Citizen Journalism and the TMC:
User content as a driver for a free-circulation print newspaper
Submitted to the Newspaper Division
INMA Competition for Industry-related Research
AEJMC 2007 Annual Convention
Washington, D.C.
Aug. 9-11, 2007
Abstract
A random-digit-dialing survey was used to test the impact of citizen journalism content
on a weekly total market coverage (TMC) edition of a Midwestern daily newspaper.
Regression analysis of the data showed high interest in and readership of the usergenerated content supplied to the TMC by a citizen journalism Web site was a major
driver of the overall readership of the publication.
INTRODUCTION
While academic and professional discussion of the newspaper industry often
focuses on the paid-circulation daily newspapers, another type of publication plays a vital
economic role for the newspaper industry. The Total Market Coverage – known in the
industry as the “TMC” fills the economic gap left by the declining paid circulation of
newspapers.
The TMC is a free-circulated print publication usually thrown from a carrier’s car
into the driveways of all residences in a specific area. Its normal function is to give
advertisers the distribution numbers unavailable via the paid newspaper. It is often a
“wrapper” for the pre-printed advertising circulars known in the vernacular as “inserts.”
The importance of what some journalists called a “shopper” is well-recognized by
the business side of newspapers. Dan Potter, general manager of The Missourian in
Columbia, Mo., said the paper budgeted the TMC to provide a quarter of its advertising
revenue, but in 2006 it provided a third.
What’s deceptive is that much of the daily revenue that comes from the
TMC agreements is a forced buy, so even more of our revenue is the result
of our TMCs. Also, we will do about $230,000 with the Real Estate This
Week magazine this year. That would not be possible if we did not have the
Saturday TMC for distribution purposes. (Potter, 2006).
But is the TMC just an advertising vehicle? Certainly the logistics of newspaperstyle layout have long forced TMCs to publish some non-commercial text to fill the space
on the page left by the stacked display ads.
Citizen Journalism and the TMC
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In 2004, a team of researchers and experienced journalists at the Missouri School
of Journalism in Columbia re-examined this norm while exploring the possibilities of the
then-new citizen journalism phenomenon. The non-advertising space in TMC published
by the school-affiliated Columbia Missourian community newspaper was filled with
days-old copy from the daily newspaper – a traditional practice to entice residents to buy
a subscription to the full newspaper rather than rely on the old news in the TMC.
For the research team, this seemed a poor marketing strategy. It was, they
reasoned, much like a bakery offering passersby stale bread crumbs to entice them inside
to buy fresh bread. Citizen journalism – content produced by non-journalist who
otherwise would be classified as readers – offered content that the researchers felt was
compelling but did not duplicate the efforts of the paid newspaper.
Their test of this theory was complex. First, a Web-based publication was created
to both gather content from users and to provide a new information outlet in the
community. MyMissourian.com was designed as a sister publication to the daily
Columbia Missourian, but not as a replacement for it. The primary function of the site
was “writership” rather than readership.
It took a year for the site to produce a stable source of citizen-generated stories
and photographs. In 2005, the research team took over the responsibility for providing
non-advertising content for The Columbia Missourian’s decades-old TMC – the Saturday
Weekly Missourian.
This paper reports on the continuation of that practical research into the TMC
content. If citizen journalism was as compelling as the Missouri School of Journalism
researchers believed, then logic dictated that the new content would have an impact on
Citizen Journalism and the TMC
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the readership of the TMC product. A telephone survey sampling the of the residents in
Columbia, to whom the Saturday Weekly Missourian was aimed, provided evidence that
citizen journalism provided by a free TMC was not only read, but was a driver of
readership of the entire product.
REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
Total Market Coverage (TMC) editions
Free-distribution newspapers might be as old as the newspaper itself, but they
have become more popular since the Great Depression. Known as “shoppers” or “Total
Market Coverage” (TMC) editions in the industry, they are advertiser-heavy and
generally distributed either by delivering one to every home in a defined circulation area
or by making them available on sidewalks via free news racks. (Tsao & Sibley, 2004)
The editions are attractive to advertisers because they reach every household in a targeted
circulation area compared to 50% or less for a sales-driven newspaper. They also were
an enormously profitable revenue source by the latter half of the 20th century, (Ferrell,
1998) with circulation of free newspapers jumping from 30 million in 1968 to 88 million
by 2000. (Tsao & Sibley, 2004) In scholarly research they are defined as a local
newspaper that contains ads and is circulated free to the general public. (Stone & Trotter,
1979)
As is the case with most advertising, the question related to TMC editions
becomes one of pickup. TMC circulation figures often are not independently audited
because the editions are not sales driven, the operating assumption being that a person
will read a product that they pay for. In addition, delivering the product does not
guarantee that the consumer will pick it up and bring it home, much less read it. (Ferrell,
Citizen Journalism and the TMC
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1998; Srinivasan, Leone, & Muihern, 1995) This makes readership a crucial issue for
advertisers as they attempt to measure what they are getting for their money. Free
newspapers tend to be attractive to local advertisers, but research has shown that the
usage rate of TMC products is lower than it is for any other form of media. (Tsao &
Sibley, 2004)
Newspapers tend to be protective of these circulation numbers involving
readership and scholars have done little in the area to measure readership. One study
found a 58% readership rate among those who receive shopper editions (Stone & Trotter,
1979) but the results are problematic for our current study for a few reasons. First, the
study was done during a time when newspaper readership was far higher, and indeed the
newspaper reading habit was more pronounced. Much has changed in newspapers, and
indeed in media choices, since 1979. Second, the data showed that 10% of Stone &
Trotter’s sample reported never receiving the newspapers at all -- and yet 8% of that
group reported reading the content. The researchers said it was a sign of an edition being
passed around in social circles, but they did not substantiate that assumption.
Proprietary TMC readership is harder to examine but more startling. A research
director for a major national newspaper chain told colleagues that his 2006 study of TMC
products in two cities showed that readership was 8.7% and 10.8%. (Federation, 2007)
A 2006 study by Belden Associates (Belden Associates, 2007) found that nonsubscribers, the very group TMC products are trying to reach, do not find the advertising
in TMC products useful. The recommendation based on these results was to redesign
products in such a way that they are more attractive to users in terms of readership, that is
Citizen Journalism and the TMC
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make it such that the content draws the user into the publication to read it so that the
value for the advertiser increases.
Citizen Journalism and the TMC
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TMC readership and The Saturday Weekly Missourian
It is worth reviewing some past research related to The Saturday Weekly
Missourian, which is the publication that we are analyzing for this research. The Saturday
Weekly Missourian is the weekly TMC product for subscriber-driven regular newspaper
The Columbia (MO) Missourian. Because The Missourian publishes only six days a
week and does not have a paid-circulation Saturday edition, the TMC product is the only
publication put out that day by the company.
Before the current research was launched, the last available data was gathered in
was a student-conducted survey in 2003. Although the sample size was low, the survey
indicated that regular readership rates for The Saturday Weekly Missourian was
approximately 34%. The students – who supplemented their minimalist survey with
journalistic interviews also found less than half of those surveyed said the TMC product’s
news was relevant. (Corn, Dalsing, Mossler, Shellabarger, & York, 2003)
In 2005, the TMC product underwent an overhaul. Recalling earlier research that
showed readership as being the true value for the advertiser, The Columbia Missourian
executives decided to change the content source for the publication in an attempt to spur
readership increases. Up to that point, the TMC was stocked with older content,
consisting of features and news that already had run in the daily Missourian earlier in the
week as well as older wire content from sources such as the Associated Press. The
product was re-launched on Oct. 1, 2005 with content coming from MyMissourian.com, a
citizen journalism Web site that was operated by The Columbia Missourian.
MyMissourian editors chose the best of that week’s citizen journalism
submissions for the print edition, with the idea being that it would provide “fresh”
Citizen Journalism and the TMC
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content for the TMC publication as well as feed traffic to the Web site in hopes that this
cross-pollination would increase the value of both products. (C. Bentley, 2005; C.
Bentley, et al., 2006) Unknown was whether this type of content would lead to more
relevance or readership. Answering that question is the purpose of this study. Before
discussing that, however, one needs background information on the citizen jouralism
concept.
Citizen journalism
“Citizen journalism” is a popular label used to describe a form of media that
involves moderated reader participation. It generally starts off as a Web-based approach,
but one of the long-term strategies is to develop a “best of” print edition that ultimately
will serve as the medium’s revenue source. The Northwest Voice, which is the citizen
journalism arm of The Bakersfield Californian, used material from the Web edition to
revive its shopper edition. (Terdiman, 2004) The paper’s own research showed that
readership of its regular shopper edition was low - this not pleasing information for its
advertisers. Mary Lou Fulton, drawing upon an idea pioneered by OhMyNews in South
Korea, guided the creation of a community Web site that was run solely on story and
photo submissions from the community. As content increased, the material eventually
replaced the stale material that often stocked the shopper editions. The use of citizen
journalism has been credited for turning Bakersfield’s shopper around because it
provided fresh content. (C. Bentley et al., 2005)
Citizen journalism reverses the sender-receiver process of traditional journalism.
Whereas newspaper, television and Web media use the journalist as a gatekeeper in the
process of selecting and presenting news, in the citizen journalism format the journalist is
Citizen Journalism and the TMC
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a “shepherd” in the process (Glaser, 2004). What this means is that the journalist’s role is
to seek out community voices and encourage submissions; their only editing role is in
making sure that copy is readable and does not open the publication to legal problems,
such as libel or defamation, and then they make selections as to what goes on the main
pages of the Web site (C. Bentley et al., 2005).
“Citizen journalism” is just one name for this medium, but it is the one with the
most popular appeal. In its beginnings it was referred to as “participatory journalism” or
“open source journalism” (C. Bentley et al., 2005), but it also has been referred to as
“grassroots journalism” and more recently “user-generated content” (UGC) in the popular
press (Gillmor, 2004; Schweiger & Quiring, 2005). Because most citizen journalism is
done online, and indeed the citizen journalism content being studied in this research
originated online, it is useful to examine it as an online phenomenon to understand what
the content is and where it comes from.
Citizen journalism is partly built on the personal nature of blog writing. It can be
written in first person or third person. If a person decides to weave opinion with fact, that
is considered acceptable; the basic tenet is that community members are not trained to
think or write in the artificial standard of media objectivity, and thus they often are not
forced to adopt that standard (C. Bentley et al., 2005). Citizen journalism is more like a
community blog in the sense that there are multiple authors, but unlike a typical
community blog there are no limits placed on who is allowed to submit to the site
(Glaser, 2004). One of the reasons this format works is the explosion in ownership of an
array of cheap citizen journalism tools such as digital cameras, camera mobile phones,
computers and iPods. With these tools affordable and broadband penetrating more homes
Citizen Journalism and the TMC
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in America than ever, the time is right for citizen journalism to make inroads into
communities once dominated by a single newspaper or television station (Gillmor, 2004).
The notion that citizen journalism is moderated is what separates citizen
journalism from a typical community blog, and in fact is what elevates the posting format
into a news format. The editor running the site often determines what is placed on the
front page, and thus the gatekeeper role still happens to a limited a degree (Glaser, 2004).
Citizen journalism sites often are designed like a news site, not a blog, and thus there are
layered pages in which there is a main front page and several topic categories.
Still, the gatekeeper role is greatly diminished from what it would be at a typical
news site, because the editor would determine both what makes the front page and what
stories make it onto the site. Unless the stories violate standards for submission, citizen
journalism sites tend to publish anything submitted. These standards depend on the site,
but they can be less restrictive than typical news sites. (C. Bentley et al., 2005; C. H.
Bentley, 2004) The professional editor is not the only way to control content quality,
though. Citizen journalism sites are often built upon a variant of the “wiki” concept in
which software allows readers to help edit content but adds another layer of quality
control to the process via programming or human intervention (C. Bentley et al., 2006;
Semple, 2005).
Theoretical framework
Although several theoretical ways of knowing could be testable for the purpose of
this research, uses and gratifications (U&G) works best because it focuses on the reader
both from a needs and a uses perspective. U&G theory is an approach that looks at media
Citizen Journalism and the TMC
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in terms of how it met the social or psychological needs of the person using that medium.
It assumes an active audience and states that an individual has needs and uses media to
fill those needs (Blumler & Katz, 1974) Four audience needs generally have been
consistently found in U&G research: information, personal identity, entertainment and a
block consisting of integration and social interaction. (McQuail, 1994)
There have been studies that used U&G theory to examine TMC products, but
most have focused on advertising as a way of providing information utility to the product
user. (Hale, 1980; O'Keefe, Nash, & Liu, 1981) The potential weakness of this approach,
though, is that it only studies part of the content contained in these publications and
assumes that advertising alone is what drives readership of these publications.
One potential way to address this issue is to incorporate theoretical advances
recently made in media research. The “communication needs-state model” incorporates
elements of U&G theory and states that people first determine their needs and then
choose media based on those needs (Thorson & Duffy, 2006). This model posits four
needs satisfied by communication: connectivity, information, and shopping/consuming.
Connectivity, the need to engage with other people, is seen in many online or purchasing
behaviors that allow for individual expression among a group of similar-minded people.
Information, the need to identify, understand, and cope with what is going on, happens in
consumption of news as well as the information-seeking behaviors (such as using a
search engine) that come with online use. Entertainment, the need for diversion or
pleasure, is seen across many types of media. Shopping/consuming, the acquisition of
good and services, also can be mediated from browsing ads to using the Internet in order
to make purchases (Thorson & Duffy, 2006).
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Once needs are identified, they are filtered through such demographic controls as
age, gender, and race, as well as through what is called aperture, which defined as the
particular point in time for an individual when exposure to a message would yield
maximum results (Thorson & Duffy, 2006). The filter combination of aperture and
demographics leads to a choice in the type of media product a person chooses by news
approach (opinionated, created, authoritative), and out of that comes the media choice.
The media choice is actually made from a list determined by the previous filters; thus,
media choices that might ordinarily fill the need are pared down from the list by the
filters of demographics, aperture, and news approach (Thorson & Duffy, 2006; Thorson
& Thorson, 2006).
It might be tempting to think that The Saturday Weekly Missourian TMC product
is an all-encompassing product for this type of model, because in terms of makeup the
product embodies all four of the needs states that this model posits, but to think so would
be to misunderstand the Media Choice Model. While it might be true that The Saturday
Weekly Missourian offers connectivity through citizen journalism content, information
through news, entertainment through content and advertising, and shopping/consuming
through advertising, MCM states that a person has multiple media choices by which to
fulfill a need, and recall as well that one of the assumptions of U&G theory to begin with
is that needs can be fulfilled by competing media. To better fit The Saturday Weekly
Missourian within the MCM framework, it is possible to test whether the product fills
those four need states but it is much more complicated to predict that an individual will
choose the product based on that.
Citizen Journalism and the TMC
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Research Questions
Building upon MCM and U&G theory, this study asks what content, if any, will
encourage people to read a newspaper that is given to them free? Both theories suggest
that the information must fulfill a person’s stated need before they can actively choose it
from among other competing sources. This research will specifically examine two of the
most commonly identified needs in other U&G studies via three hypotheses:
H1: Respondents will report reading a TMC newspaper more often if it has
content they find interesting.
H2: Respondents will report reading a TMC newspaper more often if it has
content that fulfills their need for information better than another competing
source.
H3: Respondents will report reading a TMC newspaper more often if it gives
them the opportunity to connect with their community.
METHODS
The researchers partnered with Pulse Research, Inc., to conduct a random-digitdialing telephone survey of Columbia, MO residents. Pulse, which donated its services, is
a national company that has conducted more than 3,500 surveys for publishing
companies since 1985 (Marling, 2007). The researchers designed a short questionnaire
that respondents could complete within 5 minutes to ensure the best participation
possible. It focused on experience with the Columbia Missourian, and their familiarity
with different aspects of the Missourian’s free Saturday edition.
All calls were made the week of Feb. 26 to March 2, 2007. The random-dialing
procedure ensured a representative sample of Columbia residents. The three primary
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Columbia ZIP codes sampled have 45,554 residential addresses (Melissa Data, 2007).
The margin of error for the 300-home sample in a 50-50 proportional split was 5.64 at the
95% confidence rate.
The sample had nearly equal percentages of respondents from Columbia’s three
ZIP codes but a higher percentage of women (61 %) than Census data shows (51.6%)
(Melissa Data, 2007). The sample’s average age was higher than the population average,
but only 2 % of respondents were students. The area is not only home to the 28,253student University of Missouri-Columbia, but also a women’s college and an independent
college. Indeed, the demographics for the ZIP codes are heavily skewed toward collegeaged residents. However, this survey was designed not to focus on students who mostly
live in apartment complexes to which the TMC product is not delivered. In addition,
students often have a cell phone as their primary telephone, whereas the researchers
called only those with a land line. Respondents’ occupations mirrored the city’s nonstudent diversity. Only 27% were retired, 26% were professionals and 14% were blue
collar.
A key business challenge for The Saturday Weekly Missourian was revealed with
a question that asked how frequently the newspaper had been delivered. Almost as many
respondents (44 %) said they had never received the TMC as those who said they
received it weekly (48 %).
That lack of delivery also impacted the readership measures. Readership of the
Saturday TMC - the independent variable - was measured two ways: first by asking if
respondents were familiar with the Saturday paper and then asking them how often they
read it on a “never” to “every week” scale. If respondents were not at all familiar with the
Citizen Journalism and the TMC
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Saturday paper, the survey ended. Of the 300 respondents, 180 said they were familiar
with the paper. By contrast, 190 respondents said they were familiar with the Wednesday
free edition delivered by the competing Columbia Daily Tribune. Those who said they
never received the paper were eliminated from the analysis of attitudinal questions
because their responses strongly correlated (r(1,169)=.47, p<.01) with those who reported
never reading the paper. The Columbia Missourian has since significantly increased
distribution of the TMC in the three primary ZIP codes.
Questions about the citizen journalism component of the newspaper
operationalized the dependent content variable for H2 and H3 . Bentley et al. (2006)
showed that people read MyMissourian.com online to find a sense of community and see
what their friends and neighbors had to share. They also read the site to find information
that was not available in any other media in town. Two questions measured that interest
in citizen journalism on a five-point scale ranging from “no interest” to “extreme
interest.”
This survey also measured respondents’ attitude toward the Saturday paper before
the change by asking what their general impression of the paper was and how long they
had been familiar with the Saturday paper. More than 72 % said they had known about
the paper for more than five years.
The commercial utility of an advertising-packed TMC is a plausible alternative
explanation for interest in The Saturday Weekly Missourian, so control questions about
advertising were included in the survey. Respondents reported how often they read the
TMC’s preprinted advertising circulars - the inserts - and what value they gave them
compared to the stories in the newspaper.
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RESULTS
To test each of the hypotheses, the researchers compared all of the independent
variables against the dependent variable (readership frequency) through a one-way
ANOVA test. No statistically significant support was found for H1 (overall interest will
lead to increased reading of the Saturday paper). However, the ANOVA test offered
strong statistical support for both H2 (original news not available in other media will lead
to increased reading) and H3 (news that provided community connection will lead to
increased reading). A one-way ANOVA , F(3, 90)=5.68, p<.001, showed that the more
familiar they were with the new citizen journalism content in The Saturday Weekly
Missourian, the more often they read the TMC. This supported H2. Comparing reading
and interest in citizen journalism content (the operational variable for H3) also offered
strong statistical support, F(3, 51)=3.55, p<.05.
The advertising utility argument at first seemed an formidable alternative
argument when one of the control variables - how often they read the inserts - had the
strongest statistical significance at F(3, 92)=9.48, p<.001. But while the correlation
between ad readership and entire-edition readership was strong, further analysis showed
the majority of respondents did not read the inserts at all (M=1.83 out of five). The
variable that specifically asked respondents to compare the value of ads to stories
consistently rated the value stories higher (M=2.19 (out of 5), SD=1.228). It did not
correlate with how often respondents read the TMC (F (3, 86)=2.097, p=.107).
A linear regression helped focus on which of the independent variables best
predicted how often someone would read the new citizen journalism content in The
Citizen Journalism and the TMC
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Saturday Weekly Missourian. Stepwise analysis was coded to discard variables that did
not meet the .05 level of statistical significance (see Table 3). The strongest predictor for
how often a person read The Saturday Weekly Missourian was familiarity with citizen
journalism content. A second model added interest in citizen journalism content and was
still statistically significant. Readership of advertising inserts approached statistical
significance (p=.066), but it was not as strong a predictor as familiarity with and interest
in citizen journalism content. Of note is that interest in citizen journalism received a
negative beta score (-.326) which indicates the lack of interest would predict how often a
person read The Saturday Weekly Missourian. However, examining the scores revealed
that nearly 80% rated interest at 3 or better on a five-point scale, while 18 people
reported they didn’t know. The zero-value of the 18 may have skewed the results to the
negative. This same condition might explain why interest was not statistically correlated
with reading. More than 82 % rated their interest it The Saturday Weekly Missourian at 3
or higher on a five-point scale, but another 9 people reported they didn’t know (0).
DISCUSSION
This study provides two levels of valuable information for scholars and
newspaper publishers. First, the TMC products are more than just advertising vehicles –
they can be valuable news and information providers. Second, content from the friends
and neighbors of newspaper consumers is compelling enough to draw them to a product
not normally associated with high readership.
By industry standards, familiarity with The Columbia Missourian’s TMC edition
after the addition of citizen journalism was quite high – 60%. Based on the non-
Citizen Journalism and the TMC
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probability but informative research conducted earlier by Missouri School of Journalism
students, this is nearly twice the penetration the TMC had with its old format of rehashed
stories from the daily edition. (Corn et al., 2003)
Even though the city is served by two newspapers, the survey showed that
respondents did not confuse the free editions of the papers, as 63% recognized the
competing Columbia Tribune free edition, a strong indication that the respondents knew
what media they received and were well positioned to judge it. Readership of the citizen
journalism-filled TMC, The Saturday Weekly Missourian also far outstripped industry
norms.
After eliminating those who simply never had received The Saturday Weekly
Missourian, the strongest correlations with TMC readership frequency were familiarity
with and interest in citizen journalism. To a lower extent, advertising inserts also
affected whether one read the TMC, but not the same extent as citizen-journalism
content. Most of the respondents said they didn’t even read the inserts, but nearly 50 %
read a publication demeaned “driveway rot” a year prior. (C. H. Bentley, 2006)
Research shows citizen journalism can bring a community together by giving
people an alternative to traditional media, a forum to present their own stories and a place
to build social capital by seeing what their friends and neighbors are doing. As content is
not based on technology, it is logical that these attractive qualities can transfer from the
Internet to the printed page. This study suggests this is what has happened to the
Missourian’s TMC. Nothing else has changed since 2003 to explain the net readership
increase.
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While Columbia, MO, is just one community, the Web-to-print model the
Missourian follows has worked in other communities. The NorthwestVoice.com in
Bakersfield, CA, and Bluffton Today in Bluffton, S.C., have used citizen journalism
content to beef up the content and the amount of advertising revenue their TMC products
generate.
This study is a wake-up call for publishers who too long have looked at their
TMC products as merely a vehicle for every-driveway delivery. The survey describes an
active readership with media consumers hungry for compelling content – and a desire
unmet is a marketing opportunity lost. Citizen journalism – generated with minimal paid
staff but providing a genre of information unduplicated by the paid newspaper – can
satisfy that desire and help ensure the profitability of the total market coverage
publication.
Future Research
This research would benefit from replication in other communities as newspapers
adopt the citizen journalism model. Of special interest would be pre and post testing of
readership drivers before citizen journalism content is added to a TMC product. The
impact of citizen journalism content could also be measured by comparing these
responses to a survey that examines views toward the Colubmia Daily Tribune’s free
Wednesday edition, which does not include citizen journalism content.
Recognizing the increased value of the Saturday TMC while its Sunday and
weekday circulation slipped, The Columbia Missourian revamped its Saturday newspaper
again in March 2007. The new format adds Sunday-like features but reduces the volume
Citizen Journalism and the TMC
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of citizen content and relegates it to the back of the paper. However, the distribution of
the product was doubled to ensure it actually represents “total” coverage of Columbia.
A follow-up survey is planned to determine if the traditional but “fresh” content has the
same effect as the addition of citizen journalism.
Additional research should examine the consumer’s definition and preferences for
print-provided news in an era of Web pages, blogs and citizen journalism products.
The key to this and future studies of the changing American newspaper environment is to
maintain an open mind about what should and can be included in a print product. The
readers, after all, have ample access to “open source” information to feed their own open
minds.
Citizen Journalism and the TMC
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TABLES
Table 1
Percentages for gender, ZIP code, familiarity with The Saturday
Weekly Missourian, familiarity with Wednesday Columbia Tribune
Gender
ZIP Code
Subscribe to the Missourian?
Familiar with Saturday Missourian?
Familiar with Wednesday Tribune?
Age
Occupation
Male
Female
65201
65202
65203
Yes
No
Don't know
Yes
No
Don't know
Yes
No
18 to 24
25 to 29
30 to 34
35 to 39
40 to 44
45 to 49
50 to 54
55 to 59
60 to 64
65 to 69
70 & over
Refused
Professional
Managerial
Technical
Administrative support
Sales
Service workers
Precision production, craft, repair
Farming, forestry, fishing
Operator
Laborer
Education
Student
Government other than armed forces
Retired
Not currently employed
Total
Other
Refused
Frequency
117
183
98
102
100
25
274
1
180
115
5
190
110
7
25
25
15
23
26
30
37
32
15
59
6
72
25
14
10
12
13
8
3
10
6
18
6
4
78
7
286
5
9
Percent
39.0
61.0
32.7
34.0
33.3
8.3
91.3
.3
60.0
38.3
1.7
63.3
36.7
2.3
8.3
8.3
5.0
7.7
8.7
10.0
12.3
10.7
5.0
19.7
2.0
24.0
8.3
4.7
3.3
4.0
4.3
2.7
1.0
3.3
2.0
6.0
2.0
1.3
26.0
2.3
95.3
1.7
3.0
Citizen Journalism and the TMC
Table 2
Page 21
Means, standard deviations and frequencies of Saturday Missourian
readership measures
How long have you been familiar with Saturday
Missourian?
Frequency
Less than 1 year
1 year
2 years
3 years
4 years
5 years
More than 5 years
Don't know
10
7
11
7
2
11
126
6
Frequency of delivery in the last 6 months
Frequency
Never (0)
1 time
2 times
3 times
4 times
Monthly
Weekly
Don't know
74
1
4
2
4
4
81
10
How often do you read the Saturday Missourian?
Frequency
Never (1)
Once in a while (2)
Almost always (3)
Every week (4)
63
79
22
16
How interesting is Saturday Weekly Missourian?
Frequency
Not at all interesting (1)
2
3
4
Very interesting (5)
Don't know
2
14
53
30
10
9
Mean
Std. Deviation
N
5.99
1.889
174
Mean
4.66
Std. Deviation
3.385
N
170
Mean
1.95
Std. Deviation
.911
N
180
Mean
3.29
Std. Deviation
.875
N
109
Citizen Journalism and the TMC
Table 2
(continued)
Page 22
Means, standard deviations and frequencies of Saturday Missourian
readership measures
Ad insert readership frequency
Frequency
Never (1)
Once in a while (2)
Almost always (3)
Every week (4)
Don't know
82
51
23
15
9
Value of ads vs. stories
Frequency
No value (1)
2
3
4
Primary value (5)
Don't know
60
30
39
10
10
31
Familiarity with new citizen journalism
content
Frequency
Not at all familiar (1)
2
3
4
Very familiar (5)
Don't know
97
28
15
11
17
12
Interest in citizen content
Frequency
Not at all interesting (1)
2
3
4
Very interesting (5)
Don't know
5
9
36
15
3
18
Mean
1.83
Std. Deviation
.970
N
171
Mean
2.19
Std. Deviation
1.228
N
149
Mean
Std. Deviation
N
1.95
1.359
168
Mean
3.03
Std. Deviation
.914
N
68
Citizen Journalism and the TMC
Table 3
Page 23
One-way analysis of variance for The Saturday Weekly Missourian
measures by how often respondents read The Saturday Weekly
Missourian.
Frequency of delivery in the
last 6 months
How interesting is Saturday
WeeklyMissourian?
Ad insert readership
frequency
Value of ads vs. stories
Interest in citizen content
Familiarity with new citizen
journalism content
How often read?
N
Mean
Std. Deviation
F
Df
Sig.
Never
Once in a while
Almost always
Every week
Never
Once in a while
Almost always
Every week
Never
Once in a while
Almost always
Every week
Never
Once in a while
Almost always
Every week
Never
Once in a while
Almost always
Every week
Never
Once in a while
Almost always
Every week
16
45
21
14
0
41
21
14
14
44
21
14
11
41
21
14
4
20
17
11
13
44
20
14
7.56
7.27
7.52
8.00
.
3.12
3.43
3.64
1.29
2.00
2.62
2.93
1.73
2.39
2.86
2.36
1.75
3.25
3.12
2.73
1.92
1.91
2.90
3.43
1.21
1.67
1.25
.00
.
1.03
.60
.84
.61
.94
.97
1.07
1.42
1.41
.85
.84
1.50
.64
1.05
.79
1.61
1.25
1.37
1.65
1.04
92
.378
2.05
75
.137
9.48
92
.000
2.10
86
.107
3.55
51
.021
5.68
90
.001
Citizen Journalism and the TMC
Table 3
Linear Regression, using stepwise analysis set to exclude variables with
less than .05 significance, of demographics, delivery, familiarity with and
interest in citizen journalism content, familiarity with the Saturday TMC,
how often a person reads inserts, the value they assign to inserts over ads
and how often a person reports reading the Saturday edition.
Model
Independent Variable
1
Familiarity with new citizen
journalism content
Familiarity with new citizen
journalism content
Interest in citizen content
Gender
ZIP Code
Subscribe to Missourian
How long familiar with
Saturday Missourian
Frequency of delivery in the
last 6 months
How interesting is Saturday
Missourian?
How often read inserts?
Value of ads vs. stories
Familiar with Wednesday
Tribune?
2
Excluded
Page 24
Std.
Beta
T
value
Sig. (2tailed)
R 2
change
Total
R2
Adjusted
R2
.34
2.32
.03
.11
.11
.09
.34
2.61
.01
.11
.22
.18
-.32
.17
-.00
-.10
-2.35
1.2
-.01
-.73
.02
.24
.99
.47
.24
1.79
.08
.07
.50
.62
.05
.38
.70
.26
.11
1.89
.75
.07
.46
.06
.45
.66
Citizen Journalism and the TMC
Page 25
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