Citing newspaper articles (primary vs secondary? no references) I have come across a few infamous newspaper articles and I'd like to cite them to support some of my ideas and to take a few thoughts from them. However, I cannot seem to distinguish whether such articles are primary or secondary. What worsens things further is the fact that the authors do not cite their words and, usually, reference lists do not exist. 

Do I treat a newspaper article like a primary source and cite it as such? If not, how can I track back the information given the fact that there are no references?
Whether a newspaper article is good to cite or not depends on the purpose for which you are citing it.


If you are writing about a factual topic, then newspaper articles are highly unreliable secondary sources, with a well-known tendency to be blatantly incorrect.
If you are writing about newspaper articles, however, then the newspaper is a primary source and can be cited directly.


So what should you do if you find a really juicy fact in a newspaper article with no reference?  The same thing that you do if you hear something with no reference anywhere else: spend some quality time searching the literature and other sources to see if you can track down an actually reliable reference.  And if you can't find one?  Then you should reluctantly conclude that this "fact" is probably made up, whether intenationally or by accident.