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The News Ecosystem Fosters Repetition
by Jack Loechner, Wednesday, January 20, 2010 8:15 AM
A new study by the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism reports that while the news landscape has rapidly expanded, 95% of what the public learns is still overwhelmingly
driven by traditional media, particularly newspapers. The study, examining all of the outlets that produced local news in Baltimore, Md., for one week, finds that eight out of ten stories studied
simply repeated or repackaged previously published information. These stories then tended to set the narrative agenda for most other media outlets, says the report. Sector From Which New Information Reported (Six Key Storylines) Sector% of All Stories
Print 48% Local TV 28 Niche media 13
Radio 7 New media 4 Source: Pew Research Center, January 2010 The expanding
universe of new media, including blogs, Twitter and local websites in Baltimore, played only a limited role notes the report, mainly an alert system and a way to disseminate stories from other places.
New technology was more prevalent as a way for media, both traditional and new, to break news more quickly. The Web is now clearly the first place of publication. Triggers of News CoverageTrigger% of News "triggered" Government
62% Press 16 Citizen 12 College/University 10 Spontaneous event 1
Source: Pew Research Center, January 2010 As news is posted faster, notes the study, often with little enterprise reporting added, the official
version of events is becoming more important. Official press releases often appear word for word in first accounts of events, though often not noted as such. The study found numerous examples of
websites carrying sections of other people's work without attribution, and often suggesting original reporting was added when none was. Some of the results of a close examination by Pew
Research of the media covering Baltimore, MD, during the week of July 19-25, 2009, includes these findings:
- 53 different news outlets regularly produce some kind of local news
content, a universe that ranges from blogs to talk radio to news sites created by former journalists. These multi-platform operations also make robust use of Twitter as a way means of
dissemination.
- Among the six major news threads studied in depth, 83% were essentially repetitive, conveying no new information. Of the 17% that did contain new information,
nearly all came from traditional media either in their legacy platforms or in new digital ones.
- General interest newspapers produced half 48% of these stories, and specialty
newspapers, focused on business and law, produced another 13%.
- Local television stations and their websites accounted for 28% of the enterprise reporting on the major stories of the
week, radio station websites accounted for 7%, and the remaining nine new media outlets accounted for just 4% of the enterprise reporting.
- Newspapers, TV and radio produced
nearly a third of their stories on new platforms (31%), though that number varied by sector. Almost half of the newspapers stories studied were online rather than in print.
- Reproducing other people's work has become a bigger part of the news media system. Government, in this study, initiates most of the news. In the detailed examination of six
major storylines, 63% of the stories were initiated by government officials, led first of all by the police. Another 14% came from the press.
Of the more than four dozen
outlets identified as producing original content about local events in Baltimore, there are four local TV stations, all with their own websites, five general interest newspapers, four general interest
websites in town, five local blogs, and more than 30 that exist inside the universe of the Baltimore Sun newspaper website.
- Local TV newsrooms produced more content than any
other sector, an average of 73 stories per station
- 64% of the stories on the local 6 p.m. TV newscasts were about local matters
- 52% of the segments in talk radio were
about national or non-local events
- 85% of the postings or stories in new media were locally focused and mostly locally produced
- 80% of newspaper stories were straight
news accounts written by local staffers
Leading News Topics by Media
Sector (All Stories)
Media Sector % of Stories
Total%Local TVPrintRadioNicheNew Media
Crime 16% 23% 17% 7% 0% 16%
Government 15 12 15 19 16 20
Business 10 3 11 7 35 10
Health/Medicine 8 11 7 8 3 8
Accidents 8 13 3
5 1 8
Courts 6 4 5
4 17 6 Education
6 5 11 1 4 6 Economy 4 3 4 4
12 4 Transportation
4 1 8 5 1 4 Misc. 5
5 3 12 0 5 Lifestyle 3 1 3 7 0
3 Environment 2 1 3 1 3 2 Science 2 2 2 2 0 2 Weather/Traffic/Sports 5 11 0 4 0 5 All other 6 5 8 14 8 1
Source: Pew Research Center, January 2010 The array of
local outlets within this snapshot is already substantial, concludes the report, and as times goes on, new media, specialized outlets and local bloggers are almost certain to grow in number and expand
their capacity. New outlets such as local news aggregators, who combine this increasingly mixed universe into one online destination, have cropped up in some other cities. There is a good deal of
innovation going on around the country, but as of 2009, this is what the news looks like in one American city. For more
about the complete study, please visit Pew here.