CAUGHT IN THE WEB:
NEWSPAPER USE OF THE INTERNET
AND OTHER ONLINE RESOURCES
Bruce Garrison, professor
School of Communication, University of Miami
P.O. Box 248127, Coral Gables, FL 33124-2030
305-284-2846 (office), 305-284-3648 (fax)
bruce@miami.edu
A research paper presented to the Newspaper Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Baltimore, August 1998. An earlier version of this paper was presented to the Newspaper Division, AEJMC Southeast Colloquium, New Orleans, March 1998.
The author would like to thank Dean Edward Pfister of the School of Communication at the University of Miami for providing the resources necessary for this study.
ABSTRACT
This paper reviews use of the World Wide Web and other online services by U.S. daily newspapers. The study analyzes general computer use, value placed on the Web as a news tool, preferred browsers, search tools, most widely used sites, site qualities and problems, and online successes and failures in 1997. General computer use is at 88% and online use is at 90%. Daily use has almost doubled and about 92% of newspapers use the Web. Furthermore, online research by reporters has increased to 48% from 25% two years earlier. AltaVista and Yahoo! are leading search tools, but local government sites are most used for reporting. Journalists seek valid and useful information and verification is the main problem.
CAUGHT IN THE WEB:
NEWSPAPER USE OF THE INTERNET
AND OTHER ONLINE RESOURCES
The World Wide Web is becoming the dominant online research tool used by journalists. As a growing amount of newsworthy and credible resources on the Internet became available, use of the Web increased. By 1998, most news organizations have made the Web and other Internet tools available to news researchers, reporters, and others in the newsroom (Miller, 1998; Reddick & King, 1997; Garrison, 1998; Parsons & Johnson, 1996; Ross & Middleberg, 1997). For many people, the Web represents the Internet. Experienced users realize there are numerous additional Internet tools and resources available. However, many of these tools and resources are converting to the Webs hypertext markup language format. Most Internet Gopher sites, for example, have moved to the Web and are disappearing from the Gopher system. Similarly, most major commercial and private bulletin board systems have also become Web sites. Telnet and file transfer protocol software have become parts of the leading Web browsers. The commercial online services provide complete Web access and offer full-feature Web browsers for customers. Some online services have just about abandoned their original information content mission and assumed primary roles as Internet service providers (Garrison, 1998; Reddick & King, 1997).
Tim Berners-Lee developed the foundation of the World Wide Web in 1989. Lee was on the staff of CERN, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics in Bern, Switzerland (Ford, 1995; Branscomb, 1998; Lehto & Polonsky, 1996; Cady & McGregor, 1995; Peal, 1994). The Web only began to go public, that is, to grow in 1993 or so, when the first Web browser software was released. This was a software program primitive compared to Web software packages available today called Mosaic (Lehto & Polonsky, 1996; Hahn & Stout, 1994). Even with Mosaic distributed for free, the Web grew slowly but steadily during 1993 and 1994 (Ford, 1995; Cady & McGregor, 1995).
The Web seems to have a bright future as the centerpiece of global computer communication and for much research as the new century nears (Lehto & Polonsky, 1996). As an industry in the business of gathering and processing information, newspapers appear poised to give the Web a critical role in newsrooms for both newsgathering and for news distribution. As recently as five years ago, few people in the news business discussed the uses of electronic mail, the World Wide Web, news groups, distribution lists, file transfer, databases, or other Web resources. At that time, very few news people used the Web and E-mail (Castro, 1997; Garrison, 1995, Ross & Middleberg, 1997). The proliferation of newspaper-based Web sites demonstrates how the newspaper industry has embraced the Web as a potential distribution tool.
In 1995, Web use seemed to explode and global computer-based communication changed forever. In the computer industry, perhaps in communication also, 1995 was the year of the World Wide Web. In fact, the Internet grew so much between 1995 and 1997 that the original users of the network government and educational-research institutions began development of a second, even higher speed private research network known as Internet 2.
So why is the World Wide Web popular with journalists? It has high information potential and provides the information in an integrated manner (McGuire, Stilborne, McAdams & Hyatt, 1997; Parsons & Johnson, 1996; Koch, 1996). It is visually powerful and sensually appealing. It is not necessarily text based and has complete multi-media capacity. The Web networks permit a wide range of people to connect to an even wider range of computer systems and use resources on those servers. And, of course, it provides useful information on demand (Branscomb, 1998; Reddick & King, 1997; Koch, 1996, Ross & Middleberg, 1997).
"Use of the Web is extremely easy. It requires little time for most people to get a good grasp of how to use the various browsers or search engines," noted Ernie Hines (Garrison, 1998, n.p.), editor of the Tri-Valley Herald, a 40,000-circulation daily newspaper in Pleasanton, Calif. "Research is more convenient than text research. You also have access to far more resources, including many that you might not normally think of. It is time consuming. Research engines do not typically allow time frames and advanced searching with linked works is often outside the range of the search engine."
Researchers Steven S. Ross and Don Middleberg (1997) have studied journalists use of the Web annually since 1994 and found that journalists have embraced the Web and that they often use dial-up services. They find E-mail valuable in addition to their use of the Web. They also learned frequency of use is increasing. Further, they found that journalists want Web sites to stick to facts, perhaps with photographs, but journalists do not want graphics of low news value. Their research showed the Yahoo! index, the Netscape search page, and the AltaVista search engine as the leading search tools. The study also concluded that credibility of the Web site matters to journalists. Non-profit sites, for example, have more value as news sources than corporate sites for journalists in their study, they concluded.
Of course, as Ross and Middleberg (1997) found, the World Wide Web is becoming a very practical news gathering resource. The network linked as many as 82 million computers in 1997, according to one estimate (Anon., 1997, October 21). Another recent analysis reports that about half of the companies in the United States. had Web sites in 1997. The majority (66%) of these are designed for advertising and public relations purposes (RHI Consulting, 1997), but the information content of the sites may still be useful to journalists for basic information. Users of the Web know it offers a lot, especially for journalists. E-mail and Usenet Newsgroups have also become valued tools among journalists (Tolhurst, Pike, Blanton & Harris, 1994; Kurland, Messere & Palombo, 1997; Reddick & King, 1995, Ross & Middleberg, 1997).
Finding information on the Internet remains troubling for journalists even experienced professionals. Searching on the Internet and the World Wide Web is a necessity for journalists because of its size and scope. The thousands of servers and millions of pages make bookmarks a convenience, but not a basis for a thorough search and retrieve strategy. There are hundreds of search tools on the Web, ranging from very general to very specific and from single-search to meta-search approaches. Search strategies for the best approaches are necessary. "While the Webs entertaining and packed with useful information, its very difficult to find what youre looking for," wrote Web search expert and University of Virginia Professor Bryan Pfaffenberger (1996, pp. 1-2). "It wont be long before mastery of the Web will be de rigueur for professionals in just about any line of work."
How do newspapers use the World Wide Web and other online resources? The purpose of this study is to answer that general research question. There is interest in how this emerging technology is taking its place among information gatherers and processors in the news business. The focus of this paper is to summarize findings of exploratory research about:
STUDY METHODS
This study is based on mail surveys with a longitudinal design. Self-administered questionnaires were mailed to a census of daily newspapers with circulation 20,000 or more copies on Sundays each spring from 1994 through 1997. Questionnaires were developed from interviews with journalists and from group discussions at national conferences about investigative reporting, computer-assisted reporting, and news research. While most of the questions used each year were the same, some questions were added or deleted from individual instruments as changes in availability of tools or use of computers dictated. A copy of the complete 1997 questionnaire is available at http://www.miami.edu/com/car/index.htm and the 1994, 1995, and 1996 questionnaires may be obtained by request.
The unit of analysis was the newspaper. Questionnaires were mailed with postage-paid return envelopes to either the computer-assisted reporting supervisor, the managing editor, or the executive editor. When sent to a general editor, recipients were asked to forward the questionnaire to individuals most qualified to respond. This resulted in a mix of specialists serving as respondents, including investigative reporters, CAR specialists, news librarians, news researchers, and editors. Respondents were asked to respond on behalf of the entire newsroom, indicating their perceptions of newsroom use. While a longitudinal design was used and consistency in individuals responding at a particular newspaper each year was sought, the same individual did not always respond because of turnover and changing responsibilities.
Population sizes were approximately 510 newspapers in 1997, 510 in 1996, 514 in 1995, and 514 in 1994. In each survey, follow-up mailings were used to enhance response rates. In 1994, one follow-up mailing was utilized, but in the 1995, 1996, and 1997 surveys, two follow-up mailings were used. Response rates were n = 226, or 44.3% in 1997; n = 233, 45.7%, in 1996; n = 287, 56.5%, in 1995; and n = 208, 40.5%, in 1994. Respondent newspaper demographics have been consistent over the four years. Response patterns represent all regions of the country and have produced a mean circulation each year of about 115,000 copies. Respondents each year have been either editors, computer-assisted reporting supervisors, news researchers, or investigative or special project reporters. Because the study involved analysis of a population, not a sample, statistical tests are not reported.
OVERVIEW AND FINDINGS
For newspapers, computer use in newsgathering has grown steadily in the past four years. The increasing use has occurred at two levels. First, journalists have become more dependent on the World Wide Web and the Internet as sources of information and of data in their daily stories and projects. Second, overall use of computers in newsgathering has increased noticeably once again in 1997.
To most Americans, the main concerns about the World Wide Web seem to be censorship and privacy. Some users with low levels of computer literacy are concerned about navigating and finding information on the Web. But for journalists, there are even more specific issues. Slightly more than two in three respondents (67.8%) in the 1997 surveythe first time the question was asked felt the Web was "important" to news reporting. Another 26.8% felt it was not important. Furthermore, journalists listed mastery of the World Wide Web as the highest priority (26.2%) for computer skills in the newsroom. Data literacy (23.8%), Windows literacy (16.7%), word processing skills (14.9%), being both Mac and PC literate (6.5%), and general online skills (6.0%) were also rated high.
1General Computer Use, Online Use in Newsrooms
Use of computers in information gathering has grown steadily every year in the past four years, from a base of 66% in 1994 to 88% in 1997, as shown in Table 1. The number of newsrooms using a CAR desk has been flat, at 44% in 1997. A number of newsrooms have left the CAR desk model and replaced it with the total CAR integration into the newsroom model. This tends to occur more when dedicated production hardware is replaced with a PC network. Training is growing slowly, at about 53% in 1997. In-house training has doubled from 22% in 1995 to 44% in 1997. The number of individuals involved in CAR reflects the movement toward total newsroom integration, more than doubling from its mean level of 3.5 persons in 1994 to 7.9 persons in 1997.
The proportion of newsrooms using online resources has also grown over the past four years, as Table 2 indicates. Beginning with a base of 57.2% in 1994, use has grown to 89.8% in 1997. Of the declining number of newsrooms not using online resources, the major reason cited is lack of hardware and software (36.4% in 1997). Lack of expertise or the more generic comment, "just starting," was cited by 18.2% each, data in Table 3 show. The other major shift in the past four years has been in frequency of use of online tools. Daily use has jumped from 27.4% in 1994 to 51.8% in 1997, as indicated in Table 4. Similarly, the proportion of newsrooms not using or not reporting use has declined from 38.9% in 1994 to 5.3% in 1997.
2Leading Online Resources, Researchers in Newsrooms
Growth of the Internet and World Wide Web has been significant and steady over the past four years. As shown in Table 5, use of the Internet and Web has grown from 25.0% in 1994 to 91.6% in 1997. America Online, an international entry-level service that offers affordable Internet access for smaller news organizations, has also grown from 17.3% in 1994 to 42.5% in 1997. With the growth of local government on Web sites and other online services, use of local government online has also increased faster than other services.
With the increase in use of online resources, there has been a benchmark shift in the nature of information searching in newsrooms. A decade ago, the limited commercial online services were solely the responsibility of librarians and news researchers. These tools were often expensive and required specialized training to operate proprietary hardware and software. Today, lower costs for many services have combined with more user-friendly hardware and, especially, software. The result is a shift in searching. More reporters and their supervisors are doing their own searching, as data in Table 6 indicate. About double the proportion of reporters in 1997 (48.2%) were doing their own online searching compared to two years earlier.
3Preferred Browser
A Web browser war has been fought within the computer industry for several years. Microsoft has refined its early versions of Internet Explorer and began to gain the attention of a growing portion of the browser market that is dominated by Netscape Navigator and the Communicator suite. In 1997, Navigator remained the worlds dominant browser with 65% to 80% share, depending on which market research is cited. Those figures are reflected in newsrooms across the United States also. More than three-quarters (76.5%) of daily newspapers participating in the study used Navigator. As indicated in Table 7, Internet Explorer was a distant second with less than 10 percent of users.
4Search Engines and Search Indices-Directories
Several mainstream search engines and search indices-directories receive wide use by journalists. AltaVista is the most popular search engine in daily newspaper newsrooms, listed by almost half (47.2%) of respondents as their first choice, as shown in Table 8. AltaVista, while not in the top four among Web search tools in 1997, has more than 60 gigabytes of information about 30 million Web pages and four million Newsgroup messages indexed. The AltaVista network includes Europe, Latin America, Australia, and Asia (Lake, 1997).
Yahoo! is actually a search index or directory, but is often considered a search engine by respondents. It is also highly used (25.4%). Yahoo!, perhaps the most popular search tool, was rated second. Yahoo! offers several approaches to searching, but its categories are helpful for subject searching. Yahoo! has 14 main subject categories. Each is subdivided into even more sections. It also has national sites that focus on single countries and specific metropolitan areas in the United States.
5Most Widely Used Web Sites
Of the tens of thousands of commercial, organizational, personal, and public / government Web sites available for journalists to use in gathering information, which ones tend to be most useful? Which are the most-used sites? The answer to both of these questions is government sites. In this case, both state and federal government sites are widely used. Data in Table 9 show that newspaper journalists use state and local government sites most often almost one in four (23.9%) named them as a favorite sites when they use the World Wide Web. Another government site, the U.S. Census site (http://www.census.gov), was named by 17.2% of users. Search engines and indices Alta Vista (http://www.altavista.com) and Yahoo! (http://www.yahoo.com) were next on the list, but two more federal government sites followed. The Securities and Exchange Commission site (http://www.sec.gov), called EDGAR, and the Federal Elections Commission site (http://www.fec.gov) that permits access to campaign contributions data were named by 6.0% and 4.5% respectively. While these figures may not seem dominating, they are important considering the thousands of government servers and other private sites that may be useful to journalists.
6Qualities of Strong and Weak Web Sites
While there may be disagreement over the value of the World Wide Web to journalists, there are still concerns about what makes a Web site useful to newsgathering. Most of the issues seem to be the same ones journalists consider when dealing with information in other forms such as the accuracy and availability of the information. Data in Table 10 show that journalists in 1997 were most concerned about finding valid and accurate information in Web sites. A total of 35.1% noted this when listing qualities of a Web site. However, finding information in a timely manner is also important. Another 20.2% listed easy access to the information, 11.9% listed searchable sites to help find information, and 10.7% noted that the overall response speed of the site server mattered. The ability to download data was also mentioned.
There are problems with sites that trouble journalists, also. Pointless graphics, which increase information transfer time, was most-often (27.5%) mentioned. Slow-loading pages was mentioned third (10.8%) as well. The quality of information surfaced as an issue. Sites with useless or bad content were named by 18.0%. Bad site organization, making it slow to find needed facts, was mentioned by 9.0% and the lack of attribution was named by another 7.2% of respondents. Content that was perceived to be too public relations-oriented was seen as another characteristic of poor quality sites and named by 7.2%.
7Problems with Web Sites
Verification of information is the biggest problem that journalists feel that they face when using Web sites. Data in Table 11 show 19.6% of journalists named this problem first on their list. The ability to find the site quickly was mentioned by 16.7% of the respondents. The lack of reliable information was listed by 16.1% and questionable truthfulness of information was named by 11.3% of users. Accurate information that is out of date is still another Web problem, 10.1% of respondents noted.
8Online Successes and Failures in Newsrooms
Journalists find the ability to conduct background research for a news story to be the most important (12.5%) success of using online research tools, as shown in Table 12. Locating difficult-to-find information is often cited (11.6%). Finding sources and gathering news quickly are widely credited for success with online research as well.
On the other side of the issue, journalists identify only one major failure with online research not taking advantage of the resources (35.1%). While one in three responses listed this frustration, journalists also mentioned the fact that they were slow to learn to use online resources or did not receive enough training in their newsrooms. Similarly, they noted there were not enough resources in the newsroom to use them.
CONCLUSIONS
The use of networked information resources for newsgathering is still in its infancy. This is especially true when considering the Internet and World Wide Web. While certain commercial services have been available for as much as two decades such as Nexis-Lexis other online tools have been use for just a few years. Thus, understanding the use process and its effects of such resources is still evolving. The proportion of news organizations using these resources has been shown to be increasing. While adoption of the tools is almost 100%, the journalists are only beginning to gain experience with them.
Most journalists seem to be aware of the usefulness of the World Wide Web and the Internet. While it is now clearly a tool for background research, location of sources, locating story ideas, and confirmation of certain types of information, other uses have not yet been fully explored. As more and more newspapers develop online networks as distribution tools, these new methods of gathering and distributing information will emerge. One example is found in the use of public databases as information resources for news stories, but also as resources for readers on the newspapers World Wide Web sites. This application has been explored at several major daily newspapers in 1996 and 1997 and may spread quickly in 1998.
There has been concurrent development of fear of the World Wide Web as an information resource. Because of the lack of control of information placed on Web sites, journalists are becoming more concerned about the usefulness of Web site information. This concern is similar to concern for accuracy and verification of content of any information that might arrive in their newsrooms by fax, mail, anonymous telephone call voice mail, or overnight delivery service.
It is interesting that there is still reluctance on the part of some journalists to recognize the value of online tools such as the World Wide Web. One quarter of respondent newspapers doubted the importance of the Web. At the same time, mastery of online resources, such as using the Web, was rated the highest computer skill priority for journalists in 1997.
Because of their dependence on public information, journalists are using online government resources as quickly as they become available. The main hurdle in this aspect of online research and newsgathering is government itself. Some local governments either lack the funding or the interest to make certain public records accessible for remote online users. There are also numerous local legal barriers that must be overcome.
Journalists must be critical of the online resources they use. It is apparent that many newsrooms view online resources in the same skeptical manner they view traditional documents and human sources. The desire for valid and accurate information is high, as is the identification of verification as the leading problem with Web-based information. The continued growth of online sources in newsgathering is dependent on access and training. Journalists also identify this as a major frustration with online in their own newsrooms. Each of the failures listed is connected to either access or training.
This study has established the current use patterns in newsrooms. Additional analysis and study of how the Internet, the World Wide Web, and commercial online services will be required for fuller understanding that descriptive analysis cannot achieve. The dynamic nature of the online world, especially the World Wide Web, will require regular study of how journalists use these tools and, perhaps, how their work habits change. Evolution on the Internet is occurring so rapidly that the findings reported in this study are rapidly becoming dated. There is no doubt of the potential impact that online sources have on journalism. However, regular monitoring and analysis are necessary to understand this impact on journalism.
REFERENCES
Anon. (1997, October 21). The Internet census. PC Magazine, 16(18), p. 10.
Branscomb, H.E. (1998). Casting Your Net: A Students Guide to Research on the Internet. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Cady, G.H. and McGregor, P. (1995). Mastering the Internet. Alameda, Calif.: Sybex.
Castro, E. (1997). Netscape Communicator 4.0 Windows, Berkeley, Calif.: Peachpit Press.
Davenport, L., Fico, F., and Weinstock, D. (1996, Summer/Fall). Computers in newsrooms of Michigan newspapers. Newspaper Research Journal, 17(3-4), 14-28.
Ford, A. (1995). Spinning the Web: How to Provide Information on the Internet. London: International Thomson.
Garrison, B. (1998). Computer-Assisted Reporting, 2nd ed., in press, Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Garrison, B. (1996). Successful Strategies for Computer-Assisted Reporting, Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Hahn, H. and Stout, R. (1994). The Internet Complete Reference. Berkeley, Calif.: Osborne.
Koch, T. (1996). The medium is the message: Online all the time for everyone. Westport, Conn.: Praeger.
Kurland, D.J.; Messere, F.; and Palombo, P.J. (1997). Introduction to the Internet for Electronic Media: Research and Application, Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth.
Lake, M.J. (1997, September). Second annual search engine shoot-out. PC Computing, 10(9), pp. 196-204.
Lehto, K.A. and Polonsky, W.B. (1996). Introducing Microsoft FrontPage, Redmond, Wash.: Microsoft Press.
McGuire, M.; Stilborne, L.; McAdams, M.; and Hyatt, L. (1997). The Internet Handbook for Writers, Researchers, and Journalists, Toronto: Trifolium Books.
Miller, L.C. (1998). Power Journalism: Computer-Assisted Reporting. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace.
Parsons, P. and Johnson, R.B. (1996, Summer/Fall). ProfNet: A computer-assisted bridge to academia. Newspaper Research Journal, 17(3-4), 29-38.
Peal, D. (1994). Access the Web. Sybex: San Francisco.
Pfaffenberger, B. (1996). Web Search Strategies. New York: MIS Press.
Reddick, R. and King, E. (1997). The Online Journalist: Using the Internet and Other Electronic Resources, 2nd ed. Fort Worth: Harcourt, Brace.
RHI Consulting (1997, September 29). Brochureware lives! InformationWeek, No. 650, p. 12.
Ross, S.S. and Middleberg, D. (1997, November 12). The media in cyberspace III: A research study, World Wide Web, http://www.mediasource.com/study/cont.htm.
Tolhurst, W.A.; Pike, M.A.; Blanton, K.A.; and Harris, J.R. (1994). Using the Internet: Special Edition, Indianapolis: Que Books.
TABLE 1
GENERAL NEWSPAPER USE OF COMPUTERS
Category
1994
1995 1996 1997
_______________________________________________________________________
Use computers in newsgathering
66%
70% 78%
88%
Use a CAR "desk"
47
43
39 44
CAR integrated throughout newsroom --
--
30
32
Offer some type of CAR training
30
41
48
53
In-house training classes
--
22
28 44
Mean number of persons used for CAR 3.5 4.7
6.3
7.9
_______________________________________________________________________
TABLE 2
NEWSPAPER USE OF ONLINE RESOURCES
Uses online
Percentage
in reporting
1994
1995 1996
1997 Change
________________________________________________________________________
Yes
57.2%
63.8% 80.7% 89.8%
+32.6%
No
39.9
33.4
19.3
7.5 - 32.4
Missing
2.9
2.8
0.0
2.7
- 0.2
________________________________________________________________________
Totals
100.0%
100.0% 100.0% 100.0%
TABLE 3
REASONS FOR NOT USING ONLINE RESOURCES
Percentage
Reason
1994
1995
1996
1997
Change
n
= 58 n = 62
n = 31 n = 11
_______________________________________________________________________
No hardware/software 27.6% 22.6%
32.3%
36.4% +8.8%
No expertise 8.6
6.5
6.5
18.2
+9.6
Just starting 10.3
24.2
19.4
18.2
+ 7.9
No interest
6.9
1.6
3.2
9.1
+2.2
Money or budget 25.9
12.9
16.1
9.1
-16.8
Use other service 0.0
0.0
0.0
9.1
+ 9.1
Not yet online 13.8
22.6
19.4
0.0
-13.8
Dragging feet 0.0
1.6
0.0
0.0
-1.6
Not high priority 6.9
8.1
3.2
0.0
-6.9
_____________________________________________________________________________
Totals
100.0%
100.1% 100.1%
100.0%
TABLE 4
FREQUENCY OF USE OF ONLINE RESOURCES
Percentage
Frequency
1994
1995 1996
1997 Change
_____________________________________________________________________________
Daily, more often 27.4% 28.9% 36.9% 51.8%
+24.4%
Weekly, more often 12.1 22.0
25.8
28.8
+16.7
Monthly, more often 3.6
9.8
12.9
4.9
+ 1.3
Less than monthly 1.4
5.8
4.3
7.1
+ 5.7
Missing / never used 38.9 33.8
20.2
5.3 -
33.6
Other
17.3
----
----
---- ----
_____________________________________________________________________________
Totals
100.7%
100.3% 100.1%
100.0%
TABLE 5
LEADING ONLINE RESOURCES IN NEWSROOMS
Percentage
Service
1994
1995
1996
1997
Change
_____________________________________________________________________________
Internet / WWW 25.0%
44.6% 66.5% 91.6%
+66.6%
America Online 17.3
38.0 47.2
42.5 +25.2
Local govt. online ----- 27.2
28.3
46.0
+18.8*
PACER
-----
19.5
23.2
27.4
+7.9*
DataTimes
14.9
26.8
24.5
19.9
+5.0
Westlaw
0.0
1.7
3.4
3.5
+3.5
FedWorld
-----
19.9
20.6
19.9
0.0*
Datalink
1.0
1.0
2.1
0.9
-0.1
Information America -----
3.8
4.7
3.1
-0.7*
Lexis / Nexis 28.8
28.2
28.8
25.7
-3.1
CompuServe 38.0
39.4
41.6
26.5
-11.5
_____________________________________________________________________________
* Percent change from 1995 to 1997 only.
TABLE 6
INDIVIDUALS CONDUCTING ONLINE RESEARCH
Position/title
Percentage
of person
1995
1996
1997
Change 1995-97
_____________________________________________________________________________
Reporter
23.5%
31.8% 48.2% +24.7%
Librarian/researcher 25.3 17.2
15.5
-9.8
Anyone in newsroom 22.6 22.3
21.7
-0.9
Editor
3.6
4.3
2.7
-0.9
None/missing 14.5
21.0
11.1
-3.4
Other
10.4
3.4
0.9
-9.5
_____________________________________________________________________________
Totals
99.9%
100.0% 100.1%
TABLE 7
WORLD WIDE WEB BROWSER SOFTWARE IN NEWSROOMS
Browser 1997
_____________________________________________________________________________
Netscape Navigator
76.5%
Microsoft Internet Explorer
7.5
America Online browser
4.4
Other
0.4
Missing
11.1
_____________________________________________________________________________
n = 226
TABLE 8
SEARCH ENGINES AND INDICES IN NEWSROOMS
Search engine 1997
____________________________________________________________________________
AltaVista
47.2%
Yahoo!
25.4
Lycos
5.1
InfoSeek
5.1
Excite
4.6
Webcrawler
4.6
HotBot
2.0
Other
6.1
____________________________________________________________________________
n = 197
TABLE 9
FAVORITE WORLD WIDE WEB SITES
Web site 1997
____________________________________________________________________________
State government sites
23.9%
U.S. Census
17.2
AltaVista
13.4
Yahoo!
11.9
SEC Edgar
6.0
Federal Election Commission 4.5
Switchboard
3.0
FedWorld
2.2
Lycos
2.2
Various newspaper sites
2.2
____________________________________________________________________________
(Note: First-listed responses only, n = 134)
TABLE 10
CHARACTERISTICS OF WEB SITES
Characteristics 1997
____________________________________________________________________________
STRONG WEB SITES
Valid, accurate information
35.1%
Easy access to information
20.2
Searchable
11.9
Speed
10.7
Downloadable delimited data 5.4
Clean page layout
4.8
Reputable source
3.6
Minimum graphics
2.4
Other
6.0
WEAK WEB SITES
Pointless graphics
27.5%
Useless or bad content
18.0
Slow to load
10.8
Bad site organization
9.0
No attribution
7.2
PR-oriented content
7.2
Not searchable
5.4
Inaccurate information
4.8
Hard to find
3.0
Other
7.1
____________________________________________________________________________
n = 168 for strong Web sites responses and n = 167 for weak Web sites responses
TABLE 11
PROBLEMS OF WEB SITES AS NEWS SOURCES
Problems 1997
____________________________________________________________________________
Verification
19.6%
Slow to find the site
16.7
Unreliable
16.1
Truthfulness
11.3
Outdated
10.1
Badly sourced
4.2
Server down
3.6
Broad categories
3.6
Bad content
3.6
Other
11.2
____________________________________________________________________________
(Note: First-choice responses only, n = 168)
TABLE 12
ONLINE USE SUCCESSES AND FAILURES
Category 1997
____________________________________________________________________________
SUCCESSES
Background
12.5%
Finding difficult-to-find facts
11.6
Finding sources
9.8
Getting news fast
8.9
Extending government coverage
8.0
Added depth, context
7.1
FAILURES
Not taking advantage of online
35.1%
Slow to learn to use online
8.8
Not enough training for use
8.8
Not enough resources to use
8.8
Time wasted, money wasted
5.3
Lack of access
5.3
Some staff members not motivated 5.3
____________________________________________________________________________
n = 112 for successes and n = 114 for failures