Survey of Large Newspapers Studies Information Practices

Newspaper Research Journal, Fall 2003 by Hansen, Kathleen, Paul, Nora, Neibergall, Betsey

A survey of daily newspapers with more than 100,000 circulation provides general markers for six areas of information practice: access, training, quality control, archiving, revenue and alerts.

News organizations, long listed by the Census Bureau as manufacturers of non-durable goods, have been reclassified. As of the 2001 Statistical Abstract, newspaper publishing is in a new category - Information and Communication. This newly created "communication sector" is made up of organizations engaged in:

Producing and distributing information and cultural products, providing the means to transmit or distribute these products as well as data or communications, and processing data. It includes establishments previously classified in the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) in manufacturing (publishing); transportation, communications, and utilities (telecommunications andbroadcasting); and services (software publishing, motion picture production, data processing, online information services, and libraries.)

It appears that the Census Bureau understands, perhaps better than news organizations themselves, the changing nature of the business. As newspapers partner with other media outlets and seek to be the information portal for their communities, their business is combining with the others grouped under this new SIC code. This reclassification of news organizations from manufacturing concerns to information and communications establishments recognizes that news organizations are information processing organisms. They take in information, they digest it and they reconstitute it. But as the complexities of this new production and distribution environment grow, so do the problems news organizations face in the management, usage and optimization of their information resources.

With the new classification comes new terminology such as informatics,1 information access,2 information training,3 information quality control,4 information archiving,5 information revenue6 and information alerts7.

Literature Review

The academic and trade literature on the subject of newsroom information practices includes a number of studies that examine various aspects of this topic but none has looked at this range of issues within one study. Extensive work by Bruce Garrison provides longitudinal data on trends in the use of computers for newsgathering over many years.8 In particular, Garrison has found that reporters, editors and others in newsrooms have seen their informationgathering and distribution methods altered in the past decade, particularly by the adoption of Web and commercial information enterprises such as LexisNexis or Dialog.9 Many others have documented the adoption and diffusion of computer technologies into newsrooms and news practices in a variety of settings over a period of time.10 These studies all consistently find that news practitioners have widely incorporated information technologies into their news-gathering routines.

Others have documented the role of the news researcher/news librarian in the information gathering and evaluation process.11 In the early stages of information technology adoption in newsrooms, news researchers played a gatekeeping role, primarily because of the high cost and high skill level required to perform efficient searches. As the World Wide Web and Internet-based search tools became more accessible to journalists on their desktops, journalists performed their own searches. The role of the news researcher shifted to one who provides guidance and training for journalists to conduct their own research. News researchers also have taken on the roles of newsroom intranet developers, "information editors" and other "guide and direct" functions that assist journalists in being self-sufficient information searchers.

The implications of digital archiving for news organizations have formed the subject of another area of study.12 One of the most vexing problems facing newsrooms is the incompatibility (or nonexistence) of digital archives of text, graphics, moving images, sound and all of the ephemeral materials that now comprise both print and online versions of newspapers. In converged news operations that include print, online, broadcast and cable newsrooms, the problem is even worse. Anecdotal accounts from newsroom managers throughout the U.S. and internationally confirm the problem that is seemingly insurmountable with the current technology and software in place in most newsrooms.13

The serious lack of training opportunities for journalists, despite their much-expanded information search responsibilities, is another subject of considerable comment.14 The news industry has a poor record of support for ongoing professional development and training for its workers - an ironic situation given that the industry is positioned as an "information and communications" enterprise that should be supporting the highest level of information competence from its workers. But that is not the case. The most recent surveys documenting the serious lack of training opportunities have led to a number of foundation-supported industry initiatives, including one initiated by the Associated Press Managing Editors titled "NewsTrain," that intend to address some of the training gaps.15