News Sources and Follow-up Communication

For sports actors, social media provide the opportunity to bypass sports journalism's gatekeeping function and to disseminate sports-related information to target groups directly. Thus, social media have been conceptualized as a competitor to journalism. We argue that the relation is much more diverse. We differentiate between competitive, integrative, and complementary facets of the relationship between sports journalism and social media. Our study focuses on complementarity and analyzes how far social and mainstream media serve as sources for each other. Therefore, we combine an online survey among 122 German sports journalists, an analysis of the Twitter networks of German sports journalists during the Winter Olympics 2014, and a content analysis of the most popular news items in social media. Results suggest that sports journalists perceive social media accounts of athletes as beneficial news sources, especially to gather inside information. Huge sports events influence the social media activities of sports journalists as they tend to have stronger connections to athletes at these times. Whereas social media appear to be significant sources for sports journalism, sports media content receives little attention in social media. However, our results indicate that sports journalism and social media indeed maintain a complementary relation.     

Deceptive Journalism: Characteristics of Untrustworthy News Items

ABSTRACT

Trustworthiness is key in journalism, yet some journalists intentionally deceive their audiences by fabricating sources or inventing news stories altogether. Earlier research suggests that deceitful news articles have characteristics that are different from trustworthy news articles. We aimed to confirm and expand on the existing literature by examining the case of Perdiep Ramesar, an esteemed Dutch journalist until it was discovered in 2014 that sources were non-existing in 126 of his articles for national newspaper Trouw (“Fidelity”). Using content analysis, we searched for systematic differences in source use and presentation comparing Ramesar’s deceptive news articles with two same-sized sets of reliable articles, (1) articles on similar topics from other journalists and (2) articles with verifiable sources from Ramesar himself. Results indicate that compared to real news sources, fictitious sources are more often secondary definers, who are presented in more stereotypical ways and through more and longer direct quotations. Furthermore, negations and self-references occur more often in deceptive news articles.     

Don’t Quote me: Effects of Named,Quoted, and Partisan News Sources

ABSTRACT

Many news organizations have developed policies on the use of named and unnamed sources, including whether the latter can be directly quoted or paraphrased in news stories. In this experiment, we test how audience members respond to these policy dictates by measuring news credibility in a political story that manipulated whether the source was named, whether that source was directly quoted, and the source’s political connection to the story. We found that while each of these manipulations had little or no main effects, they combined to trigger a discernible change in credibility in the eyes of the audience.     

Citation Needed

The ability to add hyperlinks to a news story is a key feature of online news. In addition to the—aging—technical novelty, one can wonder what functions hyperlinks perform in news stories. Previous research, as well as my previous examination of meta-journalistic discourses, has shown that one of the alleged functions of links is to display the writer's sources. In that sense, hyperlinks are “journalistic objects of evidence” as they can directly point to the documents, data or discourses used as rough material for a news story. The present paper puts that particular function of hyperlinks to the test. It conducts a content analysis on a sub-sample of the stories published on six Belgian news sites that contain at least one external link, and compares the links with the sources explicitly mentioned in the news story itself. Results highlight that links and the mentions of sources do not overlap completely. Many sources are not reflected in links, and most links do not point to primary sources per se. Other functions of links emerge, such as providing a service or contextual information to the readers. These findings thus question the material nature of “journalistic objects of evidence” and the possibility for journalists to build networks of distributed responsibility with links.     

SOURCE CREDIBILITY AND JOURNALISM

The extent to which information sources, that stand behind virtually all the news, are perceived by journalists as credible is a key determinant of the likelihood of their obtaining news access and public voice. The nature of source credibility judgment in journalism, however, is disputed between two major schools: while the “visceral” camp contends that it is highly subjective, intuitive and biased, the “discretional” camp perceives it as a far more reasonable and legitimate journalistic tool. The present study attempts to uncover evidence of both “visceral” and “discretional” judgment by studying the conceptual credibility (trustworthiness ratings) and practical credibility (practices indicating trust or skepticism, such as cross-checking and attribution) and the congruence between the two in a sample of 840 news items based on 1870 news sources. Findings were gleaned in face-to-face reconstruction interviews with reporters from nine leading Israeli news organizations, who reconstructed, source by source, the processes behind their items, shortly after their publication. Pro-discretional evidence shows that while journalists perceive their own experience as more credible than that of any other human agent, they do tend to stick with sources they perceive as more credible, the majority of which were relied on in the past, granting them more ready acceptance. Pro-visceral evidence, in turn, demonstrates that even the least credible sources receive substantial news space, some without any cross-checking. Furthermore, reporters ranked their sources' credibility even when they had no former record of trustworthiness. The paper suggests interpreting the composite of these findings as discretional logic with islands of visceral judgment.     

Measuring Trust in the Press in a Changing Media Environment

The only long term trend data on trust in the American press comes from the General Social Survey (GSS). The erosion of trust in the press as measured by the GSS indicator is indisputable, but its implications for the functioning of American democracy depend on what, precisely, is being measured. In this study we use an experimental design embedded in a representative national probability sample to shed light on what people are thinking of when they say they trust or distrust the American press. Are they thinking about the sources they themselves use for news? The sources that are most popular with the population at large? An average of all possible media sources? We find that individuals express much greater trust in the press when they are asked to consider specific news sources than when they are asked to evaluate a generic news media. Our results suggest that an accessibility bias combined with the proliferation of news sources in recent years may lead individuals to think of distrusted sources when asked to answer generic media trust questions. We therefore argue that different measurement strategies are needed to successfully address trust in the press in the current news environment.     

The “Collage Effect” – Against Filter Bubbles: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Combating the Pitfalls of Information Technology

The rapid development of information technology has partially been reversed, and may become a tool for manipulation, which is incompatible with librarians' social mission. Making information available, connecting databases, and making them accessible result in people becoming more and more exposed. Customisation and effectively filtered information sources create filter bubbles. Although new systems of collaboration would be suitable for sharing reliable knowledge, they often lead to the spread of fake news. Despite worrying trends, we seek an encouraging future. Therefore, in this paper we analyse the relationship between information technology, market economy, and the librarian profession from the perspective of Hungarian LIS education, and emphasise the importance of active and creative information provision based on interdisciplinarity. Based on our experiences we believe that current and future readers can be reached through intriguing collages of credible information. The use of collages can compensate for the effects of filter bubbles, and librarians may become the masters of creating digital information collages.     

News Aggregation and Content Differences in Online Cancer News

Gatekeepers usually control news information. However, recent technological advancements might require rethinking previous gatekeeping hierarchies. Aggregation algorithms currently filter and present news information to millions of American Internet users daily. A content analysis demonstrates significant differences between health news content retrieved from Web sites that aggregate their articles from many sources (e.g., Google News), and those that focus on providing news from a limited number of sources (e.g., CNN.com). Explanations for these content differences are discussed, as are implications concerning health information seeking and Internet news consumption.     

FOUR RUMOURS AND AN EXPLANATION

Our analysis of 2207 domestic news reports in a structured sample of UK “quality” (the Guardian, The Times, the Independent and the Telegraph) and mid-market (Daily Mail) newspapers, revealed journalists’ extensive use of copy provided by public relations sources and news agencies, especially the UK-based Press Association. A political economic explanation for this reliance on news stories produced “outside the newsroom”, draws inspiration from Gandy's notion of information subsidies and presents findings from a substantive content analysis of selected UK national newspapers, interviews with journalists working on national titles and news agencies, as well as detailed archival analysis of UK newspaper companies’ annual accounts across 20 years to deliver information about newspapers’ profitability, their expansive editorial pagination as well as the number of journalists they employ. The argument here is that this reliance on public relations and news agency copy has been prompted by the need for a relatively stable community of journalists to meet an expansive requirement for news in order to maintain newspapers’ profitability in the context of declining circulations and revenues.     

Academic library guides for tackling fake news: A content analysis

Built on a pilot study, this study examined how librarians understand fake news and the specific methods or strategies they suggest for detecting fake news by analyzing their guides from academic libraries. A content analysis regarding a total of 21 institutional guides was conducted. The major findings include the following: 1) in the librarians' guides stating their definition of fake news, the two elements of falsity and the intention to mislead were explicitly stated. The other element of bias, however, was presented in only some guides. 2) The sub-elements of clickbait, a decontextualized content and omitted information were inconsistently or barely presented across these guides. 3) Only two institutional libraries put forth the notion of fact in relation to fake news in their guides. 4) All of the guides suggested checklist approaches to detecting fake news or evaluating news sources. Finally, 5) librarians acknowledge the influence of human biases on consuming news. However, psychological factors are minimally presented in most of the guides. This study provides a few suggestions. First, librarians must further clarify the term fake news so that it reflects its multiple layers. Second, librarians must incorporate new strategies, such as lateral reading and click restraints, in combination with a few prioritized elements of a checklist into their guides regarding detecting fake news. Finally, librarians must pay attention to psychological factors more when interpreting facts in their strategies about news sources and fake news.     

The Stubborn Pervasiveness of Television News in the Digital Age and the Field’s Attention to the Medium, 2010–2014

A secondary analysis of 2010–2014 World Values Survey (WVS) data (N = 81,229) is performed across 56 countries to assess frequency of exposure to television news versus the Internet and mobile phone as information sources. A large majority of the comparisons (105/112; 93.75%) reveal television to be used more frequently than Internet or mobile phones (p < 1.0E-09). A content analysis of works published in 9 communication journals from 2010 to 2014 indicates a precipitous decline in the attention political communication scholars are giving to television. Meanwhile, there is substantial growth in the focus on new media.     

REPORTING ON FAIRNESS IN CIVIC LIFE

Drawing on procedural justice research from social psychology, this study explores the role that journalistic practice plays in telling community members about whether local politicians are behaving fairly. Qualitative interviews with 24 community journalists working in cities in Upstate New York are used to answer the following research questions: (1) how does content regarding authority fairness find its way into news stories, and (2) what facets of justice—whether distributive, voice, or relational—do journalists emphasize. The interviewed journalists said that they often used their evaluation of local politicians’ fairness in deciding whether to pursue a story. In doing so, these journalists highlighted questions of whether politicians were listening to community members and the degree to which they appeared to take the best interest of citizens to heart. There was little agreement among journalists about the degree to which citizens could adequately make fairness judgments based on local news coverage, although the television reporters believed that television's visual component provided key information about the fairness of local politicians.     

TweetStorm in #ferguson: How News Organizations Framed Dominant Authority,Anti-Authority,and Political Figures in a Restive Community

After Officer Darren Wilson fatally shot African American teen Michael Brown in August 2014, rioters unleashed their anger on the streets of Ferguson, Missouri. Using content analysis and framing theory, this study analyzed how news organizations covered events in Ferguson on Twitter over the course of a month immediately following the shooting. Protesters were framed as troublemakers; but community leaders were not framed as “rabble-rousers.” Journalists continued to rely on official sources more than alternate sources in spite of criticism of law enforcement and other political elites, but nearly 10% of the coded tweets that relied on official sources included some element of skepticism. Tweets from cable news outlets did not show partisan bias in any significant amount; and traditional legacy news media sources utilized the Twitter platform enhancements—such as article links, photos, links to other content, or hashtags—more than their new digital media counterparts. As Twitter launched #ferguson into the national consciousness, it is quite plausible that the framing of the tweets by news agencies may have molded perceptions of larger issues about the racial health of the nation, established policies of law enforcement, and the challenge of elected leaders to resolve explosive domestic problems.     

Young adults and everyday-life information: The role of news media

There is a paucity of research examining the everyday-life information seeking of young people, especially investigating the role that the news media has in providing information to young people for use in their everyday lives. A qualitative, interpretivist approach is adopted, involving 34 students, ages 18 to 25, from an Australian university. First, 20 students were interviewed about their news seeking (including topics and sources). Then 14 students participated in verbal protocol analysis, which involved a series of tasks concerning online and print newspapers. Lastly, students were interviewed about how they sought everyday-life information and whether they thought that they had incidentally acquired or encountered information on everyday-life topics in online or print newspapers in the recent past. Findings indicated that, contrary to expectations, traditional print media still played a role for young people, and social media were perceived as important for communication with friends, rather than for news gathering. Purposeful information seeking was more likely to occur online, but both print and online newspapers retained an incidental role in providing information to students for their everyday lives. Participants used a range of media to suit their particular needs and purposes. Thus, access to a wide variety of sources is important for everyday-life information seeking (ELIS) by young people.     

Why Isn’t Health a Priority?

This study helps bridge the existing divide between the knowledge on health news reporting in mainstream mass media and health reporting in media outlets serving Native American populations in the United States. The current work presents the first survey of journalists working in Native-serving media outlets to identify role conceptions, perceived importance, and actual practices of health reporting. Aided in data collection by the Native American Journalists Association, findings indicate journalists (N?=?100) place a high value on their role as disseminators of culturally relevant health information. However, results conflict in regard to the prioritization of health news reporting. Although journalists recognize health news should be a top priority, they point to a general lack of will from news leadership to make it an organizational priority. Additionally, results show that although journalists have comfort and confidence in health-related reporting, access to qualified sources remains an area for opportunity.     

Online rulemaking: a step toward E-governance

The adoption of electronic rulemaking by many federal agencies provides an opportunity for a greatly enhanced public role—both in terms of the numbers of people who might participate and the depth of their possible participation. This step towards E-governance poses several challenges for agencies: how they should structure their proceedings, how they can process the comments received and how they can foster and take part in the online communities of interest that will result from this activity. The online tools that may be applied to rulemaking and its ancillary activities—advisory committees, advanced notices of proposed rulemaking and enforcement—can also be used at earlier stages of the legislative process to increase public interest, involvement and commitment. This approach is relevant for all levels of government and for any issue on which public hearings are held or public comment solicited. It can provide an efficient and effective nonadversarial process in which officials and members of the public can mutually define problems and explore alternative solutions.     

Tell Me Who Your Sources Are

This study found that while participants rated their own Facebook friend as more credible and more similar to them than a news organization, they rated news articles as more credible when they are shared on Facebook by a news organization than when they are shared by their own Facebook friend. Source, however, interacts with motivation. News articles shared by a news organization are rated more credible only when motivation is high. There were no significant differences between sources when motivation is low.     

Information-seeking behavior of design, process, and manufacturing engineers

This article discusses the information sources used by design, process, and manufacturing engineers in an international microchip manufacturing company, and the characteristics that influence their information source selection and use. Findings differ from previous research in three ways. First, there was a significant difference in these engineers' information behavior. Second, the higher the engineers' level of education, the less likely they were to depend on their personal memories as sources of information, and the more likely they were to rely on libraries. Third, the higher the level of engineers' education, the less likely they were to consider “personal mastery” (information tool mastery) as a source influencer.     

Multiple issue publics in the high-choice media environment: media use,online activity,and political knowledge

This study examines the role of membership in multiple issue publics by understanding its relationship to media use, online activity, and political knowledge. Using data from Taiwan's 2008 Social Change Survey, the study shows that members of multiple issue publics was positively associated with television watching, political talk show watching, and online news reading. In addition, they were found to engage in specific online activities, including information browsing, information exchanging, information gathering, taking part in forum discussions, and blogging. Therefore, members of multiple issue publics tend to use media with a high level of selectivity and engage in online activities that allow them to express opinions, gain knowledge, or discuss issues with others. A curvilinear relationship was explored and found between multiple issue-public membership and general political knowledge. This demonstrates that individuals' ability to process information may not extend beyond certain boundaries, no matter how many issue publics individuals are involved in.     

Informing Citizens: How People with Different Levels of Education Process Television,Newspaper, and Web News

This experiment tested the interaction of media channels (television, newspaper, and the Web), time delay, and the education level of audience members, using three memory measures. The lower education group encoded, stored, and retrieved television news information best while they showed less memory capacity for newspaper and Web news. For the higher education group, the opposite pattern emerged. They had better memory for newspaper and Web versions of news, compared to television. With time delay, these patterns persisted. They were also robust when controlling for participant evaluations of the news stories in terms of interest, informativeness, and understandability.