New Media Usage

Check out this research brief from the Center for Media Research:

Millennial Journalists Leading New Media Usage

While journalists across all age groups and beat assignments are rapidly adopting social media tools into their everyday work, the greatest usage is shown by young "Millennial Generation" journalists.

Preliminary findings about these Millenial Generation journalists, shared by the Society for New Communications Research Symposium, showed that 100% of Millennial respondents (i.e., 18-29 year-olds) believe new media and communications tools are enhancing journalism, versus 40% in the 50-64 demographic.

Don Middleberg, formerly Associate Professor of the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, said that "The most... significant finding of this... survey is the rapid adoption of new media and online communication among all journalists. The disparity in usage and perceived value of these new tools and technologies to the future of journalism is particularly striking among the youngest demographic versus the oldest."

The study, conducted by SNCR and Middleberg Communications, includes the following key findings:

*87% of 18-29 year-olds believe bloggers have become important opinion-shapers, versus 60% of 50-64 year-olds
*87% of 18-29 year-olds confirm that new media and communications enhances the relationship with their audience, versus 42% of 50-64 year-olds
*48% of all respondents use LinkedIn, and 45% use Facebook to assist in reporting
*68% of all respondents use blogs to keep up on issues or topics of interest
*86% of all respondents use company websites, 71% use Wikipedia, and 46% use blogs to research an individual organization

Middleberg continued by saying "... we have new ways to reach and communicate with a whole new generation of journalists. The communications professionals who embrace these changes will be far more effective and successful."

While it's not entirely surprising, notes the report, that this younger generation of journalists are users of these new communications tools... they understand how to use them effectively in their work, and are pushing the journalism profession as a whole to create a more collaborative, reciprocal, interactive, and fluid form of journalism.

What is striking about this survey, says the report, is that it is very clear that the ‘Millennials' - the younger journalists entering the workforce - are adopting new media and social tools more readily and seeing their value, especially in terms of collaborating with their peers and strengthening their relationships with their audiences and the people in the areas they cover.

Final results of the study are scheduled for release in the Spring of 2009. For more information, please visit this site.

Great story, great coverage

My hometown newspaper, The Observer-Dispatch, recently broke a huge story about a local man possibly being released from prison after 20 years due to new information discovered from new methods of DNA testing.

They've followed the story very meticulously and have done a great job of giving the readers all sorts of coverage through different forms of media from written stories, to photos to video. You can check out some of the coverage here as they've dedicated a special reports page to the constantly developing story. It displays some great breaking news coverage. I wouldn't be surprised if the paper's staff received a few awards for their work on this particular story.

Here's one video from the coverage that shows just how great online multimedia content can be. While it is rather simple, it allows viewers to see the emotion of Steven Barnes firsthand as he is being granted his release by the judge. It also shows Barnes' mother and sister embracing following the judges ruling. This gives users a part of the story that even the most skillful and poetic writing cannot always capture.

UM vs. UCONN game online

The 16th-ranked Miami Hurricanes basketball team is about 30 minutes away from a big match-up with the No. 2 Connecticut Huskies in the semifinals of the Paradise Jam Tournament in the Virgin Islands.

For those of you (like me) who don't have the Fox College Sports Network, you can watch the game online (for a fee) at this site.

Go 'Canes!