We face a global media landscape rife with both uncertainty and excitement. The need to understand this new digital era — and what it means for journalists — has never been more urgent. That’s why we at the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) launched the first-ever global survey on the adoption of new technologies in news media.
More than 2,700 newsroom managers and journalists, from 130 countries, responded to our survey, which was conducted in 12 languages. Storyful, Google News Lab and SurveyMonkey supported the research. ICFJ worked with Georgetown University’s Communication, Culture, and Technology (CCT) program to administer and analyze the survey, conducted using SurveyMonkey.
The results are in and you can see the highlights below. Check out our full report and share. Explore our interactive data explorer, produced in partnership with Google News Lab, and read our full announcement.
Newsrooms in the Digital Age
Journalists in the Newsroom
Though it is generally believed that digital-only newsrooms hire younger staff, our study shows little difference — the largest number of employees in digital-only newsrooms range in age from 25 to 29. For hybrid and traditional newsrooms, the largest number is between 30 and 35.
In fact, digital-only newsrooms are also more likely to have older personnel — in the 50–55 age group — than both their traditional and hybrid counterparts.
Digital Skills in the Newsroom
Digital skills and experience are important attributes for those seeking top newsroom positions. Newsroom leaders were more likely to possess core digital skills at the same time of their hiring compared to the journalists on their staffs.
Of the 23 skills surveyed in the study, only five are used to produce stories in half or more of newsrooms.
Newsroom Training
Information Security
Despite the proliferation of cybersecurity tools and methods, email encryption is the most popular among journalists and newsrooms worldwide. Although instant messaging and chat apps are more prevalent today, fewer journalists and newsrooms report using those platforms, which offer end-to-end encryption, as security tools.
Social Media
Newsrooms have access to a host of new platforms and formats, from social media to mobile apps to virtual reality, which they use to distribute their stories and reach wider audiences.
Newsroom Analytics
Our study indicates that newsrooms are more interested in tracking the number of clicks than they are in measuring audiences’ interaction with their content.
Half of news organizations worldwide use analytics to drive traffic to their websites. This reinforces the importance of page views as a metric, and indicates that newsrooms are eager to increase that number.
Content Management Systems
Most media organizations around the world (85%) employ some kind of Content Management System in their newsrooms.
Newsroom Revenue Streams
Overall, digital-only newsrooms are turning to new and diverse sources of funding more frequently than traditional and hybrid organizations.
What’s Next: Newsroom Challenges
Only 18% of newsrooms in Eurasia/former USSR found attracting loyal audiences to be a major challenge. The number is identical for both independent and government-funded news organizations in the region.
In the post-truth era, most newsrooms are worried about building trust with their audiences. Newsrooms in two regions, however, are a little less worried.
Read the full study here and share. For inquiries please contact Erin Stock, ICFJ’s communications director, at 202–349–7636 or estock@icfj.org.
About ICFJ: To meet the urgent need for reliable information, ICFJ promotes a professional journalism whose primary goal is to seek the truth. We help journalists use best practices and new technologies to improve the quality of news media. We believe that better journalism leads to better lives.
Join ICFJ in supporting the truth tellers! Tickets and sponsorships are still available for the 2017 ICFJ Awards Dinner on Nov. 9. Learn more about our work at ICFJ.org, and connect with ICFJ on Twitter and Facebook.
Graphic elements provided by Freepik, Creativepack and Macrovector.
