A JOINT PROJECT BY

MEDIA LANDSCAPE SURVEY

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The Media Landscape Study survey provided industry insight from more than 1,400 editors, reporters, producers, writers and

others in various media outlets from around the country. Among the topics that respondents gave their view on were the role of

social media in originating and covering a story, the process of obtaining and reporting the news, receiving pitches and releases

from PR professionals, and how the role of a reporter will evolve in the near future.

The survey provided significant findings concerning the journalism industry as a whole and was also segmented by national,

local, and industry-specific information for further analysis. According to respondents, the majority reported using social media

to monitor a topic when working on a story with most of them doing so most often before noon. Reporters use the social media

outlet, Twitter, most frequently when monitoring a topic. Facebook follows Twitter as a resource, but to a lesser degree.

An overwhelming majority also believes that social media will continue to affect their role as reporters, first and foremost by

reporters using it to increase publications’ and their own individual following, as well as using social media increasingly to

source story ideas and monitor topics.

Reporters identified changes they believe that will affect the industry, including that more and more reporting will go online and

more journalists will use multi-media to report on the story. Additionally, a large segment of reporters are concerned about job

security and the decline in the quality of reporting.

The findings also indicate that there is a stark difference amongst the different industries represented and their commitment

and usage of social media in their reporting. The study found that the top three industries that use social media the most were

general news, science & technology, and finance, while the three industries that use social media the least are transportation,

manufacturing and medical.

The findings from the study will be used by Flagler College and Dalton Agency to better serve the public’s understanding of how

social media is utilized in reporting and how PR professionals interact with reporters. These findings and subsequent analysis

will be incorporated into the communication curriculum and best work practices by both organizations.

METHODOLOGY

The Media Landscape Study was a joint effort between Flagler College and the Dalton Agency and was administered by a

student conducting an independent study over a period of two semesters, Fall 2012 and Spring 2013. The survey, which was

administered between November 14, 2012 and December 31, 2012, was a combination of close- and open-ended questions,

and was distributed via email with the actual survey instrument being hosted online. The survey had a total of 1,453 completions

over the course of time it was open. It was analyzed during the Spring 2013 semester.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

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Email pitches are the most prevalent form of

providing story ideas to reporters.

PR professionals are 7 times more likely to

submit a story idea by email than by calling.

Likewise, email is by far the most favored

method reporters prefer to receive story

ideas, outweighing all other methods by

more than 10% including phone calls, wire

services, social media and traditional mail.

While more reporters find value from press

releases than do not, it truly depends on

several variables, including well targeted to

reporter’s focus, timeliness and writing quality.

However, the largest issues are that 40%

of reporters do not trust press releases and

36% find them to be poorly written.

KEY FINDINGS

0 200 400 600 800 1000

59%

9%

8%

>1%

Emails

Social Media/Wire Svcs.

Phone Calls/Text Msgs.

Letters

0 200 400 600 800 1000

63%

5%

3.5%

>1%

Emails

Phone Calls/Text Msgs.

Social Media/Wire Svcs.

Letters

0 10 20 30 40 50

40%

36%

24.5%

Do Not Trust Them

Poorly Written

Arrived Too Late

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The main function that reporters use press

releases for is to extrapolate the main

idea and/or supporting facts to use when

working on a story.

10% of reporters use press release for

stories and edit about half of the content.

Only 3% of reporters run a press release as

a story with minimal changes.

Corporate online media rooms are

predominantly used by reporters to

gain background information.

Other purposes of online media rooms

include finding factual information and

multimedia elements.

18% of reporters surveyed stated that they

do not use corporate media rooms

The role of a reporter is going to change

in the next three years. According to

respondents, 50% believe that the majority

of news reporting would be moved online.

Additionally, respondents believe that

there would be an increase in multi-media

reporting and an increase in reporter’s use

of social media as part of their job.

Another segment, nearly 50%, are

concerned about job security, the decline

in quality of reporting, and the general

overhaul of the mediums in which news

is output.

KEY FINDINGS

0 200 400 600 800 1000

61%

10%

3%

I just extrapolate the main idea and/or facts

I use it for my story andrevise about half of it

I use it for my story and make minimal changes

0 200 400 600

18%

17%

11%

Background/Additional info

I have never used online media rooms

Check factual info

Obtain multimedia to support story

Gain story ideas 4.5%

41%

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Reporters use the social channels,

Twitter and Facebook (in that order) most

prevalently to develop story ideas.

Blogs and YouTube are also used to develop

story ideas, but less frequently than Twitter

and Facebook.

The majority of respondents, 62%, use

social media to monitor a topic when

working on a story either frequently or

sometimes.

38% of respondents either use social media

infrequently or do not use it all to monitor a

story topic.

Respondents that do use social media to

monitor a topic pay the most attention in the

morning hours and less in the afternoon.

KEY FINDINGS

0 10 20 30 40 50

30%

29%

28%

12%

Twitter

Facebook

Blogs

YouTube

0 200 400 600

23%

21%

16%

Sometimes

Frequently

Very Little

I do not use social mediato monitor a topic

38%

0 200 400 600

63%

53%

49%

7am-11am

11am-2pm

2pm-5pm

5pm-8pm

8pm-11pm

11pm-2am

2am-5am

5am-7am

29%

22%

6%

3%

7%

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Social media will continue to affect the role

of a reporter. More than 70% of respondents

believe that social media’s biggest impact will

be in its use to gain additional followers of

specific news outlets.

More than 57% of respondents believe

reporters will use social media to follow more

story topics.

More than 43% of respondents believe

reporters will use social media to source more

story ideas.

When comparing the different industry

verticals that reporters fall into, the top

three industries that use social media the

most to monitor a topic are: general news,

science and technology and finance.

The industry verticals whose reporters use

social media the least are transportation,

manufacturing and medical.

While 39% of respondents stated that

having a positive relationship with a PR

professional does not affect their covering

of a story, 53% of respondents stated that

the relationship with the PR professional

does affect their decision to cover a story.

The primary reason for this is affecting the

likelihood is because they are more likely to

open an email and pay attention to a pitch

from a PR professional. To a lesser degree,

respondents also find the information more

credible from someone with whom they

have a positive relationship.

KEY FINDINGS

0 200 400 600 800 1000

70%

57%

43%

18%

Use social media to follow create a larger following for my media outlet

Use social media to follow more topics

Use social media to sourcemore story ideas

Use social media more to interact with PR professionals (more so than other

communication channels)

0 200 400 600 800 1000

52%

39%

Yes

No

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Reporters overwhelmingly find

receiving pitches that are outside of

their beat to be the most annoying

behavior by PR professionals.

Being repeatedly pitched the same

story and receiving poorly written

releases were the second and third

most annoying behavior, but to a

much less degree.

KEY FINDINGS

0 200 400 600

47%

17%

10%

Receiving pitches that are outside of my beat

Being repeatedly pitched the same story

Poor grammar and spelling in email

Lack of personalization

Flattery

Being repeatedly pitched by the same person

4.5%

2.5%

1.5%

800