The study, which examined all the outlets that produced local news in Baltimore, Md., for one week, surveyed their output and then did a closer examination of six major narratives during the week, finds that much of the “news” people receive contains no original reporting. Fully eight out of ten stories studied simply repeated or repackaged previously published information.
And of the stories that did contain new information nearly all, 95%, came from traditional media—most of them newspapers. These stories then tended to set the narrative agenda for most other media outlets.
That was the gist of the New York Times story that peeked at the report Sunday, and will likely be what most people hear about the report. It's ironic, because it's also the least surprising or original bit of information in the lengthy report, which I am going through.
Already, there are more telling details, such as:
New technology was more prevalent as a way for media—both traditional and new—to break news more quickly. The Web is now clearly the first place of publication.
And:
Government, at least in this study, initiates most of the news. In the detailed examination of six major storylines, 63% of the stories were initiated by government officials, led first of all by the police. Another 14% came from the press. Interest group figures made up most of the rest.
Read that again: Of all that original reporting being done by the newspapers, the overwhelming majority of the stories originate from government sources.
You can read this a few ways: Either traditional media outlets rely too heavily on the usual Town Hall suspects for their local news, or traditional media outlets are the only ones who (despite their budget woes) still have the money to pay for reporting and doing the government-watchdog thing, or -- and this is the most interesting and potentially troubling option -- increasingly, government officials and police are communicating breaking news directly, using Twitter and other real-time news platforms.
On the local front, I'm particularly interested in the chapter called "Listening devices on buses?" as it best illustrates the critical role local bloggers, even ones who can't or don't do the subsequent reporting, play in bringing news to attention of those who can and should.
But, as Jeff Jarvis says nicely in his reaction piece, that'll likely be lost in the echo chamber of media traditionalists who just want to be reminded of how hard they work.
