In what I would call a pretty obvious dog-bites-man story, the highly respected Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism found over a year-long study that more than 99% of all links to news accounts in blogs came from traditional media such as newspapers and broadcast networks. Yes, new technologies have made it easier than ever before to stay informed, a critical and welcome development for a democracy and its citizenry. But no, new technologies have not replaced old-fashioned reporting, from dodging bullets in a war zone to sitting through a township’s urban planning meeting.

Some highlights from the “New Media, Old Media” study:

* People rely on social media more than ever before to stay on top of the news. Blogs, Twitter and even YouTube contribute to this phenomenon.
* The obsession of sharers and followers of news links via social media do not necessarily reflect the views of what is most “newsworthy” by the mainstream media (MSM). Emotional stories are more likely to be popular with social-media news consumers.
* Social-media news consumption moves quickly from topic to topic; the tendency to remain focused on a developing news story is far more likely to be found with MSM editors and producers than with those on Facebook or Twitter.
* Like the MSM, those consuming news via social-networking links have an obsession with political news.

None of those bullet points are “good” or “bad,” but they’re of interest, and I’m sure news editors and producers are already starting to tailor some of their reporting to the differing interests of social networking users.

I mentioned the dominance of MSM for blog links; I’ll add that Pew found the BBC, CNN, New York Times and The Washington Post totaled 80% of those links.

News sources were more diverse among Twitter links. About half came from newspapers and broadcast networks, while many came from online news sources such as CNET (which, I will point out regarding my former employer, has full-time reporters and editors).

There are more interesting tidbits in the study. Those really interested in this topic should take some time to explore Pew’s past offerings, and you can also read the most popular insider’s blog for journalists, the Poynter Institute’s Romanesko blog by Jim Romanesko.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 26th, 2010 at 10:02 am by Patrick Ross and is filed under blogging, creators, culture, internet. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.