colleges/Universities 27.3 77.7 1.88 1.77 1.41 .0001*
City Govt. Information 26.4 73.6 1.73 1.73 1.64 .73
Restaurant Guide 25.7 74.3 1.85 1.71 1.35 .0001*
List of Churches 16.4 83.6 1.86 1.82 1.76 .54
Chamber of Commerce 16.4 83.6 1.84 1.80 1.82 .88
Non-Profit Organizations 9.3 90.7 1.91 1.91 1.88 .92
COMMUNITY TOTAL mean=24.83 25.8 24.3 22.0 .0002*
*statistically significant
Table 3
Online newspapers' Communication Channels and Links
Content type Newspaper Size
Present /absent small medium large p =
in % in means (1=present)
Subscribe to the Paper 75.5 24.5 1.30 1.17 1.11 .11
Advertise in the Paper 62.3 37.7 1.45 1.31 1.11 .023*
Letters to the Editor 43.3 56.7 1.63 1.41 1.47 .58
Customer Service 33.1 66.9 1.44 1.28 1.23 .13
Polls 29.7 70.3 1.70 1.71 1.58 .60
Information Desk 29.0 71.0 1.77 1.68 1.52 .11
Email Individuals 28.1 71.9 1.75 1.71 1.58 .42
Contact the Paper 28.0 72.0 1.15 1.15 1.00 .21
Message Boards/Forum 28.0 72.0 1.86 1.63 1.47 .0005*
Guestbook 19.0 81.0 1.73 1.86 1.93 .08
Chat Rooms 11.5 88.5 1.92 1.84 1.94 .32
TOTAL COMMUNICATION mean = 17.5 18.1 17.2 15.9 .0021
*statistically significant
Table 4
Online Newspapers' Technology and Web Links
Content type Newspaper Size
Present /absent small medium large p =
in % in means (1=present)
Archives 67.6 32.4 1.35 1.32 1.11 .17
Search Engine 63.8 36.2 1.44 1.28 1.23 .13
Live Weather 56.4 43.6 1.52 1.36 1.17 .022*
Animation 44.0 56.0 1.45 1.31 1.11 .023*
Cool Sites/Hot Links 26.0 74.0 1.77 1.76 1.58 .26
Customization 20.5 79.5 1.80 1.77 1.78 .95
Own Domain Name 19.7 80.3 1.22 1.22 1.05 .30
Video Clips 13.7 86.3 1.94 1.86 1.58 .0004*
Audio Clips 12.0 88.0 1.91 1.93 1.58 .003
Live Sports 2.0 98.0 2.0 1.93 2.0 .055
TOTAL TECHNICAL mean = 16.2 16.6 16.2 14.6 .0004*
*statistically significant
Table 5
Online Newspapers' Advertising Content
Content type Newspaper Size
Present /absent small medium large p =
in % in means (1=present)
Classifieds 88.6 11.4 1.13 1.08 1.05 .60
Display 82.0 18.0 1.23 1.11 1.12 .20
TOTAL ADVERTISING mean = 2.46 2.58 2.40 2.17 .024*
*statistically significant
Table 6
Online Newspapers' Interactive Entertainment and Other Content and Web Links
Content type Newspaper Size
Present /absent small medium large p =
in % in means (1=present)
Games 27.0 73.0 1.88 1.60 1.52 .0003*
Puzzles 18.6 81.4 1.92 1.73 1.58 .0009*
Contests 17.0 83.0 1.86 1.84 1.58 .02*
Auctions 6.5 93.5 1.97 1.91 1.94 .41
TOTAL INTERACTIVE mean = 5.9 6.2 5.8 5.4 .0003
Other Content
Horoscope 29.3 70.7 1.70 1.78 1.58 .33
Recipes 17.4 82.6 1.91 1.76 1.64 .015*
*statistically significant
APPENDIX A
CODING PROCEDURE
PLEASE CODE ONLY THE FIRST PAGE OF THE ONLINE NEWSPAPER.
You can go to another page only to get a clarification on the link.
3. Search engine (site)
on the opening page, is there a window in which the reader can type in a
search phrase and search that site (not the entire Internet).
5. Customization
is there are means by which you can get a "personal" edition of the news,
for example, giving you weather for a particular city, news about a
particular team, etc.? Similar to "my yahoo". For an example, see the
Chicago Tribune Online.
9. Chat
An online interaction between users who can type messages to each other.
Not bulletin/message board posting that intends the messages for all to see.
15. Customer service
Includes such things as stop your paper for a vacation, complain that you
missed a paper or pay for the printed version Online.
16. Own domain name
If the opening page URL ends with ".com" ".org" or ".edu", then the
newspaper has its own domain name. Most Online newspapers have their own
domain name. If the site redirects you, what matters is, does the raw URL
ending as above load a page. Example of not having a domain name:
members.aol.com/mynewspaper
example of having a domain:
www.thegazette.com
51. Auctions
Similar to E-Bay, where an item is placed up for bids by the owner and
other bidders may place bids for that item.
24. Job Finder
A site that people can click onto for a listing of jobs available in the area.
30. Hard News
Breaking news, or top stories excluding sports.
31, 36, 38, 40, 42, 43,
On number of stories, only count the stories that include more than just a
headline with a link.
37. Business
News on the economy, individual businesses, including stock market stories
and merchandizing.
60. Features
Human interest stories, not breaking news or hard news. Not extremely timely.
44. Live Sports
Score updates every few minutes.
48. Live Weather
Current temperature and/or weather conditions.
51. Community News
Births, deaths, weddings/engagements, meetings, little league games, social
gatherings and the like.
52. What's up/Goings on
List or discussion of events but no calendar.
54. Cool Sites/Hot Links
Link to cool sites as defined by the paper.
60. Community Guide
A link to many of the communities entities/organizations, etc.
62. Display ads
Are there any banner ads displayed on the opening page? Ads for the
newspaper don't count.
|
