Sector From Which New Information Reported (Six Key Storylines) | |
Sector | % of All Stories |
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 Coverage | |
Trigger | % 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:
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.
Leading News Topics by Media Sector (All Stories) | ||||||
Media Sector |
| % of Stories | ||||
| Total% | Local TV | Radio | Niche | New 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.
Interesting how the death of traditional media has been highly exaggerated.