It might be difficult to imagine that less than a decade ago, journalists spent hours at libraries, courthouses and government offices digging through files and hunting down documents for their stories - tasks that now seem as antiquated as pounding out an article on a typewriter.
Welcome to sec.gov. Or cnn.com. Or eurekalert.org.
"I probably go to eurekalert or sci.com (both sites with fresh medical and scientific news, studies and research) three times a day," says Maggie Fox, health and science reporter for Reuters' Washington, D.C. office. "The Internet has completely changed the way I do my job."
This despite the fact that Fox's office just got desktop Internet access; before, they had to rely on stand-alone Net terminals.
For this week's issue, PR NEWS spoke with newspaper, magazine, radio and TV journalists about their use of the Net for newsgathering. Our findings:
- Radio journalists generally rely least on the Net;
- Staffers on the copy desk use it to fact check, but its importance varies widely in print newsrooms; and
- Techie journalists may not be able to live without it, but they still double-check much of the information they find there.
Our informal survey is generally consistent with a new study of magazine and newspaper journalists by Middleburg + Associates and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism which reveals that next to the phone and face-to-face contact, the Internet ranks second in importance. (More than 40 percent of the surveyed magazine journalists ranked the phone first, followed by the Internet. And 56 percent of the newspaper journalists polled ranked in-person contact first, followed by the Net.)
But our analysis takes the recent results of the "Media Relations in Cyberspace" study a step further. The study shows that only 2 percent of nearly 3,000 journalists are still without access to the Internet, compared to 9 percent last year and 37 percent in 1995.
So how are journalists using the Internet, other than religiously checking e-mail? Here is what several reporters and editors told us about their online habits:
Joel Sellars, assignment desk editor at WJLA-TV, the ABC affiliate in Washington, D.C.
Those running the assignment desk - a hotbed of activity in any broadcast environment - use the Internet, but sparingly. Sellars and others controlling the assignment desk log on primarily to washingtonpost.com for background information.
Michael Colton, TV reporter, The New York Observer
Colton, who has been in the journalism business for only about three years, is among the generation of newshounds who have grown up with the Internet. He goes online several times a day, often checking showbizwire.com for the latest buzz.
But his time is mostly spent doing Yahoo or Lexis-Nexis searches. He says most of the 40 people on the editorial side are using the Internet for research, to access the wires or financial news and to get breaking information.
Daniel Tynan, Executive Editor of features for PC World
Although Tynan is more old-school than Colton, he's another Web-savvy journalist. He became accustomed to the concept of e-mail through MCImail, which the newsroom relied upon to send zip files years before it had an internal e-mail system.
Since much of Tynan's job is managerial, he doesn't use the Internet as prolifically as other PC World staffers do, even though he thinks it's an invaluable research tool.
"It replaces the background phone calls that you make to sort out the facts before your interview," Tynan added. "It saves a trip to the library and legwork becomes finger work. There is a liability of sorts, though - I would be hesitant to rely on the information on the Web without some fact-checking."
Randal Wilson, News Director of Detroit's number one adult radio station, WJLB-FM
Wilson admits he's an editorial anomaly. His station doesn't have Internet access, which makes his job tough. "It would be worth it for me to have it," Wilson said. "If I did, it would give me that up-to-the-minute news I need about what's happening around the city."