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the new normal for news have global media changed forever?
Oriella PR Network Global Digital Journalism Study 2013
Executive Summary
The 2013 Oriella Digital Journalism, our sixth annual investigation into the role and impact of digital media in newsrooms and news-gathering worldwide, in many senses marks a watershed. The study is based on a survey of over 500 journalists spanning 14 countries (Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, New Zealand, Russia, Spain, Sweden, the UK and the USA), and finds digital media well entrenched in all countries, albeit in very different ways. More respondents than ever believe their largest readership is now online rather than off, and their performance is overwhelmingly evaluated based on digital metrics like unique visitors. These developments reflect the significant investments proprietors have made in their digital platforms, as the world turns away from print media and towards digital content.
of the journalism game. A third of respondents believes their title is digital first in other words they break news as it happens online, rather than holding it until the next edition. A quarter say they develop multiple versions of the same story as it develops. And, nearly half of the journalists in our survey say their title now produces its own video material in-house. monetisation model - The models for generating revenue via digital journalism are changing too; paid-for smartphone apps for rich media content are rising in popularity while the dominant monetisation model ad-supported content have tailed off somewhat. the journalistic arsenal. The use of blogs and microblogs to source and verify news stories is broadly in line with last year but only when the sources behind those feeds are known to the journalists. Journalists personal use of social media is also growing. For the first time, the proportion of journalists active on Twitter in a personal capacity has passed the fifty percent mark, and a third have their own blogs.
than blogs and Twitter in particular, the use of Google Plus, widely lampooned in many areas of mainstream media, is remarkably popular, both with media brands and journalists themselves. values remain. The most prized source of news and validation are conversations with industry insiders. Expert spokespeople such as analysts and academics are now the first place journalists go to in order to get their news. And the most trusted sources are academics and technical experts, rather than executives, marketers and political figures.
These trends, we believe, indicate the true emergence of digital journalism as a mainstream force in world media a New Normal for News, as we have dubbed it. Media tactics which just a few years ago would have worked perfectly well, can no longer be relied on to the same extent as before. The trend towards digital first publishing and mobile content all have big implications for how brands communicate. We explore the developments, the challenges and the opportunities they bring, throughout the report, and provide some actionable guidance based on our conclusions, in the Summary.
Chapter two: social media and news-gathering a new world order emerges
Over the past three years we have charted the impact social media have had on news-gathering itself. Last year, after observing how coverage of the intense political turmoil in the Middle East and elsewhere had become dominated by social media content, our survey showed just how popular microblogs and more traditional blogs were for journalists looking for new stories, or substantiation for pieces they were already working on. This year the trend is broadly similar with 51 per cent of journalists worldwide say they use microblogs (e.g. Twitter, Facebook and Weibo) to gather new stories provided the source behind those accounts is known and trusted by them (2012 figure, 54 per cent). As was the case in 2012, reliance on these sources falls dramatically when the sources are not known to the journalist: 25 per cent say they source stories in this way the same proportion as 2012. The UK, Canada (both with 68 per cent), China (64 per cent) and France (55 per cent) are the countries where journalists have most readily embraced social media newsgathering provided the sources are trustworthy. Use of social media by journalists to verify the stories theyre already working on is also in line with the 2012 findings. Globally, 42 per cent of journalists use trusted microblogs (2012, 43 per cent), and 37 per cent use blogs they know (2012, 38 per cent) to verify stories. Compared with other sources, usage of social media for news gathering and verification has changed the least since last year, indicating journalists and their editors remain broadly happy with the role of social media in their journalism. As last year, the most important sources of news and validation are conversations with industry insiders. In 2012, 63 per cent of journalists said they sourced news through these discussions, 62 per cent said they used them for validation. This year the figures have declined, but still outstrip social media channels: 59 per cent of respondents use them to source news, 54 per cent use them for validation.
HOW DO YOU SOURCE AND VERIFY THE STORIES YOU WORK ON? HOW DO YOU SOURCE AND VERIFY THE STORIES YOU WORK ON?
5% CHANGE ON 2012 0% -5% -10% -15% 70%
60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0%
FAMILIAR MICROBLOGS UNFAMILIAR MICROBLOGS FAMILIAR BLOGS UNFAMILIAR BLOGS INDUSTRY INSIDERS WIRE SERVICES CORPORATE SPOKESPEOPLE PR AGENCIES OTHER
It is no surprise social media have become so invaluable to journalists: from President Barack Obama to Rupert Murdoch and even the Pope, many of the key agenda-shapers on the world stage make their views public on social media. Yet when asked which single information source journalists would look at first when developing a story, a far more complicated picture emerges (see chart below). In 2011-2012, we tracked a significant shift away from pre-packaged stories in the form of press releases, and towards the one-to-one contact with expert spokespeople. That shift is continuing in 2013 only seven per cent of respondents say their press release in-tray is their first port of call. But there has been a big fall in use of corporate spokespeople, too from 24 per cent in 2012 to 16 per cent this year. Use of social media has increased substantially, and as a first port of call is now just one basis point behind the press release in-tray. Compare this with the picture in 2011, when press releases were the number one first source of information for journalists. Meanwhile use of third-party blogs and analysts has experienced slight growth compared with a year ago. Of all the countries surveyed, German journalists depend the most on press releases; meanwhile journalists in the UK, US, Sweden, Russia and China place the heaviest emphasis on contact with expert spokespeople.
Key agendashapers on the world stage make their views public on social media
WHO WOULD BE YOUR FIRST PORT OF CALL WHEN RESEARCHING A STORY? WOULD BE YOUR FIRST PORT OF CALL WHEN RESEARCHING A STORY? (ONLY WHO ONE RESPONSE ALLOWED)
(ONLY ONE RESPONSE ALLOWED)
INTERVIEWS WITH CORPORATE SPOKESPEOPLE
NEWSWIRES / AGENCIES
CORPORATE WEBSITES
ANALYSTS
PR AGENCIES
CORPORATE BLOGS
0%
5%
10% 2013
20%
25%
30%
ANALYIST
COMPANY CEO
NGO OR CHARITY
Distrust
REGULATOR OR GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL
Trust
A READER
HEAD OF MARKETING
-40
-20
20
40
60
80
47%
59%
JOURNALISTS PERSONAL USE SOCIAL JOURNALISTS' PERSONAL USE OFOF SOCIAL MEDIA MEDIA
100.00% 90.00% 80.00% 70.00% 60.00% 50.00% 40.00% 30.00% 20.00% 10.00% 0.00% UK France Germany Italy Spain Russia Sweden China India Australia NZ USA Canada Brazil Personal blog Personal Twitter handle Personal Google Plus page
WHICH OF WHICH THE FOLLOWING DO YOU OPERATE ON A PERSONAL BASIS? OF THE FOLLOWING DO YOU OPERATE ON A PERSONAL BASIS?
70.00% 60.00% 50.00% 40.00% Global 2013 30.00% 20.00% 10.00% 0.00% Personal blog Personal Twitter handle Personal Google Personal YouTube Plus page channel Other Pinterest Instagram Global 2012
10
2002
42
2012
23
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Our study shows overwhelmingly that free-for-all access based on advertising revenues remains the current orthodoxy, though its popularity has experienced a slight decline, from 38 per cent in 2012 to 35 per cent this year. This trend surely explains the focus on web traffic and unique users as performance metrics for journalists explored in Chapter One. When it comes to charging for digital content, paywalls and freemium models of monetising content presented on a web browser have given way to the smartphone and tablet. Adoption of these devices has accelerated enormously over the past year, and has caught the imaginations of proprietors looking for ways of monetising their content other than through advertisements. Our study has found that paid-for smartphone or tablet apps have almost doubled in popularity, from five per cent in 2012 to eight per cent this year, with continental European media groups plus Chinese proprietors - leading the charge. One in four French journalists, and 20 per cent in Brazil, said their titles operated premium apps. In Italy, 12 per cent, Spain, eight per cent and in Germany, nine per cent, of journalists surveyed agreed. By contrast, in the USA and Canada, not a single journalist said their title had premium apps. Indeed, a far higher proportion of respondents in these countries said their business model was based on ad-funded free access to content.
60.00%
50.00%
20.00%
10.00%
0.00% Personal blog Personal Twitter handle Personal Google Personal YouTube Plus page channel Other Pinterest Instagram
7 The Future of Mobile News, Pew Research Centers Project for Excellence in Journalism, October 2012 http://www.jour nalism.org/analysis_report/future_mobile_news 8 Canalys, February 2013, quoted in Mobithinking Global Mobile Statistics, March 2013 http://mobithinking.com/mobile-mar keting-tools/latest-mobile-stats/a
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If the new normal for news means that media groups indeed peg their long-term future to mobile devices, the ramifications for brands are significant. First, it is probable that news content will be far more interactive than it has been in the past, as touch-screen interfaces open up new possibilities for storytelling. One example could be interactive graphics (or digi-graphics) which allow readers to navigate their own path through stories. The New York Times and The Guardian are two pioneers in this area, though many other newspaper groups are bolstering their capabilities here9. Second, we may see a polarisation of how journalistic output is published. Short, punchy news updates providing near real-time coverage of events in print and on video, optimised for small screens at could be one end; longer-form feature and investigative pieces at the other. Shorter but quicker journalism could also afford media brands greater prominence and consequently greater traffic - in search rankings, news readers and social news aggregator apps such as Flipboard and Pulse News10.
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publications illustration and media production teams are better-resourced than ever to support an evolving audience. Challenge your teams to explore new ways of telling your story visually and build ties with these teams. gagement strategies; encourage in-house bloggers to use the platform to socialise their output and build Author Rank scores. The study shows media are enthusiastic Google Plus users: brands wishing to make their voices heard among journalists are advised to mirror them.
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CONTACT DETAILS:
Brands2Life, UK Giles Fraser | +44 20 7592 1200 | giles.fraser@brands2life.com HORN, USA Sabrina Horn | +1 646 202 9777 | sabrina.horn@horngroup.com Botica Butler Raudon Partners, New Zealand Allan Botica | +64 21 400 500 | allanb@botica.co.nz Buman Media, Russia Natalia Bucelnikova | +7 499 922 2401 | natalia@bumanmedia.ru Canela PR, Spain / Portugal Deborah Gray | +34 915 230 584 | dgray@canelapr.com Clipping, France Jean-Louis Aubert | +33 (0)1 44 59 69 00 | jean-louis@clipping.fr EastWest PR, China / Singapore Christian Dougoud | +86 10 6582 0018 | christian@eastwestpr.com Fink & Fuchs Public Relations AG, Germany Katja Rodenhuser | +49 (0) 611 741 3159 | katja.rodenhauser@ffpr.de LVTPR, Belgium / The Netherlands Charly Lammers van Toorenburg | +31 (0) 30 656 5070 | charly@lvtpr.nl Maverick PR, Canada Julie Rusciolelli | +1 416 640 5525 | julier@maverickpr.com Arcane, Canada Bryan Taylor | +1 646 280 2959 | bryan@arcane.ws MDI Strategic Solutions, Poland Janusz Leszczynski | +48 606 371 960 | jleszczynski@mdi.com.pl Noesis, Italy Giovanna Pandini | +39 02 8310511 | giovanna.pandini@noesis.net PR-COM, Germany Alain Blaes | +49 (0)89 59997 700 | alain.blaes@pr-com.de Vero PR, Thailand / Vietnam Brian Griffin | + 66851676952 | brian@veropr.com VIANEWS, Brazil Pedro Cadina | +55 (11) 3865 9990 | pedro.cadina@vianews.com.br Westmark Information, Sweden Mikael Westmark | +46 8 522 378 00 | mikael@westmark.se Candour Communications, India Dhrubajyoti Gayan | +91 99101 52352 | gayan@candour.co.in
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