Newspaper Content, A Day in the Life

The differences between TV and print were not limited to local outlets. They were almost as significant when comparing network and cable TV news and the three national newspapers studied.

In the national papers, a third of space (32%) was devoted to government and other domestic issues, (a little less, actually, than the 49% we found in 2005 Content Analysis and 2004 Content Analysis studies). On network morning news, that number was 20%, on cable 18%. Only network evening news was close at 29%.

National Newspapers: Front Page Coverage May 12, 2005

And stories that highlighted emotion were much more important to TV than they were to print. On network news and even on cable, for instance, the discovery of an unexploded grenade near where President Bush had spoken on a trip to the former Soviet Republic of Georgia was a major story. It led the network morning news, was the second item on the evening news, and was covered prominently on cable throughout the day. Given that it was not known at the time whether the grenade was operational, a dummy or even a training device, it was a minor item in newspapers, a couple of paragraphs, and those mostly appeared the day before.