Though there was quite a bit of interest in my recent posting ‘What real journalists really want from public relations,’ I resisted the temptation of “striking while the iron was hot” with a planned followup post of what I omitted from the first due to space concerns. But, now, here it is …
At the time, I’d also been reviewing another, similar survey of UK journalists, the Glide Journalist Research 2007 survey, titled ‘Journalists: How can the PR industry communicate better?’ I’m not exactly certain how I came across the Glide survey, which was conducted earlier this year. I have no connection either to Glide or the research firm they used to conduct the survey. What sparked my interest, though, was that the results across the pond were in many ways similar to those of the TEKgroup and Bulldog Reporter survey of U.S. media, though with the nuances and twists one might expect in the UK.
The findings presented in the Glide report are from a survey conducted by Benchmark Research
among UK journalists in April 2007. Benchmark conducted 128 telephone interviews “across a range of sectors, from national press to trade publications, broadcast to online.” The survey was commissioned by Glide Technologies, UK-based provider of Integrated Press Office Software.
While 128 interviews may seem a smallish sampling, I am aware that results of telephone surveys are considered more reliable than online surveys and I assume that the margin of error and confidence level are such that even 128 interviews is sufficient to provide credible survey results. Correct me if I’m wrong.
Interesting, too, and in some cases even moreso than the results, are the comments throughout the survey report from four UK journalists specializing in news, features, broadcast and online media, who were asked to review the research findings:
∙ Philip Chryssikos, Managing Editor, Entertainment News, UBC Media Group PLC
∙ Sophie Goodchild, Chief Reporter, Independent on Sunday
∙ Will Ham-Bevan, Deputy Editor, Telegraph Create
∙ Nick Harding, Features Editor, News of the World Sunday Magazine
Some of the more noteworthy findings?
The Internet ranked high as a research tool, with 55% of respondents saying they used that medium most for researching a story. But, equally 55% of respondents say they do not rely on social media sources, such as blogs or wikis, for their research.
Fully 96% of respondents said they most frequently received news releases or media information via email and 94% said that is their “ideal preferred format” for receiving news releases. More than half said they received 20-plus press releases per day and some 72% said the number of releases has increased over the past year.
Fully 40% said the flow of news releases – presumably via email — has increased as much as 50-100% in volume. Which, of course, begs the question as to just how long email is going to remain their “ideal preferred format” for receipt of releases!
They are many other findings in this report worth reading and considering — and I urge readers to linger a bit on the comments from the journalist reviewers, which put the numbers and percentages into some context and shed light on PR practices and media preferences in the UK, not so very much dissimilar from what we find over on our side of the pond these days.
Other surveys of what journalists find useful from PR professionals at:
What Real Journalists Really Want from Public Relations
Survey: Media relations and Europe – from the journalist’s perspective
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