How the study was conducted

Between January 15 and July 17, 2003 we sampled every sixth day's evening newscast and the following day's newspaper. We chose the same news-gathering cycle for both print and broadcast to ensure both had the same raw material for news. The sample for the Washington Post, our standard of quality, was smaller, but still keyed to news cycles in which we sampled local news.

We chose the Post as a standard against which to measure local media because we could access the metro Washington edition of the paper in Palo Alto. In paper form, we could not secure a metro edition of the Los Angeles Times or the New York Times. We didn't feel it fair to compare national editions of these papers to regional papers like the San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News or Contra Costa Times. The New York Times, Washington Post and Los Angeles Times are generally considered the finest general newspapers in the nation.

For a PDF copy of the coding manual, which contains instructions for evaluating both newspapers and newscasts, click here.

For a PDF copy of the coding sheet we used to analyze each story, click here.

The grading scales for each index can be found at the following links:

Newsworthiness Index

Context Index

Explanation Index

Local Relevance Index

Civic Contribution Index

Enterprise Index

Fairness Index