Having an online presence will become more crucial to media relations as the younger generation of journalists find cyberspace to be one of the preferred information outlets during this decade and into the next.
According to a new study, about 30 percent of newspaper journalists use the Internet. Though that percentage is by no means large, it's significant that of those who do use the Internet, it's the twenty-something generation that's leading the way, according to a recent study released by the American Society of Newspaper Editors.
According to the Reston, Va.-based society, which has 870 members, about 71 percent of editors and reporters who are 30 and under are "keenly interested" in going online or using the Internet on a regular basis. But many older journalists aren't Internet devotees, thereby creating a communications gap for PR. Understanding a journalist's preferences (snail mail versus email; phone versus fax) is the first step in winning over the press.
The study concluded that news gatherers are "somewhat less optimistic" today because of a variety of factors, including the decline of newsroom budgets which makes it difficult to adequately cover the news; the trend toward "civic journalism"; concern over burnout; and the shift towards more conservative and independent political ideologies and away from mass liberalism.
Other report findings are:
- 44 percent of newspaper journalists are 40 or older; and
- Although journalists who are older than 30 are still predominantly male, people hired who are under 30 are 50 percent male and 50 percent female;
Survey findings were based on answers from more than 1,000 randomly selected daily newspaper journalists asked in the Fall of 1996 about their professional lives and goals. For a copy of the 62-page, $9 study, contact ASNE at 703/453-1122.