Methodology and Background

The Brodeur study consisted of five online surveys taken between April 2 and April 18, 2008. Email invitations were issued to a random sample of reporters in North America from five different beats – technology, travel, health care, lifestyle, and politics. Approximately 3,500 email invitations were issued per “beat” with total completed respondents: technology (n=101); lifestyle (n=92); health Care (n=119); travel (n=70); politics (n=69).

The study was a follow up to an earlier survey of business editors and business journalists released in January 2008. That survey was one of the first that documented the activity of journalists online and their views on the influence that social media was having on journalism.

In this study, journalists shared their views about whether social media was having a positive or negative influence on journalism in their field.

This study is also one of the first studies that has journalists rate their engagement with and views of many of the most popular online news sites in their field.

For a complete copy of the study contact Jerry Johnson, head of Strategic Planning at Brodeur at jjohnson@brodeur.com.

Boston, MA -- May, 2008 | www.brodeur.com

Brodeur Survey Tracks Beat Reporter Views on Social Media

Study asks reporters to rank blog and social media news sites by beat

Core News Facts

Journalist from across five different beats – travel, technology, politics, health care, and lifestyle – are actively reading and creating content online.
Journalist engagement, however, varies by beat. Among the five areas some of the most active and engaged are political reporters.
While journalists believe that social media has had a positive impact on the immediacy and diversity of news, they believe it has negatively influenced the quality and accuracy of reporting in their field.
Journalists for the first time shared their engagement with and views of the content of ten of the more popular online new sites in their areas.

Journalists’ perceptions and engagement with social media differ based on their beat. That was one of the findings of a study released today by Brodeur, a unit of Omnicom Group (NYSE: OMC) and Marketwire, a full-service newswire and communications workflow solutions provider.

The study surveyed journalists’ from five different beats – politics, lifestyle, technology, healthcare and travel. In addition to gauging their online activity and its impact on reporting, the study also asked journalists to evaluate some of the most popular blogs and social media news sites in their respective field.

The research builds on an earlier Brodeur and Marketwire survey of journalists conducted in January. That survey suggested that blogs are not only having an impact on the speed and availability of news, but also influence the tone and editorial direction of reporting.

In the study released today, Brodeur and partner Marketwire dug deeper to discern whether the influence of social media on traditional news delivery was viewed by journalists as being positive or negative.

“The results suggest that journalists have a love/hate relationship with new media,” said Jerry Johnson, executive vice president, Brodeur Strategies.

According to Johnson, “Over half of reporters we surveyed said they spent more than an hour per day with online news sources and blogs. In fact, nearly half (47%) of all technology reporters and over one-third (38%) of political reporters said they blogged as part of their reporting. At the same time, a majority of these same reporters across all beats said blogs and social media were having a negative impact on the quality and accuracy of reporting.”

“The results of this study absolutely reflect what we see with the thousands of journalists who tap into Marketwire’s online feeds for news and information,” said Jessica Strange, Marketwire’s executive director of media relations.

The survey was based on five separate online surveys of reporters. A total of 451 interviews were completed across all five reporting areas – an average of 90 reporter interviews per “beat.”

ENGAGEMENT AND VIEWS OF SOCIAL MEDIA BY REPORTER BEAT

According to the study over half of all reporters from all beats said social media and blogs are having a positive influence on the editorial direction of reporting. Reporters were also overwhelmingly positive on the influence of social media and blogs on the diversity of reporting with approximately 4 in 5 reporters indicating a positive influence. However, views on tone, quality and accuracy varied by beat.

Well over two-thirds of political reporters (77%) and half of lifestyle reporters (53%) felt that social media had a negative impact on the tone of coverage in their area. Health care, travel and technology reporters were more likely to say that social media had a net positive impact on the tone of coverage in their area.

Lifestyle reporters were also the most critical of social media’s impact on the quality and accuracy of reporting in their field. Over two-thirds (67%) of lifestyle reporters said that social media was having a negative impact on the accuracy of reporting in their area. About the same percentage (64%) said it was having a negative impact on the quality of lifestyle reporting.

“Quality of reporting is a subjective measure,” explained Johnson. “The survey highlights the conflicting influence of social media on journalism. On the one hand, it has been a positive force in getting divergent views out quickly. On the other hand there are many journalists who think that has had a negative impact on the quality or tone of overall coverage in their area.”

REPORTERS RANK INDIVIDUAL BLOGS AND ONLINE NEWS SITES

The survey also asked reporters to rank some of the most popular social media news sites in their respective field. Overall, the survey results suggested that in areas such as politics and technology, a handful of online news sites are emerging as key media sources.

The results also suggested that some of the sites most frequently visited by journalists are not the sites they believe are most credible when it comes to content.

For example, in the area of Lifestyle reporting, Perez Hilton scored dead last in credibility among the ten lifestyle sites tested even though it was the second most visited site.

Johnson interprets these results: “What journalists said they followed oftentimes didn’t quite match up with what they said was credible. There needs to be some recognition that reporters are people too. A site like Perez Hilton may be an entertaining site but they don’t take it at face value.”

The following is a summary of the journalists’ rankings of some of the more popular online news sites in their areas:

LIFESTYLE JOURNALISTS
Of the ten sites tested the most popular was TMZ, Perez Hilton, and MSN Lifestyle. 29% of reporters said they checked TMZ at least several times a month, 23% for Perez Hilton, and 15% for MSN Lifestyle.. When it came to the most credible content, of those tested the top three ranked sites were MSN Lifestyle. MSN Lifestyle , AOL Living, and TMZ. Of those lifestyle reporters surveyed, 80% said MSN Lifestyle and AOL Living were very or somewhat credible, and 64% said the same for TMZ.

POLITICAL JOURNALISTS
Of the ten sites tested among political reporters, the most popular were Huffington Post, Real Clear Politics, Talking Points Memo, and Daily Kos . Of the remaining six sites, approximately two-thirds of political reporters said they’d never read them. When it came to the credibility of content, Huffington Post and Daily Kos topped the list with well over two-thirds of reporters saying their content was very or somewhat credible. Real Clear Politics and Talking Points Memo, scored highest among political journalists in the category of “very credible” content. Nearly half (46%) and over one-third (39%) said their content was “very credible.”

TECHNOLOGY JOURNALISTS
Tech reporters ranked Engadget, Gizmodo, and Boing Boing as by far the most popular among the top 10 tested. But when it comes to credibility of content, journalists rated Arstechnica and GigaOm, along with Engadget, the top three sites. GigaOm scored the highest with 45% saying its content was “very credible.”

TRAVEL JOURNALISTS
Tripadvisor and Frommers were by far the most frequented by journalists. Very few of the top 10 sites tested were visited on a daily or weekly basis. When it came to credibility of the content, Frommers topped the list; however journalists also gave high scores to Forbes Traveler and Travel Channel – higher scores than the more frequented Yahoo! Travel and Tripadvisor.

HEALTH CARE JOURNALISTS
The “big four” health sites followed by health care journalists were NIH, WebMD , Mayo Clinic and MSN Health. All of the remaining top 10 sites tested were far less likely to be followed regularly (or at all!) by health care journalists. For health reporters, views on credibility largely mirrored their active engagement. NIH and Mayo Clinic were, by far, viewed as the most credible of all sources of health care information, followed by WebMD and MSN Health.
“We did the study because we wanted to help clients better understand the interplay between online news activity and journalism,” said Johnson. “We know who the traditional reporters are that cover our clients’ industries and beats but we need to better understand where they’re getting their information online.”