This is one of the findings from the EyeTrack07 study by The Poynter Institute.

EyeTrack07 is an ongoing study into how people read newspapers and online news sites the key findings were announced at the American Society of Newspaper Editors conference this week, the complete results won't be out until June.

There is a video on the Poynter site that outlines how the research was undertaken in which they say they tested over a number of days to make sure there wasn't anything dramatic which happened that may change the way a paper is read.  This got me thinking about how dramatic news stories were represented in newspapers and online.

News websites will have some form of content management system to allow for the quick and easy updating of content by the relevant journalist.  The pages that these stories are displayed in are templated so that whatever the news the home page will look the same.

Newspapers have a much more flexible layout that can be edited and changed depending on the stories there are that day.

So do you get a better understanding of the news if the editor is able to draw your attention to certain news stories or by using a site that you've learned so you're able to quickly and easily find the stories that you're interested in?


Tags: Poynter Institute, EyeTrack07, American Society of Newspaper Editors