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3 in 4 UK journalists think online media will overtake traditional within 5 years

3 in 4 UK journalists think online media will overtake traditional within 5 years

The results of a recent UK survey suggests that the media landscape is changing rapidly. More traditional media companies are generating exclusive online content, allowing user generated content (UGC), blogging, and offering multimedia.

Though only 47 journalists, from a variety of organisations, completed the survey, it still provides some interesting insights.

Only 2% of those said they worked for a media company who did not have some kind of online presence, and while over half of respondents said that their traditional print or broadcast presence still drew the biggest audience, 20% said that their online presence pulled in the most readers. One-sixth of those who answered said that their organisation only had an online presence.

Nearly a quarter said that up to 20% of the content produced online was original, rather than ported across from existing offline content. A further 22% said that between 20 and 40 per cent was original, 11% saying 41-60%, 2% saying 61-80%, and 8.9% saying 81-100%.

Nearly three-quarters said that their organisation offered journalist-authored blogs, while one in five said they allowed user-generated blogs. 65% offered TV and video clips, 63% podcasts, 43% video podcasts, and 65% discussion boards. Less than one in five said they offered none of the listed features.

Nearly 90% of respondents said that they allowed users to comment on online stories, while nearly half said they would publish user pictures. Three in ten said they regularly quoted bloggers (hopefully with attribution?) and one in ten said they regularly featured third-party bloggers on their site. Only 9% said they allowed no UGC except for more traditional methods.

When it came to training in generating and working with new media content, 65% said they’d had none. Nearly 9% said they had video presenting training, with a similar number having had audio/podcast training. 13% had “writing for the web” training while just 4% said they’d had specific blogging training. Unfortunately, there’s no way of telling just how good that training was.

Moving to the world of PR, nearly all those who responded said that PR companies should email press releases, while around one in five said they should offer social media news releases.

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Three in ten journalists believe that online media has already become the most important channel for their media organisation. One in ten said that it would likely become so within the year. 35% said within five years, and 13% said within 10 years. Only 13% said they thought that it never would.

Journalists believe that they now have to work harder, longer hours, as they were expected to produce more content across multiple platforms. One-third said they were expected to create video content, while 30% said they now had less time to research stories, and 44% used blogs as a key new source of stories.

Some interesting insights into the changing shape of media, and the growing importance on blogging and bloggers.

The complete report can be found at Shorthand2Broadband.com (free registration required)

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