Long-awaited "state of the media" report

State of the News Media, 2008:
The Problems Are Different Than Predicted
Decoupling of Advertising and News, not Audience Loss,
May be the Biggest Issue



Washington, D.C. – The state of the American news media is more troubled in 2008 than a year earlier. And the problems increasingly appear to be different than many observers have predicted.



Newspapers are still far from dead, but the language of the obituary is creeping in. In 2007, the industry got sicker rather than better, and 2008 may be worse. Cable news had a better year in 2007, but network TV news audiences continue to decline. The same problem afflicts local TV news, though, thanks to the power of TV advertising and the ability to add or shift timeslots, the industry is still robust.



But increasingly it appears the fundamental issue for the future of journalism is not audiences splintering away to citizen media, corporate PR and other non-news venues. In many ways the audience for news—and for what traditional newsrooms produce—appears to be growing. Nor are journalists failing to adapt. There are more signs in 2008 than ever that news people embrace the new technology and want to innovate.



The problem, it is increasingly clear, is a broken economic model—the decoupling of advertising and news. Advertisers are not migrating to news websites with audiences, and online, news sites are already falling financially behind other kinds of web destinations.



These are some of the conclusions from “The State of the News Media, 2008,” a 700-page comprehensive look at the state of U.S. journalism by PEJ, a project of the Pew Research Center in Washington, D.C. and funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts. This is the fifth annual report.



“We see many positive signs, from the embrace by journalists of new technology to all kinds of experimentation in news websites. But it is clearer today than ever that the news business must figure out new ways to monetize the service journalism offers—the ability to vet information and help citizens navigate their lives,” PEJ Director Tom Rosenstiel said.



This year’s report, the fifth of PEJ’s annual State of the News Media, includes some new features: A Survey of Journalists produced with the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press; A Year in the News, a comprehensive content analysis of more than 70,000 stories from 48 different news outlets across five media sectors; A Special Report on the Future of Advertising; a review of 25 Years Of Public Attitudes Data; and a content analysis of 64 Different Citizen Media Sites In 15 Communities.



Among findings:



n The new survey of journalists in the report finds most think new technology, even citizen media, are making things better. Majorities think such things as journalists writing blogs, the ranking of stories on their Web sites, citizens posting comments or ranking stories, even citizen news sites, are making journalism better—a perspective hard to imagine even a few years ago.

n The prospects for user-created content for now appear more limited, even among “citizen” sites and blogs. The most promising parts of citizen input currently are new ideas, sources, comments and to some extent pictures and video—but not citizens posting news. A study of citizen media in the report finds most of these sites are no more open—and often less so—than mainstream press. Rather than rejecting the “gatekeeper” role of traditional journalism, citizen journalists and bloggers appear for now to be recreating it in other places.

n News is shifting from being a product — today’s newspaper, Web site or newscast — to becoming a service—how can you help me? This starts with the fact that there is no single or finished news product anymore. (The afternoon newspaper is also being reborn online.) The idea of service also broadens the definition of journalism. Story telling and agenda setting are now insufficient. Journalism now must help citizens find what they are looking for, react to it, and give them tools to make sense of and use the information for themselves.

n A news organization and a news Web site are no longer final destinations. Now they must move toward also being stops along the way, gateways to other places, and a means to drill deeper. “The walled garden is over,” the editor of one leading site says. A year ago, our study of news Web sites found that only three of 24 major Web sites from traditional news organizations offered links to outside content. Eleven of those sites now offer them.

n The agenda of the American news media continues to narrow, not broaden. Two overriding stories — the war in Iraq and the 2008 campaign — filled more than a quarter of the newshole, according to our audit of news coverage. Other than Iraq — and to a lesser degree Pakistan and Iran — there was minimal coverage of events overseas, including places like China and Afghanistan. Meanwhile, each of the following accounted for less than 1% of coverage: religion, race, education, transportation, the legal system, housing, drug trafficking, gun control, welfare, Social Security, aging, labor, abortion and more.

n Madison Avenue, rather than pushing change, appears to be having trouble keeping up with it. Like legacy media, advertising agencies have their own history, mores and cultures that keep them from adapting to new technology and new consumer behavior.



The study, which contains detailed charts, graphs and citations, can be accessed online at www.stateofthenewsmedia.org.