Online News Outlets Research Articles

Is audience engagement worth the buzz? The value of audience engagement, comment reading, and content for online news brands

Online audience engagement, such as rating or sharing news, commenting or creating content, can enhance users’ loyalty toward online news brands. Yet recently, uncertainties have been discussed within journalism research and practice concerning the handling of online comment sections and potential negative influences – caused through comment reading – on news brands. From a brand management perspective, audience engagement and comment reading can affect a brand’s equity. This study investigates the value of audience engagement and comment reading for the customer-based brand equity of online news outlets. An online survey with n = 313 users of the digital native cohort revealed that comment reading is neither directly beneficial nor harmful for online news brands. However, for brands providing hard news comment reading seems more likely to have negative than positive relations with CBBE than for brands with other content. Sharing and liking news are associated with a stronger perceived brand quality, loyalty, and associations. User-generated content creation including commenting does not enhance customer-based brand equity. Overall, serious content proved to be a stronger driver of news brand value than any form of audience engagement.

Being There? The Role of Journalistic Legwork Across New and Traditional Media

In the age of spirited debates about the mediating role of technologies, the other side of the coin is the state of direct experience in contemporary news production, that is, cases in which news reporters still rely on traditional channels such as “legwork,” “firsthand witnessing,” or “shoe-leather reporting.” The present study is a systematic attempt to identify journalists’ reasons for engaging in legwork, by recreating item by item the work processes and reasoning behind hundreds of individual news reports produced in the digital age, across Israeli print, television, radio, and online news outlets ( N = 859). Insofar as legwork can serve as a proxy for painstaking journalism, journalists’ decisions make some difference in determining if more or less legwork will ensue. The data avail an opportunity to explore scholarly musings about journalists’ motivations behind legwork: be they knowledge related, medium related, or event related. We find support for all three possibilities and discuss the implications of these findings.

A Strange but Familiar Foe: North Korea’s Media Image and Public Imagination

In this article, I explore media representations in a UK-owned online news outlet of the North Korean situation, drawing on the work of Michel Foucault and Stuart Hall as a means of analyzing the discursive formations through which representations of state criminality, associated victimization, and normative transgressions are presented to the audience. I argue that the strategy of encoding the discourse leads to the emptying out of cultural and historical contexts. In many cases, reports “refill” this void with appeals to lifeworld interpretations that resonate more with audiences' historical consciousness than depict the reality of North Korea. I conclude by suggesting that “emptied” reports may serve the function of creating a sense of ontological security that conditions audiences' decoding of the media texts.

Beyond false balance: How interpretive journalism shapes media coverage of climate change

Abstract This study explores two pre-eminent features of transnational media coverage of climate change: The framing of climate change as a harmful, human-induced risk and the way that reporting handles contrarian voices in the climate debate. The analysis shows how journalists, and their interpretations and professional norms, shape media debates about climate change. The study links an analysis of media content to a survey of the authors of the respective articles. It covers leading print and online news outlets in Germany, India, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Switzerland. It finds that climate journalism has moved beyond the norm of balance towards a more interpretive pattern of journalism. Quoting contrarian voices still is part of transnational climate coverage, but these quotes are contextualized with a dismissal of climate change denial. Yet niches of denial persist in certain contexts, and much journalistic attention is focused on the narrative of ‘warners vs. deniers,’ and overlooks the more relevant debates about climate change.

Liquid journalism and journalistic professionalism in the era of social media: A case study of an online outlet’s coverage of the Oriental Star accident

How is journalism practiced in the social media era? What are the values and significance of journalistic professionalism in the changed situation? This article addresses these issues through a case study. It takes The Paper, an online news outlet in Shanghai, as a case and analyzes its coverage of the capsizing accident of the cruise, The Oriental Star, on Yangtze River in June 2015. This case shows that news production in the social media era is taking the form of dynamic interactions that involve both professional journalists and the public; media organizations are no longer the primary authoritative interpreter of news events; the values and significance of news are constantly reconstructed with public’s participation; the accelerated pace of news production and circulation subverts the institutionalized news production procedures and routines; and there is an intense tension between journalists who value professional control and the general public who cherish instant participation. Drawing inspiration from Bauman’s work, the authors strive to not only characterize the changes in journalism as “liquid journalism” but also explore the contemporary significance of the ideas and discursive practices of journalistic professionalism.

Circulating health rumors in the ‘Arab World’: A 12-month content analysis of news stories and reader commentary about Middle East Respiratory Syndrome from two Middle Eastern news outlets

The Internet provides great opportunity for news as well as entertainment. One such use is to keep abreast of public health concerns. As news outlets’ websites give the audience the privilege of interacting and posting comments as an ‘anonymous user’ following the posted story, these initial comments trigger further comments—which can lead to speculation, rumor, and inaccurate information. The purpose of the current study was to compare one year of news and comments about the outbreak of Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome from two major Middle Eastern online news outlets from June 2013 to June 2014. All stories and reader comments about this topic were collected from Al Jazeera and Al-Arabiya and reviewed using framing analysis to determine their framing and approach to the outbreak. The research focused primarily on how discussion and rumor may spread through both the stories as well as the controversial commentary sections.

Knowledge Dissemination of Intimate Partner Violence Intervention Studies Measured Using Alternative Metrics: Results From a Scoping Review.

Alternative metrics measure the number of online mentions that an academic paper receives, including mentions in social media and online news outlets. It is important to monitor and measure dispersion of intimate partner violence (IPV) victim intervention research so that we can improve our knowledge translation and exchange (KTE) processes improving utilization of study findings. The objective of this study is to describe the dissemination of published IPV victim intervention studies and to explore which study characteristics are associated with a greater number of alternative metric mentions and conventional citations. As part of a larger scoping review, we conducted a literature search to identify IPV intervention studies. Outcomes included znumber of alternative metric mentions and conventional citations. Fifty-nine studies were included in this study. The median number of alternative metric mentions was six, and the median number of conventional citations was two. Forty-one percent of the studies (24/59) had no alternative metric mentions, and 27% (16/59) had no conventional citations. Longer time since publication was significantly associated with a greater number of mentions and citations, as were systematic reviews and randomized controlled trial designs. The majority of IPV studies receive little to no online attention or citations in academic journals, indicating a need for the field to focus on implementing strong knowledge dissemination plans. The papers receiving the most alternative metric mentions and conventional citations were also the more rigorous study designs, indicating a need to focus on study quality. We recommend using alternative metrics in conjunction with conventional metrics to evaluate the full dissemination of IPV research.

What Makes “Good” News Newsworthy?

To combat the constant supply of negative news, some online news outlets focus solely on “good” news. But what is the value of “good” news? A content analysis was conducted to determine which traditional news values (timeliness, conflict, impact, etc.) appear in stories on Web sites dedicated to positive news. The researcher compared “good” news sites to the New York Times. Results indicated that the majority of “good” news stories were entertaining and emotional, whereas the majority of New York Times stories involved authority figures and conflict. Good news stories were less committed to journalism’s core functions, such as holding power accountable and providing the public with information necessary for creating an informed electorate.

Uncertainty Management and Sensemaking as Precursors to Transformative Learning in an International Immersion Service-Learning Experience

This study is based on an international immersion service-learning/research experience in a remote village in Moldova that provided faculty and students an opportunity to teach journalism and help local students and community representatives create their own online news outlet. Students’ existing conceptions were challenged, they experienced uncertainty and struggled to make sense of both their environment and experience. These were the processes through which we observed transformative learning occur. Using a phenomenological approach, this research grounds the IISL experience in varied disciplines that reveal possible approaches to helping students manage uncertainty, make sense of their circumstances and achieve transformative learning outcomes when facing unexpected challenges beyond student experience.

Evaluation and Verification of the Global Rapid Identification of Threats System for Infectious Diseases in Textual Data Sources.

The Global Rapid Identification of Threats System (GRITS) is a biosurveillance application that enables infectious disease analysts to monitor nontraditional information sources (e.g., social media, online news outlets, ProMED-mail reports, and blogs) for infectious disease threats. GRITS analyzes these textual data sources by identifying, extracting, and succinctly visualizing epidemiologic information and suggests potentially associated infectious diseases. This manuscript evaluates and verifies the diagnoses that GRITS performs and discusses novel aspects of the software package. Via GRITS' web interface, infectious disease analysts can examine dynamic visualizations of GRITS' analyses and explore historical infectious disease emergence events. The GRITS API can be used to continuously analyze information feeds, and the API enables GRITS technology to be easily incorporated into other biosurveillance systems. GRITS is a flexible tool that can be modified to conduct sophisticated medical report triaging, expanded to include customized alert systems, and tailored to address other biosurveillance needs.

Processing Cultural Differences: Structuration as Framework for Sensemaking Efforts

Drawing on key aspects of structuration theory, this case study examines student sensemaking efforts based on an international service learning (ISL) program conducted annually over a period of three years, wherein 11 U.S. students and 2 faculty members worked in a remote village in Moldova, teaching local students and community representatives to operate an online news outlet and interviewing young adults and professionals. Team members also interviewed Moldovan citizens, journalists, and politicians as part of a media research project. We adopted a meta-analytic approach to written student reflections to examine the processes through which students worked to understand cultural differences in a situation characterized by low community capabilities to either problem solve or to be self-sustaining, which further challenged their pre-existing assumptions.

Political News in Online and Print Newspapers

The electoral model of democracy holds the ideal of citizens who are well informed about politics, and regards it as a task of news media to provide citizens with political information. Against this ideal, the quality of political news in online news outlets is highly contested. While pessimists point out the dangers of increased competition online, optimists emphasize the potential benefits of unlimited space and interactivity. To see which view holds true, this paper compares political news in popular and elite print newspapers and their respective online editions during the 2013 National Election Campaign in Austria. Findings show that online editions score better than paper editions regarding the amount of political news, (party) diversity, and emotionalization, but differences between newspaper types were notable. Whereas elite newspapers cover politics online more extensively than in print, the reverse is true for popular newspapers. Leader focus is also strong in popular papers online. We conclude that the gap in quality between political news in elite and in popular newspapers is larger online. This might contribute to a wider gap between a well-informed elite audience and a lesser-informed popular news audience, when audiences switch from print to online news.

Examining the benefits of audience integration

This study investigates whether sharing of or commenting on online news enhances loyalty toward online news outlets. We identify two mediators of audience integration and loyalty: satisfaction and trust, which are measured by attitudinal attributions toward a news outlet. Loyalty is measured by frequently and exclusively using an online news outlet and an absent willingness to change to another online news outlet in the future. The relations between audience integration, satisfaction, trust, and loyalty are estimated with a mediation model. Results from an online survey with N = 1825 Swiss online news users reveal small but significant effects of sharing and commenting quantities on loyalty. Sharing tends to increase satisfaction, which in turn enhances loyalty. In contrast, commenting deteriorates satisfaction and trust, but directly improves loyalty. Overall, sharing and commenting slightly increase loyalty. In conclusion, sharing has a small, positive attitudinal relationship-building capacity for online news outlets, whereas commenting does not. Nonetheless, commenting features should not be abandoned by news outlets.

News-Seekers vs. Gate-Keepers

Traditional research on gatekeeping examines how journalists, editors, and publishers construct and position information to become news. Opportunities for interactivity in online news outlets, however, are creating space for audience members to also play this role. This article analyzes the tone and scope of the stories appearing on the print front-pages in the online most-read lists in twelve news outlets. Findings reveal how news-seekers prefer serious soft news articles, stories that position readers prominently, and fact-laden updates. These trends are interpreted in light of an elitist approach to gatekeeping versus a more egalitarian mindset and the authors conclude that the articles promoted by news-seekers are far less frivolous than feared.

Editors Use Social Media Mostly to Post Story Links

A survey of senior editors of U.S. print broadcast and online news outlets found that while 98 percent of the 376 respondents say they use social media, they primarily use it to post links to stories on Facebook and Twitter. Far fewer use social media to interact with audiences by posing questions and responding to comments.

온라인상에서 부정적 편향에 따른 평판 확산 차이에 관한 연구 : 선거 사례를 중심으로

As a social being, people can cooperate and control one another through the power of reputation, which is a critical opinion of someone given by others. Nevertheless, there have been obstacles in clarifying the identity of traditional types of reputation, for they are mostly words of mouth passed among members of a society. However, due to dramatic technological advancement and widespread use of the Internet and social media, now we can clearly see and analyze written reputations, which used to be passed only from mouth to mouth. Against this background, this study examines whether a negativity bias-a notion that an event of a more negative nature has a greater effect on one's psychological state than a positive event-applies to spread of reputation online, and examines related factors and effects. To this end, reputation-related online comments left by social media users during the election period of Korea's 6th provincial election on 4 June 2014 were analyzed. For the analysis, a Bass diffusion model was used, which is based on the innovation diffusion theory. The analysis results confirmed that, at online forum, negative reputations spread more quickly and more widely than positive ones, had a greater impact, and mass media such as online news outlets had a significant influence on spread of reputation online.

Testing the Selective Exposure–Polarization Hypothesis in Israel Using Three Indicators of Ideological News Exposure and Testing for Mediating Mechanisms

While an empirical association between exposure to ideologically congruent media sources and polarization has been substantiated in various studies, recent criticisms suggest that perhaps it is biased reports of ideological exposure that may account for the association. In addition, our understanding of the mechanism underlying the relationship between selective exposure (SE) and polarization is still limited. The present investigation addresses the first problem by using an unobtrusive indicator of SE and the second problem by exploring two possible mediators: the use of arguments from ideological media in political conversations and perceptions about the climate of public opinion. Respondents were recruited using advertisements published in mainstream, right-wing, and left-wing news outlets in Israel, and completed a survey tapping the constructs under investigation. Three different indicators of SE—the online news outlet from which the respondents were recruited (ideological/mainstream), self-reported frequency of exposure to predefined congruent ideological media, and the tendency to prefer congruent political materials—were significantly related to polarization. Results also demonstrated that the effect of SE on polarization is mediated through opinion climate perceptions, but the use of arguments from media in conversations did not mediate between SE and polarization.

Reporting Physical Activity: Perceptions and Practices of Australian Media Professionals.

Advocacy informed by scientific evidence is necessary to influence policy and planning to address physical inactivity. The mass media is a key arena for this advocacy. This study investigated the perceptions and practices of news media professionals reporting physical activity and sedentariness to inform strategic communication about these issues. We interviewed media professionals working for major television, radio, newspaper and online news outlets in Australia. The interviews explored understandings of physical activity and sedentariness, attributions of causality, assignment of responsibility, and factors affecting news reporting on these topics. Data were thematically analyzed using NVivo. Physical inactivity was recognized as pervasive and important, but tended to be seen as mundane and not newsworthy. Sedentariness was regarded as more novel than physical activity, and more likely to require organizational and environment action. Respondents identified that presenting these issues in visual and engaging ways was an ongoing challenge. Physical activity researchers and advocates need to take account of prevailing news values and media practices to improve engagement with the news media. These include understanding the importance of novelty, narratives, imagery, and practical messages, and how to use these to build support for environmental and policy action.

Digital News Media, Ethics and Freedom of Expression – A Nigerian Perspective

This paper takes a critical look at ethical issues in citizen journalism. Citizen journalism for the purpose of this research was limited to blogging sites and other independent sot news online news outlets. This paper tries to identify some ethical flaws or problems plaguing online journalism today using Nigeria as a case study. To achieve this, a comparative analysis between professional newspapers (online) and blogs were carried out. Two blogs and two professional online news sites were analysed. The findings of this research confirmed the predominance of unethical reporting in blogs as compared to the professional one. It was also found out that despite these unethical practices, a lot of people still visit these sites for their news information. The content analysis was carried out by calculating the frequency of some predetermined unethical practices in the reporting of news in the selected websites. To put this research in perspective, Gatekeeping Theory and Networked Gatekeeping Theory were briefly examined. It is the hope of this research to contribute a little insight into the growth of online journalism, the relevance of Gatekeeping theory to modern day news reporting practices and some ethical issues currently plaguing this medium. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n7p426

Homogenisation or Differentiation?

This paper considers the effects of consolidation on the content of regional newspapers in Norway. A case study investigates how the Norwegian media company Schibsted influences the content of its four regional newspapers Aftenposten, Fædrelandsvennen, Stavanger Aftenblad and Bergens Tidende. The aim is to establish the extent to which levels of pluralism are reducing as a result of consolidation strategies. Schibsted's cost-cutting measures initiated in 2012 include staff reductions, content syndication and centralisation of core services. This trend towards shrinking newsrooms, digital specialisation, and centralised layout and editing is recognised internationally, particularly in chain newspapers. In this study, Schibsted's regional print and online news outlets are subjected to a comparative content analysis aiming to establish levels of homogenisation between the titles. Findings indicate differentiation strategies remain central to regional operations, reflecting the presence of community bonds in local newspaper markets.