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Online Newsgathering Trends, 1994-96
Bruce Garrison
School of Communication, University of Miami
P.O. Box 248127, Coral Gables, FL 33124-2030
305-284-2846 (v) and 305-284-3648 (f)
[log in to unmask]
A paper submitted for general competition judging by the Communication
Technology and Policy Division, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass
Communication, Chicago, August, 1997.
Online Newsgathering Trends, 1994-96
A paper submitted for general competition judging by the Communication
Technology and Policy Division, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass
Communication, Chicago, August, 1997.
Online Newsgathering Trends in 1994-96
ABSTRACT
This paper focuses on online newsgathering at U.S. daily newspapers during 1994
to 1996. Findings of three national surveys of newspapers with daily
circulations of at least 20,000 are reported. Overall use has increased over the
three-year period. Significant growth during the period has been in use of the
World Wide Web as a news reporting resource. Other resources gaining use
included America Online, DataTimes, PACER, CompuServe, and Westlaw. While the
number of newspapers using online services increased, their individual levels of
use also grew.
Online Newsgathering Trends in 1994-96
Journalists use online computer information for a wide range of purposes.
Research has shown that they use the Internet's World Wide Web and commercial
online services to enhance their newsgathering (Garrison, 1995a; Reddick & King,
1997; Ross & Middleberg, 1997). Among the most-cited uses are finding people and
news story sources, locating experts for stories, checking clips of other news
organizations while preparing stories, conducting background research about
businesses and individuals, identifying new story ideas, and locating both
public and private information stored in digital form. These online tools save
time, save money, are more thorough, and can link information in widely diverse
locations (Ross & Middleberg, 1997; Garrison, 1996b; Garrison, 1996c; Garrison,
1996d; Anon, 1996a; Reddick & King, 1997; Paul, 1996; Grossman, 1994; Anon,
1996b). The technology is not as threatening as might be suspected; some
scholars believe content producers, such as journalists, will readily adapt,
even thrive, in the digital world (Johnson, 1996).
Technological change is extraordinarily rapid today. "[N]o change has come about
as fast as what we are calling "new" media - online services, especially on the
World Wide Web. Why? The technology is ripe, economic barriers to entry are low,
and there are almost no regulatory hurdles, either. Thus, new media continues to
expand, although powered weakly by anemic advertising and limited direct user
fees, because it can," observed Ross and Middleberg (1997, n.p.).
Computer-based online technology, among other types, has begun to change the
role of many news organizations, such as traditional newspapers, in their
communities. Use of online resources is not just a one-way process. Because of
their increased use of online information-gathering resources and databases,
many newspapers regard themselves as "information stores" for citizens in their
regions in 1997. Using their computer systems and telephone-based
communications, these companies are selling information in some of the same ways
it is gathered-by telephone connection, by computer, and by imaging hardware
(Anon., 1996a). Some experts have called this new data-oriented facility an
"information recycling center" (Johnson, 1995).
Reddick and King (1995) have argued that online communication networks are the
natural progression of technological evolution in newsrooms- following the
printing press, telegraph, telephone, and television. "As with the new
technologies of the past, the Internet and other online information networks
will profoundly affect the art and craft of journalism," Reddick and King
observed (p. v).
The dual approach to using computers in newsgathering has become commonly known
as computer-assisted reporting (CAR). It includes (a) online-based newsgathering
that uses both specialized commercial services and Internet-based services, such
as the World Wide Web (Garrison, 1995b), and (b) database-oriented analysis
using existing and originally created databases from both the public and private
sectors (Garrison, 1995a; Houston, 1996). Commercial database services are often
credited for starting the current information revolution (Paul, 1996).
Certainly, the development of the Internet, with its World Wide Web, has fueled
it.
Online strategies have been increasingly adopted by journalists as subjects have
dictated (Garrison, 1996a; Garrison, 1996e; DeFleur, 1997) and after CAR's
journalistic birth in newspaper and news magazine newsrooms, its use has spread
slowly into television newsrooms as well (Hall, 1996).
Even the online services themselves are evolving at a fast pace (Paul, 1996).
With the dominant influence of the Internet's World Wide Web in the last half of
this decade and the expectation of that to continue into the next decade, access
to electronic information is not what it once was for journalists and other
online users. The industry is incredibly fluid and re-inventing itself. Access
is easier than ever; it is also more widespread.
Online resources are among the most basic CAR tools (Houston, 1996). The leading
types of online services are the World Wide Web, Usenet Newsgroups, and
electronic mail; general commercial offerings, such as America Online and
CompuServe, database library "malls," such as Nexis / Lexis, Dialog, and Dow
Jones; government information services, such as PACER and FedWorld; and private
specialty services that offer enhanced government data, such as Westlaw and
Database Technologies' Autotrack Plus (Garrison, 1996e).
The type and number of electronic resources available to news organizations has
grown in recent years. Not only has the number of news sources in electronic
form gone up, the number of businesses distributing information in database
libraries has increased as well. The effect, one newspaper recently recognized,
"puts more information in the hands of readers" (Anon., 1996, p. NB4).
Therefore, it seems valuable to study the use of online resources in
newsgathering. This paper reports research into use patterns by journalists of
commercial services as well as the Internet services over a three-year period.
The analysis hopes to determine trends in selection and use of online resources
and levels of use and the roles of individuals in the newsroom who are using
them.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND FOCUS
This analysis focuses on use of commercial online services and the
non-commercial Internet as newsgathering tools of daily news stories and special
investigative projects that involved CAR from 1994 to 1996. Generally, this
paper seeks to answer these research questions:
1. How many newspapers use online services? What are reasons for not using
them?
2. What are frequency use levels for online services in news reporting?
3. What are the most popular online resources? Which resources have grown the
most? The least?
4. Who conducts online news research in newsrooms?
THE STUDY METHOD
An on-going national project studying the development and use of CAR has been
underway since 1993. This paper reports findings involving use of online
services from three national surveys:
* In late December 1993, data were collected with a mailing to 514 Sunday and
daily newspapers across the United States. One follow-up mailing was sent in
February 1994.
* In late December 1994, data collection began with a mailing to 510 Sunday and
daily newspapers. Two follow-up mailings were sent. The first follow-up was
mailed in early February 1995 and the second was sent in mid March 1995.
* In January 1996, the third survey was conducted with a mailing to 510 daily
newspapers. Two follow up mailings were used to increase participation.
A circulation minimum of 20,000 on Sundays was required for inclusion in the
population in each survey. Since this study involved surveying three
populations, significance tests are not reported. Circulation figures were
obtained from the latest editions of the Editor & Publisher International Year
Book (Anderson, 1994; Anderson, 1995; Anderson, 1996).
Editors were asked either to complete the questionnaire themselves or to forward
it to the person in charge of online news research and CAR. In some cases, two
or three persons completed portions of the questionnaires. The instruments were
developed from discussions and interviews during the Investigative Reporters and
Editors-National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting conferences at
Raleigh, N.C., in 1993, at San Jose, Calif., in 1994, and at Cleveland in 1995.
The instruments consisted of four sets of questions, including institutional and
personal information, CAR tools, online news research, and field reporting use
of computers. Data were processed using the Statistical Package for the Social
Sciences for Windows, Version 6.1.3 (Noru is, 1995).
FINDINGS
In 1994, a total of 208 responses were received, a rate of 41 percent. In 1995,
287 responses were received, a rate of 56 percent. In 1996, 233 responses were
received, a rate of 45 percent. Table 1 shows overall response demographics.
Respondents in each of the three groups were typically managing editors, CAR
supervisors or directors, or news researchers or reference supervisors. In some
cases, several individuals contributed to completion of a single questionnaire
representing their newspaper.
How many newspapers use online services? What are reasons for not using them?
There has been considerable growth in use of online tools in newsgathering in
the past three years. As shown in Table 2, barely more than half of newspapers
responding used online resources in 1994. This grew to 64 percent in 1995 and to
81 percent in 1996, a cumulative increase of 24 percent.
Among newspapers not using online services, the most-cited reason for non-use
was lack of hardware and software to go online. Data in Table 3 show this reason
was cited by 28 percent in 1994, 23 percent in 1995, and 32 percent in 1996. A
growing number of respondents offered unclear "just starting" or "not yet
online" explanations. A more concrete explanation, aside from offering hardware
and software problems, was money or budgetary reasons, but this reason was cited
less in the past two years than in 1994, dropping from 26 percent to 13 percent
in 1995 and then rising slightly to 16 percent in 1996.
What are frequency use levels for online services in news reporting?
Frequency of use of online services continued to grow, data in Table 4 show.
While the basic number of newspapers using any type of online services for any
news-related reason increased, so did the amount of use of those online
resources. The number of newspapers using their online resources on a daily
basis increased slightly from 27 percent in 1994 to 29 percent in 1995, but
jumped to 37 percent in 1996. Similar increases were observed in each of the
other use level categories, with weekly or more-often use growing to 26 percent
in 1996 and monthly or more-often up to 13 percent in 1996. The number of
missing responses or "never used" responses declined by 19 percent from 1994 to
1996.
What are the most popular online resources? Which resources have grown the most?
The least?
Whenever discussion of online services takes place, there is usually interest in
what services are being used in newsrooms across the country. The Internet,
particularly the World Wide Web, has become the online resource of choice at
U.S. daily newspapers. Much less widely used in 1994 at 25 percent, the "Web"
was used by 45 percent in 1995 and 67 percent in 1996, as shown in Table 5. This
reflects a major jump in use of 42 percent over the three years.
While it has not grown as fast as the Internet, the consumer-based America
Online service has also experienced rapid growth as a resource in newsrooms
since 1994. Used by just 17 percent of newspapers in 1994, AOL grew faster than
any other service from 1994 to 1995 at 38 percent use. Its growth at newspapers
slowed from 1995 to 1996, but it remained the second-most popular online service
at 47 percent in 1996.
DataTimes, a full-text newspaper and other periodicals service, grew about 10
percent from 1994 to 1996, the third-best increase, to a current use level of 25
percent. Other services grew much less over the three years, usually from one to
four percent. The most widely used services, those used by one-fourth or more of
respondents in 1996, were:
* Internet, 67 percent
* America Online, 47 percent
* CompuServe, 42 percent
* Government bulletin board systems, 35 percent
* Nexis / Lexis, 29 percent
* Local government information and databases online, 28 percent
* DataTimes, 25 percent
Who conducts online news research in newsrooms?
For several years, there has been a transition in news research occurring in
some daily newspaper newsrooms. At one time, online research was exclusively the
province of news researchers in the news department library. Gradually, more and
more non-news researchers have begun to handle online research. Data in Table 6
show an increase in what could be labeled "do-it-yourself" news research.
Reporters doing their own online research grew eight percent from 24 percent in
1995 to 32 percent in 1996. Librarians and news researchers doing online
research dropped about eight percent from 25 percent in 1995 to 17 percent in
1996.
CONCLUSIONS
The Internet, with its World Wide Web, has consumed much of the attention of
those involved in mass communication in this decade. The extremely rapid
development and growth of the World Wide Web has not left the news business
untouched. The data collected in the three surveys reported in this paper
indicate that newspapers are not only considering the Internet and World Wide
Web as distribution tools for the future, but also use them as information
gathering tools for development of content.
Clearly, newspapers are not depending solely on the World Wide Web or other
Internet resources. While much of the focus is clearly on global communication
using the Internet, this is also facilitated through other online tools. Many of
these are highly specialized and serve the needs of journalists as information
gatherers. These tools have also experienced growth in use in the past three
years, this study has shown. Ross and Middleberg, who studied the uses of online
resources by looking at how individual journalists use them, have also found
rapid and broad adoption. "Journalists have clearly embraced online services,"
they (1997) concluded.
Journalists have learned that these online tools are time savers, are generally
more thorough, and extend the reach of their reporting skills. While costly at
times, the expenses are efficient when the expense of other, more conventional,
procedures are considered.
There is probably a competitive element involved in the use of online services
also. While only large dailies used these services several years ago, the use
has spread to newspapers of all sizes. Affordability, simplicity in use, and
widening access avenues have encouraged it, but competition and keeping up with
what other news organizations are doing seem to be the most significant forces
at work. There is no empirical evidence offered to back that point, but
anecdotal evidence, such as discussions at recent professional conferences,
various comments and threads on Internet distribution lists devoted to news
research and CAR, and informal personal discussions, indicates it is a strong
possible explanation.
The World Wide Web is not just a new distribution vehicle for journalists. It
has become a highly valuable resource for newsgathering and, in time, the Web,
electronic mail, and other Internet tools most often used will take their place
at all newspapers alongside other time-tested resources, such as reference
books, telephones, and fax machines. As early trends reported in this paper
suggest, the adoption process is evolving and more and more newspapers are using
these tools. It is only a matter of time and reduced costs until even the
smallest newspapers will use online tools, just as they use telephone-based
conventions, such as voice and fax communication.
Despite its useful findings, this analysis falls short in several respects and
deeper probing into the subject matter may be needed. It would be helpful to
analyze data by looking at characteristics of the newspapers, such as size,
region, available CAR resources, computer literacy levels of journalists
involved, and availability of data, for instance. There were other weaknesses.
This study did not include wire services becoming increasingly involved in CAR,
nor did it look at specialty publications, such as news magazines, that were
readily using CAR in their investigative reporting. It would also be valuable to
look at broadcast news media since an increasing number of local news
organizations are producing investigative projects that use numerous CAR tools.
The study was being repeated in early 1997 with increased focus on newsroom uses
of the World Wide Web. This new direction is directly a result of the findings
reported in this paper.
TABLE 1: Respondent Demographics, 1994-96
1994 1995 1996
Category ________________________________________________________________
Circulation mean 121,361 113,735 105,241
Circulation by region
East 18% 18% 22%
South 36 33 34
Midwest 28 27 26
West 17 22 19
Respondent CAR role
Editor, supervisor 56% 20% 40%
CAR supervisor 6 27 21
Investigations, projects 9 9 6
Other 29 44 33
________________________________________________________________
TABLE 2: Use of Online Services, 1994-96
Percentage
Uses online 1994 1995 1996 Change 1994-96
tools in
reporting ________________________________________________________________
Yes 119 57.2% 183 63.8% 188 80.7% +23.5%
No 83 39.9 96 33.4 45 19.3 -20.6
Missing 6 2.9 8 2.8 0 0.0 -2.9
________________________________________________________________
Totals 208 100.0% 287 100.0% 233 100.0%
TABLE 3: Reasons for Not Using Online Services, 1995-96
Percentage
Reason 1994 1995 1996 Change 1994-96
________________________________________________________________
Just starting 6 10.3% 15 24.2% 6 19.4% +9.1
Not yet online 8 13.8 14 22.6 6 19.4 +5.6
No hardware/software 16 27.6 14 22.6 10 32.3 +4.7%
Dragging feet 0 0.0 1 1.6 0 0.0 0.0
No expertise 5 8.6 4 6.5 2 6.5 -2.1
No interest 4 6.9 1 1.6 1 3.2 -3.7
Not high priority 4 6.9 5 8.1 1 3.2 -6.7
Money or budget 15 25.9 8 12.9 5 16.1 -9.8
______________________________________________________________
Totals 58 100.0% 62 100.1% 31 100.1%
n=208, missing observations = 150 in 1994; n = 287, missing observations = 225
in 1995; n = 233, missing observations = 202 in 1996.
TABLE 4: Frequency of Use of Online Services, 1994-96
Percentage
1994 1995 1996 Change 1994-96
Frequency ________________________________________________________________
Daily, more often 57 27.4% 83 28.9% 86 36.9% +9.5%
Weekly or more often 23 12.1 63 22.0 60 25.8 +13.7
Monthly or more often 8 3.6 28 9.8 30 12.9 +9.3
Less than monthly 3 1.4 16 5.8 10 4.3 +2.9
Other 36 17.3 ---- ---- ---- ---- -----
Missing / never used 81 38.9 97 33.8 47 20.2 -18.7
________________________________________________________________
Totals 208 100.7% 287 100.3% 233 100.1%
TABLE 5: Use of Online Services, 1994-96
Percentage
1994 1995 1996 Change 1994-96
Frequency ______________________________________________________________________
_
Internet 52 25.0% 128 44.6% 155 66.5% +41.5%
America Online 36 17.3 109 38.0 110 47.2 +29.9
DataTimes 31 14.9 77 26.8 57 24.5 +9.6
PACER --- ----- 56 19.5 54 23.2 +3.7*
CompuServe 79 38.0 113 39.4 97 41.6 +3.6
Westlaw 0 0.0 5 1.7 8 3.4 +3.4
Datalink 2 1.0 3 1.0 5 2.1 +1.1
Local government online --- ----- 78 27.2 66 28.3 +1.1*
Information America --- ----- 11 3.8 11 4.7 +0.9*
FedWorld --- ----- 57 19.9 48 20.6 +0.7*
Interchange --- ----- 3 1.0 4 1.7 +0.7*
Lexis / Nexis 60 28.8 81 28.2 67 28.8 0.0
Prodigy 25 12.0 46 16.0 27 11.6 -0.4
GEnie 4 1.9 2 0.7 2 0.9 -1.0
Burrelle's Broadcast 8 3.8 9 3.1 6 2.6 -1.2
Newsnet 8 3.8 14 4.9 6 2.6 -1.2
Credit services 13 6.3 16 5.6 9 3.9 -2.4
Dow Jones News 34 16.3 35 12.2 31 13.3 -3.0
Government BBSs 81 38.9 90 31.4 83 35.6 -3.3
Commercial BBSs 31 14.9 46 16.0 19 8.2 -6.7
Dialog/Knowledge Index 55 26.4 64 22.3 43 18.5 -7.9
Private BBSs 43 20.7 52 18.1 29 12.4 -8.3
Delphi 23 11.1 30 10.5 6 2.6 -8.5
Microsoft Network --- ---- --- ---- 1 0.4 -----
______________________________________________________________________________
n = 208 in 1994; n = 287 in 1995; n =233 in 1996.
* Percent change from 1995 to 1996 only.
TABLE 6: Individuals Conducting Online Searches, 1995-96
Percentage
Position/title 1995 1996 Change 1995-96
of person _______________________________________________________________
Reporter 52 23.5% 74 31.8% +8.3
Librarian/researcher 56 25.3 40 17.2 -8.1
Anyone in newsroom 50 22.6 52 22.3 -0.3
None 32 14.5 49 21.0 +6.5
Other 23 10.4 8 3.4 -7.0
Editor 8 3.6 10 4.3 +0.7
_______________________________________________________________
Totals 221 99.9% 233 100.0%
n = 287, missing observations = 66; n = 233, missing observations = 0.
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