Recent research has suggested that traditional and online news sources may differ with respect to their ability to inform audiences. In particular, there is tentative evidence that the hyperlink structure of online newspapers, for example, can promote a more in-depth understanding of political issues than traditional news media. The authors analyze data from the 2004 American National Election Studies (ANES) to test some of these relationships empirically. Specifically, the influence of traditional and Internet news sources on both differentiated and integrated political knowledge structures among citizens are examined. The findings reveal that users of online newspapers have higher levels of both integrated and differentiated knowledge, even after controlling for print newspaper and television use. Print newspaper use is only related to factual political knowledge, and television news use is unrelated to any of the measures of knowledge about the presidential campaign.
Barnhurst, K.G., and D. Mutz.1997. “American Journalism and the Decline in Event-centered Reporting.” Journal of Communication47(4):27—53.
2.
Becker, L.B., and S. Dunwoody.1982. “Media Use, Public Affairs Knowledge, and Voting in a Local Election.” Journalism Quarterly59:212—18.
3.
Becker, L.B., and C.D. Whitney.1980. “Effects of Media Dependencies: Audience Assessment of Government.” Communication Research7:95—120.
4.
Bybee, C.R., J.M. McLeod, W.D. Leutscher, and G. Garramone.1981. “Mass Communication and Voter Volatility.” Public Opinion Quarterly45:69—90.
5.
Chaffee, S., and S. Frank.1996. “How Americans Get Political Information: Print versus Broadcast News.” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science546:48—58.
6.
Chaffee, S.H., and S.F. Kanihan.1997. “Learning from Politics from the Mass Media.” Political Communication14(4):421—27.
7.
Delli Carpini, M.X., and S. Keeter.1993. “Measuring Political Knowledge: Putting First Things First.” American Journal of Political Science37(4):1179—1206.
8.
Delli Carpini, M.X., and S. Keeter.1996. What Americans Know about Politics and Why It Matters. New Haven, CT:Yale University Press.
9.
Eveland, W.P.2003. “A Mix of Attributes Approach to the Study of Media Effects and New Communication Technologies.” Journal of Communication53(3):395—410.
10.
Eveland, W.P., and S. Dunwoody.2000. “Examining Information Processing on the World Wide Web Using Think-Aloud Protocols.” Media Psychology2(3):219—44.
11.
Eveland, W.P., and D.A. Scheufele.2000. “Connecting News Media Use with Gaps in Knowledge and Participation.” Political Communication17(3):215—37.
12.
Eveland, W.P., J. Cortese, H. Park, and S. Dunwoody.2004a. “How Web Site Organization Influences Free Recall, Factual Knowledge, and Knowledge Structure Density.” Human Communication Research30(2):208—33.
13.
Eveland, W.P., K. Marton, and M.Y. Seo.2004b. “Moving beyond `Just the Facts'—The Influence of Online News on the Content and Structure of Public Affairs Knowledge ” Communication Research31(1):82—108.
14.
Graber, D.A.1996. “Wrong Questions, Wrong Answers: Measuring Political Knowledge.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago.
15.
Hardy, B.W., and D.A. Scheufele.2005. “Examining Differential Gains from Internet Use: Comparing the Moderating Role of Talk and Online Interactions .” Journal of Communication55(1):71—84.
16.
Horrigan, J.2005. “Broadband Adoption at Home in the United States: Growing but Slowing.” Pew Internet and American Life Project. Retrieved on November 5, 2005, from http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_Broadband.TPRC_Sept05.pdf
17.
Horrigan, J., K. Garrett, and P. Resnick.2004. “The Internet and Democratic Debate.” Pew Internet and American Life Project. Retrieved November 5, 2005, from http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_Political_Info_Report.pdf
18.
McLeod, J.M., D.A. Scheufele, and P. Moy.1999. “Community, Communication, and Participation: The Role of Mass Media and Interpersonal Discussion in Local Political Participation.” Political Communication16:315—36.
19.
Neuman, W.R.1981. “Differentiation and Integration: Two Dimensions of Political Thinking.” The American Journal of Sociology86(6):1236—68.
20.
Neuman,W.R., M.R. Just, and A.N. Crigler.1992. Common Knowledge: News and the Construction of Political Meaning. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
21.
Patterson, T.E., and R.D. McClure.1976. The Unseeing Eye: The Myth of Television Power in National Elections. New York: Putnam.
22.
Pettey, G.R.1988. “The Interaction of the Individual's Social Environment, Attention and Interest, and Public Affairs Media Use on Political Knowledge Holding.” Communication Research15:265—81.
23.
Price, V., and J. Zaller.1993. “Who Nets the News: Alternative Measures of News Reception and Their Implications for Research.” Public Opinion Quarterly57(2):133—64.
24.
Rainie, L., and J. Horrigan.2005. “A Decade of Adoption: How the Internet Has Woven Itself into American Life.” In Pew Internet and American Life Project. Retrieved on November 5, 2005, from http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/148/report_display.asp
25.
Rainie, L., M. Cornfield, and J. Horrigan.2005. “The Internet and Campaign 2004.” Pew Internet and American Life Project. Retrieved November 5, 2005, from http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_2004_Campaign.pdf
26.
Scheufele, D.A., and M.C. Nisbet.2002. “Being a Citizen Online—New Opportunities and Dead Ends.” Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics 7(3):55—75.
27.
Scheufele, D.A., M.C. Nisbet, and D. Brossard.2003. “Pathways to Participation? Religion, Communication Contexts, and Mass Media.” International Journal of Public Opinion Research15(3):300—24.
28.
Sue, V.M.1994. “Television reliance and candidates' personal qualities in the 1992 election” Unpublished PhD dissertation. Department of Communication, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA.
29.
Tewksbury, D., and S.L. Althaus.2000. “Differences in Knowledge Acquisition among Readers of the Paper and Online Versions of a National Newspaper.” Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly77(3):457—79.
30.
Zaoh, X., and S. Chaffee.1995. “Campaign Advertisements versus Television News as Sources of Political Issue Information.” Public Opinion Quarterly58:41—95.
