Journalist’s use of online resources to cover news stories continues to be more extensive then believed by public relations professionals, according to a study by Bulldog Reporter and TEKgroup International, Inc.
For the second year in a row the findings again reveal the greatest change in journalism practices because of the Internet is the ability to access corporate news and contact information online 24 hours a day. Close to half of all journalists report visiting a corporate Web site or online newsroom at least once a week, with 87 percent doing so at least once a month.
About a quarter of journalists still do not cover blogs, but more than 29 percent regularly read five or more blogs to research topics, compared with about 25 percent a year ago. Nearly three-quarters follow at least one blog regularly, compared to 70 percent a year ago.
More journalists are visiting social media sites with over three-fourths using social media to research stories, compared with about 67 percent last year. Almost 38 percent of journalists now say they visit a social media site at least once a week as part of their reporting, compared with only 28 percent last year. Over half (53%) of journalists now say they visit a social media site like Facebook or YouTube at least once a month, up from 44 percent last year.
Nearly 19 percent of journalists receive five or more RSS feeds of news services, blogs, podcasts or videocasts every week, compared with only 16 percent a year ago, and about 44 percent receive at least one regular RSS feed.
The majority (76.4%) of journalists said that they use local newspapers to follow news, while 63 percent check the New York Times, 51 percent scan Google News and 32 percent visit Yahoo! News to stay informed.
