1 7 th annual Middleberg/Ross Survey of Media and Information Networks Steven S. Ross

2 Content issues  Only two-thirds of web sites are freestanding – that is, controlled by the local “old media” operation directly. About a quarter of the sites are run by corporate parents to local “old media” outlets.  New Websites for newspapers have lower-than-average amounts of original content. New magazine and broadcast sites have more.  Among the 113 broadcast respondents who have Web sites and answered the question, 42% say their sites are shared with other media – usually other broadcast operations. That is, AM and FM outlets often share, as do radio and TV or cable.

3 Journalists’ habits  Almost every respondent -- 99% -- goes online at least daily to check for .  Journalists now spend about 15 hours a week online reading and sending .  has now matched the telephone as the preferred method for interviewing new sources; e- mail was slightly behind the telephone in the 1999 survey.  This year 81% of print respondents said they went online at least once a day to do searching – up from last year’s high of 73%.

4 This year’s sample

5 Circulations are similar to previous years

6 Network affiliations – only half are fully affiliated and commercial

7 FM stations are more likely to have site and to share with other media

8 In broadcast, news formats begat websites

9 Broadcast beats are getting more common … but when asked if Web has led to beats, 1 said yes, 75 said no!

10 A quarter of sites are run by the news outlet’s corporate parent

11 Almost all print respondents have web sites

12 Older sites do NOT have more original content

13 Broadcast sites, of course, have higher % original content

14 Resistance to scooping by the Web site is fading

15 Half update their Web site more frequently for breaking stories

16 Shared operations – unchanged from 1999

17 Broadcasters and newspapers use far more outside material

18 Links to sponsors and non- competitive sites are common

19 Online dialog with readers is common for print and broadcast

20 Corporate web sites are prime points of entry for breaking news

21 Broadcasters are less likely to go to company site, more likely to go to branded news service

22 Electronic formats are clear favorites for receiving material

23 They don’t troll the Web

24 Research and top the usage list

25 The upward trend is obvious for frequency of online searching

26 Broadcasters check their a bit less often than others do …

27 … but broadcasters spend about the same amount of time online It takes longer to download audio and video files…

28 New or known sources? Journalists rely more on  Magazines rely much more on  Newspapers want in-person interviews  Journalists seem blind to dangers of online impersonation  Weighted averages are closer than these “first choices”

29 Instant messaging (AOL, ICQ, etc.) is not common but use is growing

30 Branded sites are viewed as most credible; industry info sites, too

31 Most journalists have two or more addresses

32 Many reserve addresses for receiving story ideas

33 Many are blind to dangers of using Usenet and chatroom sources

34 Only 1 in 7 say they would never repeat an Internet rumor

35 Only broadcasters want a lot of audio and video

36 News delivery: On-screen tickers rival cell phones

37 Yahoo maintains lead, but Google replaces Altavista * Google was a write-in. InfoSeek, Northern Light, Webcrawler were all under 2%. Yahoo uses Google, too! Meta-search engines? 43% start with them.

38 Journalists need more knowledge about specialized web sites

39 Favorite news sites, with number of mentions  CNN (not counting CNN/SI)196  New York Times 52  MSNBC 50  ABC (not counting ESPN) 38  Washington Post 27  AP 25

40 Favorite corporate sites … and there aren’t many votes!  Amazon.com6  ESPN3  Gannett2  Microsoft 2  New York Times2

41 Newspapers are “best” at CAR training… broadcasters try to get it on their own

42 A third say they are preparing for more bandwidth

43 Most journalists have not thought about wireless distribution

44 …but attitudes toward wireless are generally positive

45 On balance, journalists are positive about the Internet