J201Lecture: Print journalismWhat factors might contribute to the quality of journalism?•time and space constraints(news hole, news cycle, audience attention span)•presentation style(“edgy,” sensational, accessible)•revenue stream(public, subscription, advertising)What factors might contribute to the quality of journalism?•structure of the news organization (number of reporters, number of bureaus)•process of news gathering (procedures for sourcing, verifying, editing)•characteristics of news personnel(demographics, psychographics, geographics)•characteristics of news audience(demographics, psychographics, geographics)What factors might contribute to the quality of journalism?•ownership(family-owned, shareholder-owned, conglomerate)•stated partisan project or ideals(“liberal,” “conservative,” etc.)•unstated influence or affiliation(Democratic, Republican, labor, management, etc.)What should you do when you find “bad” journalism?•Consider scale: one article? one journalist? one newspaper? one media company? or all media?•Consider history: a pattern, or an isolated incident?•Consider intent: was mistake accidental? avoidable?•Consider effects: who stands to gain from mistake?•Consider yourself: do you harbor any biases?New York Times example•2003: Jayson Blair•2004: Judith Miller•2005: Pew Research Center study•2005: Respond with a “campaign to secure our accuracy, fairness and accountability"Are newspapers in trouble?2008: down to about 53 millioneach2008: about the samepeople just aren’t reading newspapers like they used to•% of Americans reading newspapers began to drop in 1940s•overall circulation rose until 1970, was steady through 1990 •population growth masked percentage decline in readership•after 1990, circulation began decreasing in absolute termsnewspaper reading today•properties: about 1,500 daily newspapers in US•circulation: 53 million single newspapers sold each day•readership: only 54% of Americans read a newspaper sometime during the week•household penetration: on average, only 53% of households take a newspaper (down from 123% in 1950)why have so many people stopped reading newspapers?•generational change•suburbanization•free weeklies•reporting cutbacks•chasing demographics rather than readers•competition from television (Baughman)who is and isn’t reading newspapers?•age: young people read less•ethnicity: readership lowest among fastest-growing “minority” population•education: more education = more likely to read a newspaper•income: higher income = more likely to read a newspapercomparing newspapers to TV: journalistic practices•85% of newspaper front page stories are staff-generated rather than attributed solely to an outside source (56% for network evening news)•2% of newspaper stories use at least one blind anonymous source (14% for network evening news)•52% of newspaper stories use at least four named identified sources (18% for network evening news)Do people believe what they read in the papers?today 59% of Americans believe their daily paper, but ...•in 1985, 80% of Americans believed their daily paper•people today trust papers less than local and network television news•“cultural divide”: journalists seen as “out of touch” and motivated more by profit than public interest•yet people still turn to newspapers to “make sense” of the world, especially during key
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