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Friday, March 3, 2000
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Journalists Find Lack of Credibility On Internet
A majority of
journalists responding to a national survey say they find
websites lacking in credibility, yet with additional
confirmation, they would consider reporting Internet rumors
and using information found on the Net for stories. The
survey also shows that overall use of the Internet by
journalists is growing significantly -- for article
research, development of story ideas and sources, and
for communicating with readers.
These are among the findings of the Sixth Annual
Middleberg/Ross Media in Cyberspace Study. The survey is
conducted by Associate Professor Steven S. Ross of the
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and Don
Middleberg, founder and CEO of the communications firm of
Middleberg + Associates.
The survey tracks the latest developments related to
journalists' use of cyberspace, including the growth of
online publishing, techniques for developing stories, and how
reporters work with sources online.
``This year's study confirms in stark detail how the Internet
has become woven into the fabric of modern journalism,'' said
Don Middleberg, CEO of Middleberg + Associates. ``Journalists
are playing by new rules - developing story ideas online,
reporting online rumors, and going to corporate and association
Web sites for information -- especially when a story breaks.''
The latest survey documents how the Internet is completely
integrated into the journalist's toolbox, with nearly
three-fourths of respondents reporting that they go online daily,
a huge jump from last year's 48 percent. Additionally, e-mail
has become more popular both for communicating with known
sources as well as readers. New technologies are also enjoying
a surge in popularity, with one-fourth of respondents reporting
use of instant messaging.
At the same time, the survey shows that journalists find
information online to be lacking in credibility, yet they admit
to publishing Internet rumors and to using online sources.
``While it is good that reporters' use of the Internet continues
to expand, questionable ethical practices are also expanding,''
said Columbia's Professor Ross. ``Media Web sites freely link
to advertisers and to previously published articles, often
failing to credit other publications' work. Many respondents
also admitted to publishing rumors, often with little or no
substantiation, and to using online sources whose credibility
had not been adequately established.''
Specifically, when asked to rank Web site credibility, only
trade association sites were found to be more credible than
not credible. Message boards and chat groups were seen as
least credible. Still, lack of credibility would not keep most
journalists from using Web postings, especially if the
information is confirmed elsewhere. Seventeen percent said
they would consider doing so in the future, even if not
confirmed elsewhere.
On reporting rumors, 60 percent of respondents said they would
consider reporting an Internet rumor if confirmed by an
independent source, while only 12 percent said they would not
and three percent admitted to already having done so. Nineteen
percent said they would if the rumor came from a ``reliable''
professional news site.
Journalists continue to spend more time online, with almost
three out of four respondents going online at least daily - a
significant increase over last year's 48 percent. Weekly, they
spend on average 4.7 hours online at home and 8.7 hours at the
office.
Article research is the most popular use of the Internet,
displacing e-mail and showing a clear use of the Net for
adding depth and breadth to stories. Internet use for finding
images almost doubled in this year's study, to 52 percent;
for the previous four years it had been 21, 23, 25, and 29
percent, respectively.
The use of the Internet for the development of story ideas has
risen dramatically, with half of the respondents reporting
that they use the Internet in the development of story ideas
and pitches, compared with 30 percent for the past three years.
Journalists are reading publications online more frequently,
with almost two-thirds of respondents reporting they do so.
In previous years, this never rose above 50 percent.
New technologies are becoming increasingly popular, with 25
percent of respondents reporting use of instant
messaging (AOL Instant Messenger, ICQ, Yahoo! Pager, etc.),
although only six percent use it daily. Also, journalists
are adopting on-screen news tickers, which provide news
headlines even when a Web browser is turned off.
Journalists find that responding to readers via e-mail is
part of the job. More than half of the respondents say
they participate in dialogues with readers via e-mail,
at least occasionally. One out of every seven newspaper
respondents say they do so daily, and almost a third do
so at least weekly.
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