The power of a blog!

Journalists Use New Media More than PR Pros Think

Getting real-time, 24/7 online access to company news and reaching responsive and efficient PR representatives still rate high on journalists’ wish-lists, but reporters are increasingly sourcing stories from new forms of media as well, according to research from Bulldog Reporter and TEKgroup International, Inc.

The second annual, “2008 Journalist Survey on Media Relations Practices” study examined journalists’ use of new media - including online newsrooms, blogs, RSS and social networks - and found that the greatest change in journalism practices as a result of the internet to is the ability to access corporate news and contact information online 24 hours a day.

Nearly half of journalists report visiting a corporate website or online newsroom at least once a week, while nearly 87% visit at least once a month.

Though a large percentage of journalists said they didn’t like PR representatives “wasting their time” with irrelevant news, nearly all (99%) said it was important for them to be able to get in touch with PR people when they needed more information.

tekgroup-bulldog-reporter-journalist-study-access-pr-contacts-importance-fall-2008.jpg

Blogs, Social Media and RSS

* Though approximately 25% of journalists do not cover blogs, more than 29% report regularly reading five or more blogs to research desired topics, compared with about 26% a year ago.

tekgroup-bulldog-reporter-journalist-study-visit-company-blogs-research-fall-2008.jpg

* Nearly 75% follow at least one blog regularly, compared with about 70% a year ago.
* More than 75% of journalists say they use social media to research stories, compared with about 67% last year.
* Nearly 38% of journalists now say they visit a social media site at least once a week as part of their reporting, compared with only 28% last year.
* More than 53% of journalists now say they visit a social media site such as FaceBook or YouTube at least once a month, up from about 44% last year.
* Nearly 19% of journalists receive five or more RSS feeds of news services, blogs, podcasts or videocasts every week, compared with only 16% a year ago.
* About 44% receive at least one regular RSS feed.

Audio and Video Material

* Nearly 23% of journalists say they seek audio and/or video material at least once a month - an increase of three percentage points over last year.
* More than half of journalists say they never seek audio or video material from corporate websites.

Primary News Sources

* More than three-quarters (76.4%) of journalists report that they use local newspapers to follow news.
* In terms of using national media to stay abreast of news, nearly 63% check The New York Times, 51% view Google News, and about 32% use Yahoo News.

About the survey: The survey was conducted September 11-23, 2008 and reflects the practices of 2,386 respondents, of which approximately 48% were editors or editorial staff and 34% were reporters or writers.