Pew Research Shows Journalists' Top Worry Is Finance, Not Story Quality
by Angelique van Engelen.
A survey by Pew Research Center has found that US journalism’s top problem these days is finance. These problems are cited as more serious than the falling standards of news coverage and credibility issues.
A total of 55% of national newspaper journalists
say that journalism is under threats related to economics/finance. And even more journalists (62%) say that the profession in general is heading the wrong direction.
The impact of the internet on traditional journalism appears to divide journalists. National journalists are evenly split about whether the internet’s rise will strengthen or weaken traditional journalistic values. And more local journalists see the internet as a threat (45%) and 34% believes the internet will enhance journalistic values. What’s especially poignant is that those journalists involved in online publications roughly half believe that the web is a threat too.
To give you an idea of changes in opinion on these issues; last year, only 51% of journalists thought the future to be bleak for their profession in general. And in 2004, only 30% of journalists cited financial troubles as the number one threat. Quality of coverage is cited by 22% of national journalists as the number two issue this year. This is an improvement compared to 2004, when 41% cited quality issues as the main problem. These numbers seem to indicate a true journalist characteristics; when the thumbscrews tighten, output gets better. Just hold your breath to see how long it holds true. I suspect we might be making history.
disclosure: Angelique van Engelen writes for
reporTwitters.com, a blog about journalism and Twitter.
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