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Abstract
A content analysis of three print newspapers and a panel study of these three print
newspapers and their Internet counterparts found that news of priority issues identified
from the two versions are significantly different, and the rank order correlations of the
priority issues between content analysis and the Internet panel and between the print and
Internet panels vary across the three newspapers. Prominence cues used in the print
newspapers were also used in the Internet newspapers with two additional dimensions:
immediate access and no wait for display. About 73% of the news items retrieved from
the Internet newspapers came from sections carrying national, international and political
news. The findings reconfirm the agenda-setting function of print newspapers. They also
suggest that readers may notice and read somewhat different stories on the Internet
newspapers due to their different delivery and access pattern. However, it may not be true
that readers will read less news of social significance if they access news information
from the Internet newspapers.