Research arms us with evidence to substantiate the claim

I have maintained for some time now that the source of ‘information & influence’ is shifting to the web as more and more journalists are accessing online resources – websites, blogs, social media sites - to not only get news but also gain insights and knowledge into their chosen subject of expertise.

Till now I had only anecdotal evidence and what I lacked was third party data to substantiate my claim. Till now!

Recently I chanced upon a research report released online by Bulldog Reporter/TEKgroup International. They conducted a survey of over 2000 journalists using SurveyMonkey.com during the month of September 2008, which clearly indicated the dominant role of the internet in their lives. What is more, this was rising as compared with the year before.

The survey clearly shows the need for companies to make information available and easy to find online and participate in the conversations taking place through blogs and social networks more than ever before.

Conclusion: Not having a presence online or having one that ignores the web 2.0 tools is at your own risk. We need to act now to ensure that journalists have access to news, information, press contacts and bloggers with high authority emerging as the new trusted sources of news and views for mainstream journalists, engaging them in a meaningful manner would make a crucial difference to both online and offline reporting.

PS: Whilst this research is perhaps US centric and indicates the practices of US based media, I reckon journalists in India wouldn’t be outdone by their US cousins!

Copyright disclosure. The report is the property of Bulldog Reporter/TEKgroup International and I have downloaded a free copy that they made available via their promotional email that I received. I have only reproduced that executive summary. For the detailed report please visit their website http://bulldogreporter.com/ME2/Default.asp to read the full version.

Bulldog Reporter/TEKgroup International
2008 Journalist Survey on Media Relations Practices:
Executive Summary
Survey conducted September 11-23, 2008

A broad survey of working journalists across all media was conducted for the second year in a row using SurveyMonkey.comSurveyMonkey.com as the data collector, and generating valid responses from 2,386 journalists, of which approximately 48% were editors or editorial staff and 34% were reporters or writers. The objective was to track year-over-year changes in journalist usage of the Internet and other resources to research, follow and report news and features material.

1. Respondents again reported that the single greatest change in journalism practices due to new Internet technology is that they can now research corporate and other news online 24 hours a day (77.8%) and they can now access media contact phone numbers and email addresses online (67.5%).

2. Nearly half of all journalists report visiting a corporate website or online newsroom at least once a week, and almost 87% report visiting a corporate website or online newsroom at least once a month. Ironically, despite such heavy traffic from journalists, most corporate websites seem inadequately designed to accommodate them: Almost half of journalists complain that when they visit organizations’ websites, it’s often difficult to find the organizations’ media representatives or to find contact information for those representatives.

3. Journalists also report a significant increase in usage of blogs, social media and RSS feeds to stay on top of the news.

4. Almost 75% of journalists read one or more blogs to keep up with the subject matter they cover, compared with only about 70% a year ago. Today, some 29% of journalists regularly read five or more blogs to keep up with their beat, compared with about 26% last year.

5. The increase in journalists visiting social media sites to do their job has risen even more dramatically: Today about three-fourths of journalists use social media to research stories, compared with about 67% last year. Almost 38% of journalists now say they visit a social media site at least once a week as part of their reporting, compared with only 28% last year. More than 53% now say they visit a social media site at least once a month, up from about 44% last year.

6. Nearly 19% of journalists report that they receive five or more RSS feeds of news services, blogs, podcasts or videocasts every week, a gain of about three percentage points over last year, and a total of about 41% receive at least one regular RSS feed, a gain of over four percentage points.

7. While about half (48.7%) of journalists report that they never seek audio or video material from corporate websites, nearly 23% say they seek such material at least once a month—an increase of about three percentage points over the past year. Among journalists working in national television, some 10.3% seek audio or video material once a week or more and that number jumps to 46.7% seeking such material at least once every three months. Among journalists working in local radio, some 38.4% seek audio or video from corporate websites at least once a month.

8. While a large majority (76.4%) of journalists report that they use their local newspapers to follow the news (followed by the New York Times at nearly 63%), some 51% of journalists report that they use Google News, about 32% use Yahoo! News services to stay abreast.

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Tags: bulldog reporter, journalism practices, media relations, media relations practices, online social presence