The Effect of "Electronic" News Sources on News Production [microform] / Kurt Neuwirth and Others.
A study examined the effects of technological change on news production, particularly the introduction of an electronic press release service (as opposed to the mailing of paper copy news releases) to two newspapers in Madison, Wisconsin in late 1984. A content analysis of 309 news releases generate...
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| Format: | Microfilm Book |
| Language: | English |
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Distributed by ERIC Clearinghouse,
1986.
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| Summary: | A study examined the effects of technological change on news production, particularly the introduction of an electronic press release service (as opposed to the mailing of paper copy news releases) to two newspapers in Madison, Wisconsin in late 1984. A content analysis of 309 news releases generated at the University of Wisconsin's news service was conducted during March and April 1984 (before electronic transmittal began) and again during March and April of 1985. Results showed that only four of nine news value attributes significantly predicted news release publication, but the specific mention of uniqueness in a release decreased the likelihood of publication. The percentage of timely news stories increased, and the proportion of news releases used increased, though not significantly. But, contrary to expectations, the average word length of news service stories increased. The major findings of this study were that electronically transmitted stories selected by the newspaper received less substantive editing than did stories selected under the traditional "hard copy" system, and that the reduction in substantive editing was most pronounced for stories low in news value. Although several hypotheses were rejected, the overall thrust of the study appears to support the suggestion that structural change in story delivery results in the modification of the journalist's behavior. (Tables of findings are included.) (SRT) |
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| Item Description: | ERIC Note: Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (69th, Norman, OK, August 3-6, 1986). ERIC Document Number: ED270770. |
| Physical Description: | 29 p. |
| Reproduction Note: | Microfiche. |
| Action Note: | committed to retain 20240101 20490101 Alliance Shared Trust https://www.coalliance.org/shared-print-archiving-policies |