Dylan Milkent

Writing Sample

The document that I have uploaded is from my Communication Research course that I took in
the fall semester of 2013. This is an excerpt from a 185 page research project that I had 4
partners with. This excerpt was part of the literature review. As public relation professionals,
we decided to research how college students were getting their news. We believed that this is
important for many reasons. This can be beneficial for marketers, advertisers, and simply those
who are trying to reach a mass audience with information. The formatting was APA.














Opinions of News Consumers
The way in which news consumers are obtaining their news have been shifting away
from print and cable to Internet sources and social media. There are several reasons for this
change in consumers methods of obtaining their news. One of the major reasons is that there
are certain media outlets that are not matching consumer needs. In particular, this need is for
immediate news (Edna & Mitchell, 2013). When obtaining news from friends and family, the
most common way is of word of mouth (Edna & Mitchell, 2013). Once the original news is
heard, many of those consuming the news want to find out more about the particular news story.
For United States adults, 35% of adults follow up their news very often through social media
sites or media, and 42% somewhat often follow up their news by social media sites and email
(Edna & Mitchell, 2013). Only 27% sought out more news by word of mouth very often and
37% very often (Edna & Mitchell). The factor that must be taken away from this study was that
the news was being sought out. Adults in the United States that were not concerned for finding
more information about the story was 23% (Edna & Mitchell, 2013). This indicates that news
consumers are willing to go online to seek out news.
The data collected by Edna and Mitchell is consistent to other studies of how often
people are discovering the news through the Internet. With the introduction of the use of
Internet, other sources of media have been in decline (Gaskins & Jerit, 2012). During the 2008
Presidential election, Gaskins and Jerit studied the media outlets preferred to determine news of
the candidates. This was an important study because this was news that consumers would be
willing to go out and find what was most important to the race. Research showed that
newspapers were in decline of use when the Internet was introduced (Gaskins & Jerit, 2012). To
see if this phenomenon was based on the fact that offline newspapers were being replaced by
their online equal, questions were applied to see what the popular Internet sources were. The
newspaper sites were not those that were most popular (Gaskins & Jerit, 2012). Sources such as
search engines Yahoo and Google and news websites like cnn.com and msn.com were more
popular (Gaskins & Jerit, 2012). Overall, the newspaper fell behind in the categories of
convenience, variety, and vote (Gaskins & Jerit, 2012). The vote category represented which
outlet seemed to be the most helpful when it came for outlets that voter could post their ballot.
The Internet was optimal preference for the categories, followed by television, radio, and
newspaper (Gaskins & Jerit, 2012). These categories fit what the overlaying usefulness of each
news outlet. The strongest beneift for the Internet over other media outlets is because The
Internet is easily accessible and has the ability to be updated quickly (Gaskins & Jerit, 2012).
Newspapers were not the only news outlet that showed decline with the introduction of
the Internet. Television and radio also proved to be in decline since the introduction of the
Internet (Gaskins & Jerit, 2012, p. 199). This supports the study made by Edna and Mitchell
study. There are advantages that the Internet has over the media outlets that make it more
preferable to United States consumers (Gaskins & Jerit, 2012). The options of having choice and
control over ones media outlet were important factors (Gaskins & Jerit, 2012, p. 199). The
ability to choose their outlet and what the consumer would like to specifically read is a key
component over the other media outlets (Gaskins & Jerit, 2012). The multiple outlets that are
available has given consumers the ability to control their media. With the digital natives
becoming of a mature age, the social media outlets are important for future research. This is
because it gives news producers information of how they need to reach their consumers.


Social Media Popularity
With social media being introduced into the news market, it is important to know the
demographics that are popular with a specific social media site. This is because if there is news
that is specifically being sent out to a particular group of people, one would need to know where
to go. An example of this would be a Republican biased independent news outlet. Pew
Research Center (2013) researched the news consumption about Facebook compared to other
social networks such as: YouTube, Twitter, Google Plus, and LinkedIn in comparison with the
United States population of adults. The study was based off of the percentage of United States
adults covering the demographics of gender, age, income, amount of education the individual
had gone through, ethnicity, and political affiliation (Pew, 2013). In regards to the most popular
in gender, LinkedIn had the largest difference in use (Pew, 2013). LinkedIn would have a
difference with its users of 67% male and 33% female (Pew, 2013). In comparison, Facebook
had 42% male users and 58% female users (Pew, 2013).
The age demographic was resourceful because it gives data on specific age groups.
These groups were: 18-29, 30-49, 50-64, and 65+ (Pew, 2013). Facebook users of the age
demographic 30-49 use it the most to get their news via social media (Pew, 2013). YouTube
users of 18-29 use this social media the most with 39% of users (Pew, 2013). For the Twitter,
the age group of 18-29 used it the most to get their news (Pew, 2013). Google Plus demographic
that used it the most for news was 30-49 with 37%, and LinkedIn highest use in a demographic
was 30-49 with 50% (Pew, 2013).
Holcomb, Gottfriend, and Mitchell did research on determining how loyal consumers
stick with their social media news outlet (2013). It is rather rare that users switch (Holcomb,
Gottfriend, & Mitchell, 2013). Those who get news from just one site, 65% of United States
adults limit their search to their one site (Holcomb, Gottfriend, &Mitchell, 2013). For those who
use two sites, 26% of adults choose to find more (Holcomb, Gottfriend, & Mitchell, 2013). And
finally, 9% of news consumers on social media use three or more sites (Holcomb, Gottfriend, &
Mitchell, 2013).
The Decline of Newspapers
Newspapers have been tremendously impacted by the transition to media outlets on the
Internet. With the enhancement of digital technology such as smart phones and tablets,
information is essentially instant. It is no long necessary to wait for news. Apps such as
Flipboard give users the ability to fully customize their news by pulling from multiple news
sources from just one app (Cramer, 2013). An example, such as Flipboard, demonstrates how
news consumers are transitioning to a new way of obtaining news (Cramer, 2013). This instant
gratification takes an effect on newspaper organizations and their employees (Cramer, 2013).
The career path of journalists has been impacted in a negative way. Cramer (2013) states the
transition for journalists:
In the past reporters could start in small markets, pay their dues, move up in the world,
and settle into a career with a legacy news organization, but they now face massive
layoffs and the elimination of hundreds of those legacy news organizations because of the
pressures of todays news environment (p. 21).
This can be a deterrent for future journalists. The journalism field is not a thriving one.
The changing news environment from print to online media has been a result of the many
advantages that online sources have. One of the key factors of why print media has taken a hit is
that there is endless space for digital print. News organizations are not limited to a certain
number of words or page space. Stories can be printed throughout the day without waiting to see
which stories can fit on the news print (Althaus & Tewksbury, 2001). When traditional news
organizations move from print to digital, they print what their normal fare would be, and add
other stories and features (Althaus & Tewksbury, 2001). Using the Internet lets the news
consumers obtain the news much for quickly (Althaus & Tewksbury, 2001). By obtaining their
news more quickly, this leads into another advantage that the Internet has. This is that
consumers seek control over their news.
The Internet, in theory, allows people searching for news to be able to quickly find their
news and navigate to what they see. People that have a desire to control their external
environment are drawn to the Internet because this type of media allows for greater control than
other media outlets (Althaus & Tewkbury, 2001). However, despite this fact, there has been no
study that been done that assess the importance of how control over the media outlet has a
predictor of how news will be consumed (Althaus & Tewkbury, 2001). This being said,
consumers also have a desire for more control over their ability to obtain the news.
The added news outlets have led to greater competition for the newspaper (Diddi &
LaRose, 2006). There are just so many different outlets that the newspaper has to compete with.
According to Diddi and LaRose (2006),
. The extremely varied media environment that now confronts the news consumer might be
thought to stimulate active selection of news sources more than ever, simply by virtue of
presenting so many new choices, most of which are accessible at all times of the day and
night (p. 194).
With the large amount of options for news outlets that are available, humans innately
want to give themselves something where they do not have to select (Diddi & LaRose, 2006).
The consumer will lapse into a habitual pattern of media consumption in order to conserve
mental resources instead of having to perform an active selection process (Diddi & LaRose,
2006). Because this generation of college students are the first to be so heavily dependent on
the Internet, this media outlet has simply become one of habit (Diddi & LaRose, 2006). These
reasons combined have helped in the demise of the Newspaper.
The struggles of the legacy newspaper organizations have brought forth two issues. They
can either adapt or collapse. For many of the major organizations, they have chosen to adapt to
the new trend of social media. Sources such as The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times
have turned to twitter in order to maintain popularity (Cramer, 2013). According to Cramer
(2013), The New York Times has sent out over 100,000 tweets and has nearly 8 million followers
following their twitter handle @nytimes (p. 24). For The New York Times and many other
newspapers, getting the news to their consumers is what keeps them driven. The content is the
most important factor, and if the journalist is able to put out a message that readers cannot
ignore, the newspaper will carry on (Cramer, 2013). According to Cramer (2013), big budgets
and the best writers are still going to keep the industry alive in the social web era (p. 24). It has
become the future journalists responsibility to carry on the newspaper industry.





References
Althaus, S. L. & Tewksbury, D. (2000). Patterns of internet and traditional news media use in
a networked community. Routledge. Retrieved from
http://faculty.las.illinois.edu/salthaus/Publications/althaus_tewksbury_2000_pc.pdf
Cramer, M. L. (2013). The death of the media brand: Is your good name worth anything?
Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=f9bf89a8-
d090-4b56-aba2-4b781f8fd087%40sessionmgr13&vid=8&hid=20
Diddi, A. & LaRose, R. (2006). Getting hooked on news: Uses and gratifications and the
formation of news habits among college students in an internet. Journal of Broadcasting
& Electronic Media. 194-197
Enda, J. & Mitchell, A. (2013). Friends and family: Important drivers of news. The Pew
Research Centers Project for Excellence in Journalism: The State of the News Media
2013 An Annual Report on American Journalism. Retrieved from
http://stateofthemedia.org/2013/special-reports-landing-page/friends-and-family-
important-drivers-of-news/
Gaskins, B. & Jerit, J. (2012). Internet News: Is it a Replacement for Traditional Media
Outlets? The International Journal of Press/Politics. 197-199
World Internet Project. (2012). World internet project international report. Retrieved from
http://worldinternetproject.net/_files/_Published/_oldis/770_2012wip_report4th_ed.pdf