Steve, news articles *in general* are primary sources.

Here is how you can tell: Is what I'm reading the first time someone has published what I'm reading?

"So and so was hit by a car today" -- primary source, first time published.

Secondary sources collate multiple primary sources, any multiple primary sources. When a source uses some primary and some secondary sources, I personally would still call that secondary. "Marion Davies claimed in tape interviews that she was born in 1905, but a search of relevant public records indicates she was born in 1897".

HOWEVER, when we had the discussion years ago about what a "tertiary" source should be in Wiki-speak, we almost always only referred to encyclopedias and their ilk, which collate multiple secondary sources. It's hard to come up with another example of what a tertiary source would be, and I personally don't like the term, but there you go.

Will Johnson