Svein Brurås
Volda University College, Norway
News:
‘News is more easily pursued than defined, a
characteristic it shares with such other enthralling
abstractions as love and truth’ (Roshco 1975: 9)
 The eternal stories, old as the human race itself
 Became a commodity , for sale on a market
 Today changing again, due to technology and economy
The lecture:
1) What`s so special about online news?
2) Sources and truthseeking
3) Which of them wins – immediacy or verification?
4) A perspective on the quality of news
5) A comparative study. Some findings.
Online news: what`s so special?
 The four affordances of online journalism:
 Hypertextuality
 Interactivity
 Multimodality
 Immediacy
Immediacy
«Immediacy is the dominant paradigm of online news»
(David Domingo)
 24/7 publication, no deadline
 Immediate reporting, immediate publishing
 «Unfinished» stories
The «story»
“… the study of content has always rested on the premise
that content actually exists, that it genuinely can be
considered as a finished, static object of study. In current
media ecology of endless remixes, mashups, and
continuous edits, that is a problematic assumption.”
(Mark Deuze)
Verification
 Quality in journalism means (among other things)
 Independence and editorial autonomy
 A diversity of sources
 Reliable sources
 A critical attitude to professional sources
 Fact-checking and accurate information
Verification
Gathering
Structuring
Presentation
Verification
«It`s essence is a dicipline of verification»
Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel on Journalism
«Reporters are required to verify all information when
observation is not possible»
Melvin Mencher
«Journalism without checking is like a human body
without an immune system”
Nick Davies
“The journalist’s primary tool is research. Talking to
people. Inquiring. Listening.”
Åsne Seierstad
Verification
From the professional Codes of Ethics
 Norway "Be critical in the choice of sources and make
sure that the information provided is correct".
 Sweden: “Be critical of news sources. Check facts as
carefully as possible in light of the circumstances, even if
they have been published earlier”.
 Denmark: “As far as possible it should be verified
whether the information given or reproduced is correct”.
 Society of Professional Journalists, USA: "Test the
accuracy of information from all sources (...) ".
All quotations from the codes of ethics apply to online
news to the same degree as news on traditional platforms.
Immediacy and verification which of them wins?
 «… there is evidence that journalists are becoming more
re-processors and recyclers than generators of stories»
(Martin Conboy)
 «…there is simply not enough time for a lot of research,
cross-checking and original writing.» (Thorsten
Quandt)
 «Journalism becomes churnalism» (Nick Davies)
What is «good news» («quality» news)?
The three qualities of news
Professional quality
Commercial
quality
Democratic
quality
The three qualities of news
Professional quality
Immediacy
Commercial
quality
Democratic
quality
The three qualities of news
Professional quality
Immediacy
Commercial
quality
Verification
Democratic
quality
Six prominent quality online newssites:
The study:
 «To what extent is the journalistic inquiry taken care of
in online newspapers?»
 A quantitative content analysis, seeking to quantify the
number of visible sources in news stories.
 But what is a story in an online newspaper?
The strategy:
 The top-three news stories downloaded…
 …twice a day
 …during two weeks.
 A total of 78 news stories from each newspaper
 All stories but news stories were skipped.
 All stories copied from news agencies were skipped.
 Stories under separate headlines, but on the same issue
at the same point of time, was regarded as one story.
 ”Psy waiting for money after Gangnam style”
 From Svenska Dagbladet. Length: 8 lines. No updates.
 Story collected from the website Contactmusic, which
collected it from the British radio station Kiss FM.
 "Have a look at SAS `new top plane from inside“
 Video and text, all collected from SAS`own presentation
of the new airplanes
• From LA Times, on police violence. A follow-up from yesterday.
• Two reporters left their office and looked up the scene of the crime.
Reporting from the field.
• Five oral sources, one written source, an e-mail interview, info from
two other news media.
• From Boston Globe.
• Seven oral sources appear in the story. Besides, the
journalist has gone through 600 pages of documents.
• The main point of the story is located in the one
document which has vanished, namely the document
revealing the top director`s compensation.
• From Boston Globe. Reporting on the lobbyists who try
to influence on new tax legislation.
• Based om numerous sources, written and oral.
• Reveals sensational information on a subject of great
public interest.
• Windfalls = unexpected gift, luck
TABLE 1: Supply of sources. Categorized in oral and written sources. The
table shows the number of sources in the entire material of 78 stories
from each online newspaper.
Boston
Globe
Oral sources
Chicago
Sun-T
LA
Times
Aftenposten
Svenska
Dagbl.
Jyllands
-posten
398
231
268
131
125
153
Other news media
19
20
37
54
57
31
Social media (incl. email)
Written: Press releases,
statements
11
27
5
15
14
20
5
15
3
6
1
11
Written: Documents, public and
privat
49
37
46
33
9
20
Written: Reports, books
Written: Other
12
3
2
1
19
7
2
8
-
12
Total number of sources
519
311
404
247
208
228
Average number of sources per
story
6,7
4,0
5,2
3,2
2,7
2,9
-
TABLE 2: Supply of sources in the entire material of 78 stories from
each online newspaper. The table shows the total amount of
sources, subtracted references to other news media.
Boston
Globe
Total amount of sources
References to other news
media
Total amount of sources
except other news media
Average number of
sources per story
519
19
(3,7 %)
Chicago
Sun-T
311
LA
Times
404
Aftenposten
247
Svenska Jyllands
Dagbl.
-posten
208
228
20
37
54
57
31
6,4 %) (9,2 %) 21,9 %) (27,4 %) (13,6 %)
500
291
367
193
151
197
6,4
3,7
4,7
2,5
1,9
2,5
Has the newsroom done
any research of their own?
Boston
Globe
No, nothing
Chicago
LA
Sun-Times Times
Aftenposten
Svenska
Dagbladet
Jyllandsposten
9%
27 %
13 %
26 %
31 %
29 %
Yes, but
minimal
18 %
21 %
17 %
29 %
15 %
17 %
Yes,
somewhat
Yes, a lot
33 %
36 %
40 %
37%
44 %
33 %
40 %
17 %
31 %
8%
10 %
21 %
101%
101%
100%
100%
100%
Total
100 %
Towards the end…
 There are considerable differences between prominent
online newspapers with regard to sourcework
 This is due to different publishing strategies
 Some give priority to speed and volume, conveying
news stories collected from PR material or from other
news media
 Others develop their own stories, based on more
comprehensive journalistic investigation and efforts
«Deep digging projects»
1st year students, winter 2014:
 How much exactly do the local farmers receive in
governmental subsidies? We want the numbers, we
want the top-ten list with names and addresses - and
what do society get back from these farmers?
 Bullying and harassment among young people on
social media. We want stories/cases and facts: how
much, how grave, - and what do teachers and parents
know and do?
 How much food do the grocery stores in Volda throw
away each week, because of expiry dates, “best beforedates” etc?
«Deep digging projects»
1st year students, winter 2014:
 How much exactly do the local farmers receive in
governmental subsidies? We want the numbers, we
want the top-ten list with names and addresses - and
what do society get back from these farmers?
 Bullying and harassment among children and young
people on social media. We want stories/cases and
facts: how much, how grave, - and what do teachers
and parents know and do?
 How much food do the grocery stores in Volda throw
away each week, because of expiry dates, “best-beforedates” etc?
Thank you