Content-Type: text/html
Going Global: Choosing the Newspapers We'll Need to Read in the Digital Age
Going Global: Choosing the Newspapers We'll Need to Read in the Digital Age
By
Richard R. Gross, M.A., M.S.
Doctoral Candidate
Missouri School of Journalism
Assistant Professor
School of Communication
University of Idaho
Correspondence concerning this manuscript should be addressed to Richard R. Gross, School of Communication, University of Idaho. P.O. Box 441072, Moscow, Idaho 83843. Office phone: (208) 885-5099, home phone: (208) 892-2961, office fax: (208) 885-6450, Internet: [log in to unmask]
Abstract
Author reviewed surveys of elite newspapers and gathered new data from international journalists regarding which newspapers are regarded as the current "elite." Respondents were queried regarding criteria for their choices. Respondents were also surveyed regarding the quality of online versions of newspapers and credibility of the medium in the first known survey of its kind. The findings reveal some shifts in newspaper preferences, large differences in criteria from landmark surveys and ambivalence toward online newspapers.
Introduction
Beginning in the latter part of the nineteenth century and continuing throughout the twentieth century, newspapers have served as the prestige medium through which news and information have been disseminated to the public, serving as "the mirror of society" (Hayman, p. 103). Most peoples of the world can lay claim to at least one newspaper that serves as its "newspaper of record," a "national" newspaper. A select few newspapers have become more than that: they have served as arbiters of important issues in world politics and diplomacy and, when those measures failed, of war.
Journalism historian John Merrill refers to this group of newspapers, the reach of which "extends beyond the borders of their country," as "The Elite Press" (Merrill, 1968, p. 7). He argues that "global-elite dailies offer readers responsible, in-depth content" (1968, p. 8). These papers, says Merrill, serve as "an oasis of thoughtful international newspapers" in the midst of "a worldwide desert of mass, too often crass newspaper mediocrity" (Merrill, 1999, p. 13).
These are the newspapers that find their way early each day to the front steps of Washington's White House, London's No.10 Downing Street, The Elysee Palace in Paris, The Kremlin and the other "houses" where world decision makers reside. These newspapers are the few studied by world leaders and diplomats in the world's corridors of power, examined as eagerly for policy clues and diplomatic cues by the world ruling class as they are for authoritative information by the people ruled. They are the "must see" journals among the leaders in their fields and the "must own" journals in the world's great libraries and universities.
Even for those unacquainted with landmark studies like those of Merrill and Schramm (1959), these newspapers' names are as familiar as the names of the cities where they are published, evocative of the historic events they have chronicled. They have included The New York Times, Le Monde of Paris, The Times and The Guardian of London, Moscow's Pravda, Neue Zurcher Zeitung of Zurich, Madrid's ABC and Beijing's Renmin Ribao (People's Daily). Though as we shall see the list has changed, these names and others call to mind the landmark events of the twentieth century and represent the tradition of journalism that sometimes describes the profession as "the first draft of history."
Yet, even in this global age, the initial recordings of world events are not artifacts culled by media archaeologists to paint a picture of a Luddite world that soon will no longer exist (Stephenson, 1964). Especially in the developing world, they remain vital because through them "_is disseminated either the thoughtful, pluralistic, and sophisticated dialogue of a free society, or the necessary social and political guidance of the closed society" (Merrill, 1968, p. 11).
For this reason, if for no other, it is necessary that we revisit the world's press elite on occasion to determine its health and the progress of its mission. The reader is reminded that much of the following discussion reflects the analysis of previous researchers, not necessarily the views or findings of the author.
Background
What makes a newspaper great?
What is it that makes a particular newspaper "elite" and have those criteria changed over the years? Merrill's 1968 study summarizes five years of research. The volume defines and ranks the then-great elite dailies and discusses what makes them global elites. Forty daily newspapers from around the world are profiled as well. Merrill's admittedly subjective 1968 criteria, distilled from survey responses and reiterated in 1999, postulates global elite dailies have the following characteristics:
ù seriousness of tone
ù influence among world opinion leaders
ù linguistic sophistication
ù exemplars of quality for other journalists
ù concern for "high" culture (1968, p. 28; 1999, p. 13)
In 1968, Merrill's elite dailies were said to offer depth of coverage in areas that include politics and foreign affairs, economics and business, science, the arts and humanities. In addition, such dailies are "packaged to project this seriousness through typography, design and graphics" (Merrill, 1999, p. 13).
Echoing Schramm (1959), Merrill asserts that the elite newspapers of the world, synonymous with great, "_tend to focus on the big events of the day; and they try to treat these larger events at greater length than do other newspapers" (Schramm, 1959 in Merrill, 1968, p. 27).
In "The Elite Press: Great Newspapers of the World," Merrill synthesized the findings of many surveys of the world's press conducted over several decades to construct what he termed an Elite Press Pyramid (1968, pp. 44-45).
This pyramid consisted of, in increasing number, primary (n=10), secondary (20), tertiary (30) and 'near' elite (40) status newspapers. The Merrill pyramid was in his words "_constructed largely on the basis of the recurrence of certain names (newspapers)" among the respondents of those surveys of the world press studied by Merrill for his book (1968, p. 42).
Among the studies considered by Merrill in constructing his pyramid was a 1961 Saturday Review survey of the faculties of the 46 university journalism schools accredited by the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication AEJMC, (Tebbell, 1961). Also considered was Merrill's own 1964 study of a 26-member panel of American international communication scholars, and his survey of 185 editors worldwide (Merrill, 1964). Merrill's evaluation, based on these and other surveys, indicates that in 1968 these were the 10 best newspapers in the world from among 100 included in the final pyramid (Merrill, 1968, p. 45):
1. The New York Times (U.S.A.)
2. Neue Zurcher Zeitung (Switzerland)
3. Le Monde (France)
4. The Guardian (England)
5. The Times (England)
6. Pravda (U.S.S.R.)
7. Renmin Ribao (China)
8. Borba (Yugoslavia)
9. Osservatore Romano (Vatican City)
10. ABC (Spain)
What strikes one immediately about this list is how much it is a product of its time: The Cold War. Four (The New York Times, Le Monde, The Guardian, and The Times) are from former Western-bloc nations and three (Pravda, Renmin Ribao and Borba) from former communist or Eastern-bloc nations. A fourth (ABC) published under state press freedom restrictions, and two (Neue Zurcher Zeitung and Osservatore Romano) were ostensibly neutral. In deciding how to compile his pyramid list of global elite dailies, Merrill had this to say:
"Naturally, I have not had any consistent contact with these global papers. But I have made it my business to keep up with informed reputations (emphasis mine) of leading newspapers. Although I don't read Munich's Sueddeutsche Zeitung myself, I do read about it and its standing among specialists. I talk with people who depend on European papers for credible news and opinion. I see the paper in government offices, in libraries around the world and in universities. I also see it quoted by thoughtful journals, by other journalists and academicians, by politicians and other opinion leaders, and what's more: I see it alluded to whenever someone wants to present informed, sophisticated newspaper opinion from a particular country" (Merrill, 2000).
A journalist writing about higher education does not have to attend Harvard or Columbia, Oxford or Cambridge to identify them as elite universities: they are known to be great. Similarly, according to Merrill, it is not necessary to read all great newspapers to have a sense of the best of them. In compiling such a list, reputation is clearly important and the resulting list of the "best" newspapers is therefore clearly subjective. Still, while reputation matters, there are other criteria that can be applied to "elite" newspapers.
What Makes a Paper "Elite"?
The criteria for determining which of the world's newspapers rank among the "elite" can be as varied as the purposes of the individuals who have undertaken the evaluation task and the time period during which the evaluation was done. Merrill (1964, 1968, 1999) and Schramm before him (1959) crafted criteria which, in themselves, appear "elite," designed to appeal to a largely academic audience. Edward L. Bernays, often cited as the "father of public relations" and no doubt conscious of the importance of name-recognition for his purposes, included "degree of familiarity" among his criteria when he surveyed 1,596 U.S. daily newspaper publishers (Bernays, 1961). Tebbell (1961) wrote for an upscale but more populist vehicle, the Saturday Review. His article reported the results of a Review survey of the deans, full professors and associate professors affiliated with the 46 schools then accredited by the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, AEJMC. It was rest
ricted to domestic newspapers with a circulation exceeding 100,000. The resulting "top ten list" yielded quality journalism with populist appeal and included The Milwaukee Journal, the Louisville Courier-Journal and The (Baltimore) Sun.
Even acknowledging the differing criteria, survey methods, purpose, scope and time periods during which these studies were conducted, some common elements denoting the "elite" are common to all the surveys. An "elite" newspaper is one that seeks to cover a wide variety of news events and offers equally varied and sophisticated analysis and commentary to place that news coverage in a global context. An assignment editor at such a newspaper might begin with the question: "What of importance has happened in the world?" and the editorial page editor "What does that event mean for my country and for the world?"
One Day in the Life of an "Elite" Daily
To illustrate the point, consider the Tuesday, October 17, 2000 national edition of The New York Times, the paper most often identified in surveys as the finest of the world's "elite" dailies (Bernays, 1961; Tebbell, 1961, 1962; Merrill, 1968, 1999). In that day's edition, chosen by the author at random, the front page carried stories (author's descriptions) accompanying the following headlines, from left to right:
Above the fold:
ù "(Presidential) Campaigns Set a Brisk, Focused TV Pace"
ù "Yemenis Now Say That Ship Blast Was Criminal Act"
ù "Cease-Fire Eludes Mideast Leaders In A Day Of Talks"
ù "Inquiry Into Moneymaking At the Dominican Consulate"
ù "Heating Oil Squeeze Might Be Overstated"
Below the fold:
ù "Many Churches Slow To Accept Government Money to Help Poor"
ù "Can Arafat Turn It (Mideast violence) Off?"
ù "Finding Secrets to Weight Loss"
On the Times editorial page that day were the following editorials:
ù "The Terrorist Threat at Sea," an editorial about risks facing the American military in foreign ports;
ù "Confusion on Child Health Coverage," an explanation about a change in New York State's health care plan for children of low-income families;
ù "A Reassuring Scorecard for Affirmative Action," the analysis of a report on the benefits of preferential employment and school admission practices.
On the Times famed OpEd page October 17, 2000 were:
ù "Where U.S. Power is Beside the Point," an opinion piece on American Middle East policy by an Egyptian Middle East expert;
ù "The Wrong Answer," a commentary by Times reporter Thomas L. Friedman on the foreign policy stances of the candidates in the 2000 Presidential election; and
ù "An Ode to Pork," a humorous essay on the tendency of the American Congress to spend vast sums on pet local projects during election years.
Assuming this is typical of each day's New York Times, does the reader of this study have to read the newspaper just described to conclude the Times has variety in its news coverage, seeks to place that coverage in a global context and offers sophisticated analysis and commentary? The author thinks not.
The edition just described also serves to highlight other characteristics of global elite dailies as identified by Merrill. Such papers are generally serious in tone and tend to eschew sensational or merely popular content (Merrill, 1999). Elite dailies are well informed in areas of significant importance and concern: international relations and diplomacy, politics and science, culture and intercultural issues. Peek more deeply into global elite dailies and you also find substantial and equally serious coverage of the humanities and the arts: books, music and painting to name but a few.
The Contemporary Elite Newspaper: Everything Old is New Again
The elite paper as first described by Schramm and later Merrill has a national, but more importantly global, appeal. It takes a generally serious and rational approach to its job, demonstrates concern for cultural issues and is well written. Moreover, it is packaged to project this "serious" approach through its typography, layout and a general aesthetic. As an example of this latter point, the New York Times became a cause celebre when it was decided in 1999 to begin using color photography on its front page. Th decision itself became news.
Aesthetics aside, the elite paper has a credible mission, an institutional "concept." At the Times, for example, the concept is embodied in its famous boxed phrase "All the News That's Fit to Print" which runs in a box to the left of the page one masthead.
A major component of the very concept of an elite newspaper is a commitment throughout to high quality reportage. The criteria for virtually all previous surveys stipulate that reportage be offered to the reader with a fundamental sense of social responsibility that celebrates basic human rights and advocates reasonable positions irrespective of the paper's political leaning. The elite paper serves a leadership role, which may account for the concern world leaders have about the daily utterances of global elite dailies.
In the West according to the Merrill criteria, elite newspapers must have a maximum degree of editorial freedom that reflects the region's liberal democratic orientation. There it is believed that the elite newspaper must function autonomously from the government of the nation in which it is published. Journalists who work for newspapers published in more authoritarian nations sometimes challenge this latter characteristic. A Chinese journalist interviewed for this article insists Renmin Ribao is a present-day elite daily, though that newspaper no longer appears on more recent surveys of the world's elite. Tellingly, the journalist asked that he be unnamed.
The "elite" newspaper's reputation has not been built on sensationalism or prurience, claim a consensus of previous researchers. In fact, a newspaper's quality may improve considerably over its beginnings, but a lesser reputation may prove hard to shake. Witness the volatile fortunes of a newspaper like the Los Angeles Times (Gross, Craft, Cameron, Antecol, 1999), the reputation of which seems to rise and fall with each new internal problem or fluctuation in circulation. There is the highly popular USA Today which, despite improvements, remains held in relatively low esteem due to its supermarket-checkout-stand-like beginnings and splashy graphic appearance.
Continuing in this high-minded vein, the "elite" newspaper does not publish unsubstantiated material nor does it concern itself with the eccentricities of personality. A true global elite newspaper differs from a high quality national newspaper in that it has less concern for offering readers stories of purely local interest or large doses of the merely popular. The global elite newspaper may offer populist content, but it largely avoids the popular, unless it offers a larger lesson.
The Content of the Elite Newspaper
How does it "read"? The writing styles of elite newspapers are as unique and institutionalized as the papers often are themselves. Certain newspapers are so unique in writing style that there is a recognized New York Times and Wall Street Journal story lead writing style (The Missouri Group, 2000). While elite papers may differ in style, their tone is always dignified as opposed to breezy, serious without being ponderous. The content of elite newspapers is crafted with an eye to informing readers, to synthesizing knowledge about the events reported in their pages. Elite papers serve as a sort of continuing liberal arts education for their readership, not a running compendium of the fashionable, flashy or short-lived. While often entertaining, they are not entertainment.
A concern for the news and points of view emanating from other nations is a recurring theme among global elite dailies. How does an oil production shortage in Saudi Arabia affect the fortunes of the homeowner in Topeka, Kansas and of the shopkeeper in Teheran? What are the root causes of the continuing problems of sub-Saharan Africa and how might these affect the global economy? What can be done to mend the schism between India and Pakistan before it erupts into a potentially global conflagration? Why support a "one-China" policy with respect to the return of Taiwan to the communist Mandarins in Beijing?
Elite daily stories about medical advances, the loss of rain forest acreage in Brazil, the latest Booker Prize-winning novel or a London restaging of "Hamlet" appear in greater depth than might stories about a Hollywood killing or a sex scandal involving a television evangelist. It is to be remembered, however, that in avoiding prurience, the elite daily is not puritan; in being elite, it does not intend to be elitist. The elite paper employs a sophisticated, well-educated editorial staff that takes its calling seriously, both with respect to the reporting of national events and affairs, and of their potential global ramifications. Reporters and editors at such papers work hard to help readers make connections among seemingly unrelated world events and to synthesize this knowledge for use in the reader's own daily life and thought.
The Popular Press: a Contrast in Substance and Style
Whereas elite newspapers may be regarded by some as a "class" medium, the vast majority of the world's newspapers remain essentially a "mass" medium, according to its critics (Merrill, 1968, 1999). In recent years, particularly with the availability of online news services, the mass-targeted newspaper has come to be regarded by some scholars as a "dying" medium. We shall see that this is not yet the case. Still, mass consumer newspapers offer less breadth of coverage and less depth of analysis than do elite newspapers. Implicit in this is the notion that the average newspaper is compiled with little respect for the intellectual and critical abilities of its audience.
According to Merrill (1968, p.3), journalism's many critics sometimes express the belief that the field is afflicted with a version of Gresham's Law: bad, that is "popular," newspapers tend to drive out good, that is "more intelligent," newspapers. In fact, what happens is that the proliferation of mass newspapers has little effect on the survival of elite "class" papers other than to prevent them from increasing in number. Why? Quite simply, the carrying capacity of a reading audience is limited, both by the amount of time available to read any newspaper and that audience's ability to absorb and retain the information to which it is exposed. In this way, online newspapers may one day become a viable competitor for the readers of elite newspapers, more so than have mass hardcopy newspapers that were never favored by members of the audience for elite papers.
How can the reader distinguish between elite and mass newspapers? Circulation is an inadequate measure. The circulation of an "elite" paper, such as The New York Times in a large market like New York, will obviously exceed that of its equally "elite" paper in a smaller market, like the highly regarded Neue Zurcher Zeitung of Zurich. Similarly, a mass-market paper like USA Today will have a circulation that exceeds that of The Times. A more useful starting place may be reputation. What does this mean? For the purposes of determining elite newspapers, let us consider this to mean stature over time.
A More Recent Evaluation
In addition to his own exhaustive surveys and 1968 book, all mentioned earlier, Merrill recently completed another far less ambitious survey (1999), the results of which were published in "The Global Elite," an article that appeared in IPI Report. The IPI Report, recently renamed Global Journalist, is the quarterly magazine of the International Press Institute of Vienna, Austria.
Given the 20-year span of time that had elapsed, it is interesting to compare Merrill's top ten list of 1968 with that reported in 1999 (1968, pp. 44-45; 1999, p. 15):
The 1968 List:
1. The New York Times (U.S.A.)
2. Neue Zurcher Zeitung (Switzerland)
3. Le Monde (France)
4. The Guardian (England)
5. The Times (England)
6. Pravda (USSR)
7. Ren-min Ribao (China)
8. Borba (Yugoslavia)
9. Osservatore Romano (Vatican City)
10. ABC (Spain)
The 1999 List (with the 1968 ranking in parentheses):
1. The New York Times (USA) (1)
2. Neue Zurcher Zeitung (Switzerland) (2)
3. The Washington Post (USA) (unranked)
4. The Independent (England) (unranked)
5. Sueddeutsche Zeitung (Germany) (unranked)
6. Le Monde (France) (3)
7. Asahi Shimbun (Japan) (unranked)
8. Los Angeles Times (USA) (unranked)
9. Frankfurter Allgemeine (Germany) (unranked)
10. El Pais (Spain) (unranked)
Only the top two papers, The New York Times and Neue Zurcher Zeitung held their rank (1 and 2 respectively), a third Le Monde dropped in the rankings (from #3 to #6) and the remaining seven of the top ten had not even appeared in the 1968 top ten list.
Why have the rankings shifted so violently if consistency over time is one of the hallmarks of the elite press club? One reason obvious that is geopolitics. Two of the papers, Pravda of the former-USSR and Borba of Yugoslavia were from a Communist world that no longer exists as a legitimate political competitor to Western Liberal Democracy. A third, Renmin Ribao, continues to be state-sanctioned, but in a China whose communism must appear with a much smaller "c" given the nation's tilt toward Western-style free market economics.
The rise in the fortunes of The Washington Post can be accounted for by the ever-increasing importance of events in Washington on the world scene. Perhaps, however, the Post's rise in stature is a "reward" for its singular coverage of one of the most gripping stories of the last third of the twentieth century: the 1974 Watergate break-in and subsequent toppling of the Nixon presidency. This latter is an intriguing possibility since, respondents to Merrill's 1999 survey indicated that "press freedom" was an important component of their evaluation and ranking.
The importance of press freedom as a consideration for inclusion may have been the case with El Pais, now a well-respected journal in post-Franco Spain. Perhaps the liberal Asahi Shimbun has risen to prominence on the coattails of Japan's economy, now the second largest in the world. Or perhaps it is a function of its needling of the powers that be in a politically conservative Japan whose other influential journal, the Mainichi Shimbun, has long supported the conservative cause.
Surely, the two German papers now appearing on the list (Sueddeutsche Zeitung and Frankfurter Allgemeine), reflect the world political weight of a reunified, democratic Germany. In the United States, the rise in the fortunes of the Los Angeles Times acknowledge improvement in the paper, and its rise to status as a national journal worthy of mention in the same breath as that "other" Times. Too, since 1968, the paper's circulation area has been a region of continuing opportunity, economic growth and an explosion in the ethnic diversity experienced at the beginning of the twentieth century on the "other" coast.
These observations aside, it should also be noted that, methodologically, neither the 1980 survey nor the 1999 assessment sampled the number or range of opinion leaders as did the survey for the 1968 book.
Considering the entire list of paper's chosen as being among the top rank of the world's elite, there was, of course, some variation of opinion as to which of the newspapers should be included, but there emerged general agreement as to which papers belonged in the club.
Taking together all three Merrill surveys along with similar studies, the same newspapers have in general remained at the top of the list. The only exceptions are those not being published at the time the most recent (pre-1999) Merrill survey was completed or those that made large strides toward greatness only in recent years.
In alphabetical order, the following 20 newspapers have consistently placed high in evaluations and rank ordering of newspapers performed by Merrill and other researchers:
ù Asahi Shimbun (Japan)
ù The Christian Science Monitor (USA)
ù Corriere della Sera (Italy)
ù Daily Telegraph (England)
ù El Norte (Mexico)
ù El Pais (Spain)
ù Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (Germany)
ù The Globe & Mail (Canada)
ù The Guardian (England)
ù The Independent (England)
ù Le Monde (France)
ù Los Angeles Times (USA)
ù Melbourne Age (Australia)
ù The Miami Herald (USA)
ù Neue Zurcher Zeitung (Switzerland)
ù The New York Times (USA)
ù O Estado de Sao Paulo (Brazil)
ù Sueddeutsche Zeitung (Germany)
ù The Wall Street Journal (USA)
ù The Washington Post (USA)
Among others commonly mentioned were Al Ahram (Egypt), Excelsior (Mexico), (Le Figaro and Liberacion (France), the Mainichi Shimbun (Japan), Straits Times Singapore), The Times (Britain), and The Times of India.
This expanded listing offers insights that cannot be gleaned from the top ten lists. The papers named represent somewhat more geographic breadth with the inclusion of Australia (Melbourne Age), Canada (The Globe & Mail), Italy (Corriere della Sera), Mexico (El Norte) and South America (O Estado de Sao Paulo). The mention of The Christian Science Monitor, along with the inclusion of the above papers suggests that respondents may be placing greater emphasis on foreign coverage. This is especially interesting in light of the concern expressed by many American newspaper professionals that their readers have little interest in foreign affairs. This concern is bolstered by the relative absence of meaningful foreign policy debate in recent American election campaigns and, as demonstrated by reader surveys, the low demand and readership of foreign news sections in American papers.
The Geography of Elite Journalism
Despite the broader reach of the expanded list noted above, the true elite club in Merrill's 1999 survey seems wholly representative of liberal democracy, and almost exclusively Western and white. Absent from the elite newspaper lists are representatives of the Muslim world, from the vast expanses of Africa and continental Asia, from Scandanavia and Latin America.
The reason for the absence of papers from these parts of the world could be the simple recognition that there are no quality papers being produced in these places. But the true reason may in fact be more related to politics: these regions, hence their newspapers, have no global impact. The geopolitical shift in the post-Cold War balance of power between 1968 and 1999 resulted in an elite press list absent any representation from nations of the former Soviet Union, the Eastern bloc and China. Similarly, the relative political impotence of Africa, Asia and Latin America results in the exclusion of papers from these nations as shapers of world opinion.
This is not to suggest that quality newspapers are found only where political fortune smiles, in America and Western Europe at the moment. There are many national papers of high standards and quality: in the Latin world, there is El Mercurio of Chile, La Nacion of Costa Rica and El Commercio of Peru. The Hindu of India is a fine journal, as are Helsingen Sanomat of Finland and Dagens Nyheter of Sweden. Given the smaller spotlights these nations represent on the world stage, the exclusion of their newspapers from elite status makes political sense, but may also be a comment about the state of the world's journalism, that evaluating it has become somewhat political.
This leads to an interesting feature concerning the characteristics of "elite" newspapers. In all the studies of what constitutes an elite paper, among all of the responses gathered over the decades in surveys by Merrill and other journalism historians and academicians, no one has ever suggested that an elite newspaper is one that should be ethical or have high moral purpose.
True, it is difficult to measure "ethics" in the printed content of a newspaper or determine that its editorial board and staff members are possessed of "high moral purpose." Perhaps it can be assumed that a newspaper that has the appropriate superficial characteristics -- serious content, broad coverage, graphic excellence - can be assumed to have a pure soul to go along with its body. Do recall that "press freedom" was mentioned as being necessary, but this is not the same as ethics. The tradition of liberal democracy values freedom, hence individualism. But, surely there may be instances when individuality for the journalist or newspaper publisher can clash with practicing ethical behavior and exercising high moral purpose. Witness how, in the political world, nations can express concern for human rights, but still relate comfortably with nations that do not adhere to the practice of respecting human rights.
The notion of the "elite" newspaper as it has been defined to this time is prima facie exclusionary because these certain national characteristics seem requisite: 1) a successful economy that ensures sufficient capital to craft and distribute quality newspapers; 2) a well-developed educational system to ensure literacy; 3) an international language, that is the paper in question can be read, and its contents understood and talked about. For all practical purposes, that means the paper is in English or has an English edition. French, the other official language of the United Nations, and perhaps Spanish, are acceptable as well.
With these preconditions to elite status, how can an elite press take hold in recently developing or underdeveloped nations?
In assessing what constitutes an elite newspaper, students of the medium have generally sought the responses and opinions of the consumers. They have queried readers of the papers or at least of those who know the journals by their reputation: world leaders in politics and government, science, the arts and humanities. But does questioning elite readers result in an accurate representation of what constitutes an elite newspaper? What would the originators of the newspapers, journalists, single out as the world's finest newspapers? Is the "elite press" simply the press read by an elite class? Or is the elite press intended to single out the finest examples of newspapering? Would a list of the world's best newspapers compiled by contemporary journalists worldwide look similar to such a list compiled by previous researchers?
Methodology
Sample and Interview Procedures
The author sought to answer this question on May 2, 2000 by surveying journalists from around the world present at the annual Congress of the International Press Institute in Boston, Massachusetts.
Founded in 1950, the Vienna, Austria-based International Press Institute was born out of a 1947 UNESCO Report that called for "an international institute of press and information" that would serve as "a research center on technical and professional problems." Though the Report made no mention of the importance of journalistic accuracy or of press freedom, these issues have become the focus of the IPI. Today, it's membership of approximately 2,000 publishers, editors, producers and reporters represents more than 110 nations. The IPI sponsors publication of a quarterly magazine and a weekly radio broadcast on international journalism issues, and monitors the condition of journalism and journalists worldwide.
Boston hosted approximately 500 attendees from 80 nations. This gathering was the Fiftieth Anniversary Congress and the occasion for the naming of 50 Press Freedom Heroes selected by a Commission of the IPI. Profiles of the heroes were published as a special edition of the IPI Report (International Press Institute, 2000).
The author attended the Congress in his capacity as then-Managing Editor of the IPI Report. The magazine has since changed its name to Global Journalist. Because of the unique nature of the organization, its membership, and the particular purpose of the 50th Anniversary meeting of the IPI, the Convention represented a unique opportunity to poll in one place a worldwide sample of distinguished journalists, editors and publishers on their choices for the world's elite newspapers.
Research Questions
The survey was conducted to gather data regarding three questions:
1) Rank-order the world's three best newspapers and indicate in which medium (hardcopy or online) you read them;
2) Identify the criteria used to make these choices;
3) Identify which online news sources you consider credible.
Of the 350 journalists present at the May 2 meeting at which the survey was conducted, 106 (30.3%) responded. The respondents represented a wide variety of journalist positions, from reporters on daily newspapers and foreign correspondents to distinguished editors and publishers, many of whom are well known internationally. Several respondents were included among the International Press Institute's distinguished 50 Press Freedom Heroes. Though a majority were from North America and Western Europe, representation from Africa, Latin and South America, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Scandanavia and continental Asia far exceeded that normally found in similar studies.
Findings and Discussion
Summary results reveal some similarities, and substantial differences, from previous assessments of the world's elite papers. While The New York Times with 55 percent of first-place votes and a 69.8 percent top three ranking was the overwhelming choice among these journalists as the world's finest newspaper, the remainder of the top ten list is different from that in previous studies.
The following top ten rankings are based on the percentage of votes for the paper as being among the top three. This percentage as a function of the total number of votes cast is indicated in parentheses, along with the n. When a lower-ranked paper was accorded more first place votes than the paper ranked immediately above, this is indicated with an asterisk*.
Journalists' list of worlds "elite" newspapers 2000:
1) The New York Times (USA) (69.8, n=74)
2) The Washington Post (USA) (24.5, n=26)
3) Financial Times (England) (22.0, n=23)*
4) The Wall Street Journal (USA) (16.9, n=18)
5) Neue Zurcher Zeitung (Switzerland) (13.2, n=14)
6) International Herald Tribune (Paris edition) (12.3, n=13)*
7) The Guardian (England) (12.3, n=13)
(NOTE: The Guardian received the identical number of first-to-third place votes, but fewer first-place votes that the Tribune)
8) Los Angeles Times (USA) (4.7, n=5)
9) Le Monde (France) (4.7, n=5)
(NOTE: the Los Angeles Times received the identical number of first-to-third place votes, but fewer first-place votes that The Guardian)
10) El Pais (Spain) (3.7, n=4)
Ranked behind El Pais were, in order: England's The Economist (which regards itself as a newspaper), Frankfurter Allgemeine of Germany and America's USA Today.
There are several striking features of this listing. While it is not especially surprising to find that The New York Times heads the list, it is the choice of a far greater margin than in previous surveys. This could suggest that the Times is well established as the newspaper of record among professionals or that the paper has become the commonly accepted international newspaper of record.
As in Merrill's 1999 ranking among "consumers," The Washington Post has earned similar high praise among journalists, placing second. Though they may be regarded as surprise additions to the top ten list, London's Financial Times and America's The Wall Street Journal have long been regarded as "journalists'" newspapers: very well written, with broad, timely and insightful coverage, particularly of economic issues. Subjective observations aside, one can only speculate why The Washington Post, the Financial Times and The Wall Street Journal receive such high marks from journalists. It may reflect the end of the Cold War and globalization, particularly in the economic sphere. Perhaps these papers have long been regarded this highly among journalists and previous polls did not tap their assessments. Only consistent polling over time of a similar sample of international journalists can provide an answer this question.
The International Herald Tribune appears infrequently in previous polls. Its choice by a group of journalists with considerable experience as foreign correspondents may reflect the paper's availability in areas where competitors do not or cannot reach or the fondness foreign correspondents feel for a familiar journal in an unfamiliar place.
Neue Zurcher Zeitung (#5), The Guardian (#7), Le Monde (#9) and El Pais (#10) continue to occupy their accustomed place in the top ten ranks. The Los Angeles Times appears to have become as well regarded among journalists as among consumers, placing eighth both in this survey and the one conducted in 1999 by Merrill.
Though not placing in the top ten, it is interesting to note that USA Today received several mentions. Whether this is a function of the paper's true assessment among journalists or a marketing success - it is widely available free to the mobile journalism profession on planes and in hotels worldwide - is difficult to determine. That it has earned a significant number of mentions from journalists makes the future standing of USA Today worth watching.
While the list offers some insight into how journalists rank the world's press, the process offers other salient points. Aside from the newspapers highly ranked and/or receiving multiple mentions, a total of 57 newspapers were ranked among the world's top three. Most of these received only one or two mentions from the 106 respondents, but the sheer number and geographic variety are notable. Included are familiar papers present in other surveys, like The Independent, Canada's The Globe & Mail and The Daily Telegraph. But also present are The Irish Times, Korea's Chosun Ilbo, Japan's Yomiuri and The Hindu of India.
Perhaps most surprising was the number of well-regarded national papers included by the journalists in their "best of" lists. These included the respected The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Dallas Morning News and The Miami Herald. That papers such as these are receiving attention is important, in part because these papers and others like them serve constituencies that are heavily minority and multi-cultural.
Why the Best?
In comparison with the findings of Merrill and others who have conducted surveys among newspaper consumers, this sample of journalists offered different criteria for ranking elite newspapers. The reader will recall the criteria offered by respondents to Merrill's original survey were:
ù seriousness of tone
ù influence among world opinion leaders
ù linguistic sophistication
ù exemplars for other journalists
ù concern for "high" culture
Though some previous studies did include journalist respondents, those queried were more often consumers of the news, world opinion leaders in their respective fields, not professional journalists.
This sample of IPI journalist respondents offered a somewhat different set of evaluation criteria. The characteristics they used in choosing their top-ranked papers were, in order of the number of mentions:
ù credibility
ù breadth of coverage
ù reliability and accuracy of information
ù depth of reporting
ù informed analysis
Any journalist would recognize this as the list of the essential characteristics of "good" journalism. Because the respondents are themselves all journalists, it is not surprising that the values of journalism would form the basis for their responses. This could also help account for the fact that less prestigious papers earned mention in the rankings of this group: these characteristics can be present in both quality regional papers and those of international stature like The New York Times. It is interesting to note
the different standards by which practitioners of the craft and consumers of the product evaluate newspaper quality. This sample of journalists, for example, offered little concern for how influential a paper was thought to be, or of how sophisticated it was in either language or tone.
The Online Issue
The availability of a good sample of well-regarded journalists from around the world gathering in Boston in May, 2000 also offered a fine opportunity to seek an initial assessment of the use and impact of online (Internet) editions of newspapers and their use, or non-use, by international journalists. In requesting the ranking of newspapers, the respondents were asked if they read the papers they chose in hardcopy or online form.
The overwhelming number of respondents said they read the hardcopy editions of their chosen papers. The lone newspaper that seemed to have a large online following among the journalist-respondents was The New York Times, the online edition of which is now in its fifth year of "publication." Of the near-70 percent that chose it as the world's best newspaper, 22.4 percent said they read the Times online. No other paper approached this level of online readership.
This may be attributed to the journalists' response to another of the survey questions, specifically did they consider online editions as credible as hardcopy editions. Only a third of the respondents considered online editions equally credible, over one-half not as credible and the remainder had no opinion. Given the overwhelming choice of The New York Times as the world's best newspaper based on essentially "good journalism" criteria, it is plausible to suggest that it is The Times' online edition which comes to mind among those who find online editions as credible as hardcopy.
This aside, the readership of electronic editions was scattered at best. Online editions do not yet seem to have the penetration levels of hardcopy editions. This may seem counterintuitive since it should be easier to access an electronic edition on one's desktop or laptop computer than find a hardcopy edition in the remote corners of the world.
There are many possible explanations for this finding. Many of the respondents were journalists from developing nations. Perhaps it is because their work places lack the access to online editions or, if they work independently, the respondents lacked the personal resources, read "money," to obtain access. In simpler terms, the question of online access and credibility is premature because the penetration of online editions is still limited by availability and economics.
Conclusions
In comparing the findings of the author's recent survey of International Press Institute journalists with previous elite press surveys, the following observations can be noted:
1) As in previous surveys, this ranking by the International Press Institute's journalists (editors and publishers) accords The New York Times singular high esteem as the world's best newspaper. Further, it outdistanced competitors by a wider margin than in previous surveys.
2) The premiere position of that one newspaper aside, the remaining papers in the top ten (and beyond) represent more breadth in terms of world geography. Newspapers of two continents rarely represented, Australia and South America, appear in the top 20 with Melbourne Age and the O Estado de Sao Paulo respectively. The Globe and Mail and El Norte represent Canada and Mexico, two nations that have long existed in the information as well as cultural shadow of the United States. While a disproportionate number of paper's from Western Europe have replaced representatives from Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, Japan's respected Asahi Shimbun has crept into the top 20 to represent Asia. Other papers from Asia (the Singapore Straits Times and India's The Hindu), the Middle East (Egypt's El Ahram) and a second from Mexico (Excelsior) earned mentions. The Christian Science Monitor again places in the top 20, attesting to the concern of the respondents for international affairs co
verage. While these results may simply be an artifact of the sample or of this survey, it may also signal a more even-handed consideration of the quality of the world's press by the fraternity of world journalists.
3) Significantly, the reasons chosen by the IPI respondents for their choices differ completely from those offered by respondents to other surveys. Samples chosen earlier and more representative of a broader array of professions (government, education, science and the humanities as well as journalism) had a penchant for considerations seemingly more a matter of class: seriousness, influence, sophisticated language, 'high' culture. These in opposition to the wholly journalist-selected values: credibility, breadth, reliability, depth and informed analysis.
4) The "online issue" appears to not yet be an issue. While most of the papers highly ranked and mentioned are available in online editions, their readership is not high and, with the exception of The New York Times, neither is their perceived credibility. Many of the journalists responding to this latest survey are residents of developing nations where computer and Internet access can be difficult. Even in highly developed Japan, Internet access is currently below 10 million users. The findings of this latest survey suggest it is likely to be some time before online editions become serious threats to replace the hardcopy newspaper, notwithstanding technophiles' enthusiasm for the potential of the Internet.
5) While there is less change at the top of the list, there appears to be considerable churn in the middle and lower portions of the top 20, and among other papers mentioned. Surely, the shift in political fortunes toward Western-style liberal democracy is a factor. Gone not only are the papers of the Eastern bloc, but also Western European voices such as The Guardian and The Vatican's Osservatoire Romano.
Lengthy speculation might be written about the reasoning and meaning of the results of surveys such as those reviewed here. Some may conclude they represent a meaningful barometer of the state of newspapers or of the profession of journalism worldwide. Others may see the hand of politics reflected in these selections. To one disdainful commentator, such lists were little more than "horse raceish."
The author finds a degree of truth in each of these points of view. There is an additional consideration. There may be represented in this latest survey a shift away from class considerations in determining the quality of information made available to the world's peoples. Indeed, future students of the world's press may find a classification like "elite" to be itself an artifact of a privileged world that has long been uniformly wealthy, white, well-educated and Western.
The subtle, yet important, finding of this latest survey of the world's newspapers may be that information is becoming less elitist in its tone, and more available to an increasingly democratized world and its less homogenized, more diverse peoples.
###
Selected Bibliography
Bernays, E. L (1961). Press release. Edward L. Bernays Public Relations Consultants. New York, 1961.
Gross,R., Craft, S., Cameron, G. & Antecol, M. (2000). "Diversity Efforts at the Los Angeles Times: Are Journalists and the Community on the Same Page?" Paper presented at the 83rd Annual Convention of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, AEJMC, Phoenix, Arizona.
Hayman, H.H. (1963). Journal of the Institute of Journalists, 51:501, September/October, p. 105.
International Press Institute (2000). IPI Report: Press Freedom Heroes, v.5n4, Second Quarter 2000.
Merrill, J.C. (1964). "U.S. Panel Names World's Ten Leading 'Quality' Dailies." Journalism Quarterly, Autumn, 1964, p. 570.
Merrill, J. C. (1968). The Elite Press: Great Newspapers of the World. New York: Pitman,. 1968.
Merrill, J.C. (1999). "The Global Elites." IPI Report, vol. 5, no. 4, 13-15.
Merrill, J. (2000). Interview remarks for profile in Spain's El Pais.
Missouri Group, The (2001). "Telling the Story: Writing for Print, Broadcast and Online Media." New York: St. Martins, 2001.
Schramm, W. (1959). One Day in the World's Press. Palo Alto: Stanford University Press, 1959.
Stephenson, W. (1964) "The Ludenic Theory of Newsreading." Journalism Quarterly, 41:3, Summer, 1964.
Tebbell, J. (1961). "Rating the American Newspaper." Saturday Review, May 13, 1961, pp. 60-61.
Tebbell, J. (1962). "How the British View Their Press." Saturday Review, December 8, 1962, p. 68.
UNESCO (1947). Technical Commission Report, United Nations, 1947.