Study: Newspaper readers recall more from print than online

Jack Shafer, Slate’s influential media columnist, was ordered to box up his coffee mugs and stapler and join the ranks of the unemployed this week.

We suspect the respected editor will land on his feet. But before he headed out the door, he wrote a column highlighting a study that will interest any news junkies.

The paper by University of Oregon researchers tested readers of both the print and Web editions of The New York Times for their recall of the stories they read. You guessed it. Print readers did better.

Shafer, who had canceled his Times subscription for awhile, said, “Going electronic had punished my powers of retention. I also noticed that I was unintentionally ignoring a slew of worthy stories.”