DOCUMENT RESUME ED 423 574 CS 509 918 TITLE Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (81st, Baltimore, Maryland, August 5-8, 1998). Radio-TV. INSTITUTION Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. PUB DATE 1998-08-00 NOTE 362p.; For other sections of these Proceedings, see CS 509 905-922. PUB TYPE Collected Works Proceedings (021) Reports Research (143) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC15 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Broadcast Journalism; Case Studies; Content Analysis; Females; Foreign Countries; Higher Education; National Surveys; *News Media; Political Campaigns; *Radio; Student Attitudes; *Television; Television Research IDENTIFIERS China; Local Television Stations; *Media Coverage; *Television News ABSTRACT The Radio-TV section of the Proceedings contains the following 13 papers: "Computer-Assisted Reporting: A Nationwide Survey of Television Newsrooms" (Sonya Forte Duhe' and Erin Haynie); "Network Television News Coverage of the Environment and the Impact of the Electronic Newsletter 'Greenwire" (Claudette Guzan Artwick); "Managing Single-Market Radio Clusters" (Greg Stefaniak); "A Content Analysis of 'Dateline NBC' and 'NBC Nightly News': The Infiltration of the Youformation Story into News Magazines and Mainstream News" (Jeff Demas); "Priming Reporters: A Study on How the Willie Horton Case Altered the Portrayal of Criminals" (James Devitt); "Constructing International Spectacle on Television: CCTV News and China's Window on the World, 1992-1996" (Tsan-Kuo Chang and Chen Yanru); "Advertising's Influence on Broadcast News Content: A Study of Student Attitudes" (Hubert W. Brown and Beth E. Barnes); "Women in Television News Management: Do They Make a Difference?" (Laura K. Smith and John W. Wright II); "They'd Rather Be in Pictures, or Would They?: A Content Analysis of Video Bite Bias during TV Network News Coverage of the 1992 and 1996 Presidential Campaigns" (Jon A. Shidler, Dennis T. Lowry, and Charles Kingsley); "The Relationship of Affiliation Change to Changes in Television News Ratings" (Marianne Barrett); "Learned Helplessness in Local Television News: A 12 Year Update" (Grace Ferrari Levine); "Television News Stand-Up Reports: A Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Market Case Study" (Patrick J. Sutherland); and "Youth Voters in 1996: Searching for Political Information from Television News" (Karon R. Speckman) . (PA) ******************************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ******************************************************************************** PROCEEDINGS OF THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR EDUCATION IN JOURNALISM AND MASS COMMUNICATION (81st, Baltimore, MD, August 5-8, 1998). Radio-Television. U.S. DEPARTMENT OP EDUCATION PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND Office of Educational Research and Improvement DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS EOV6ATIONAI. RESOURCES INFORMATION BEEN GRANTED BY CENTER (ERIC) This document has been reproduced as recmved from the person or orgamzahon originating it j. 0 Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction Quality TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES Pdnts of vrew or opinions staled en this docu- ' ment do not necessarily represent official INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) OERI position or policy 1 BEST COPYAWAKE COMPUTER-ASSISTEDREPORTING: ANATIONWIDE SURVEY OF TELEVISIONNEWSROOMS by Sonya Forte Duhe', Ph.D. Assistant Professor College of Journalism andMass Communications Carolina Coliseum Columbia, South Carolina29209-1929 803 777-3321 and Erin Haynie Honors Undergraduate University of South Carolina AEJMC, This paper is being presented tothe Radio-TelevisionJournalism Division, Baltimore, August 6, 1998. 3 ABSTRACT This study, "Computer-Assisted Reporting:A Nationwide Survey of Television Newsrooms," reveals that computer-assistedreporting is prevalent in nearly three- is employed only in its quarters of tv newsrooms.However, computer-assisted reporting most basic formsuse of the Internet. Fewer than half of the respondentssaid their newsroom uses spreadsheet,database manager, statistical andmapping software. However, dataindicate that at least eight of ten newsrooms have the necessaryhardware and software for informationanalysis. 4 "Computer-assisted Reporting: ANationwide Survey of TelevisionNewsrooms" Pulitzer winners in each ofthe It is described as a revolutionin terms of news-gathering. malpractice, government last six years used it to uncoverracism in mortgage loans, medical said to turn ordinary reportersinto waste, arson fraud, and laxbuilding codes (Ciotta, 1997). It is and student super sleuths(Bland, 1991). It is hailed for itsability to give "ordinary" journalists computer-assisted reporting, or CAR. reporters instant access tothe inaccessible. It is Computer-assisted reporting is theumbrella term for the use of computersin news- Computer-Assisted Reporting, gathering. Brant Houston, directorof the National Institute for through the past decade, writes in his practical guide tocomputer-assisted reporting that, journalists' use of three basictools have defined the term. Atits most basic level, computer- on-line resources. As assisted reporting is the use ofspreadsheets, database managers and/or joined these three: statistical and journalists have become moresophisticated, other tools have mapping software (Houston,1996). journalism down into four Nora Paul of the PoynterInstitute breaks computer-assisted these categories are critical categories: reporting, research,reference, and rendezvous. Each of but, as Paul points out, the to news gathering and canbe done without the use of a computer, computer can speed up,simplify and/or expand the rangeof work (1997). Paul defines reporting as: "to announce orrelate the result of a specialsearch, conduct examination, or investigation"(Paul, 1997, p. 1).Using a computer, reporters can definition of computer-assisted special examinations. Research,the second component of Paul's reporting usually involves journalism, also requires a specialsearch or investigation. While self-conducted computer analyses,research primary sources such asinterviews, observation, or research, allows the reporterto develop relies on secondary sources.Reporting, combined with a complete newsreport (Paul, 1997). of sources ofinformation" Computer-assisted reference isdefined by Paul as "consultation Internet and CD-ROMSoffer quick access to (Paul, 1997, p. 1). Virtualreference shelves on the and glossaries (Paul,1997). The Internetalso dictionaries, encyclopedias,gazetteers, almanacs, fourth element incomputer-assisted provides "virtual communities"for rendezvous, Paul's journalism. in numbers" (Paul,1997, p. 1). Rendezvous is "a placewhich people customarily come advice, and tap intoother people's networks Paul believes "the ability tohang out, listen in, seek exciting aspect ofcomputer-assisted-journalism" of sources is the newestand, perhaps, most (1997, p. 1). Listservs and newsgroupsare examplesof "virtual communities." computer-assisted reporting,has been The use of computersin basic newsgathering, or of the University ofMiami CAR Research growing in the 1990s.Bruce Garrison, director their use of online servicesin 1994 and 1995. Project, surveyed thenation's newspapers on form of online service tosolve informational Garrison found that 57%of dailies used some of daily newspapers problems. A year later,there was a considerablejump. Sixty-four percent in 1995 (1996). used some type ofon-line services in the newsroom reporting is swarming overdaily Editor and Publishermagazine said computer-assisted that newspapers havebeen the leaders newspaper newsrooms.Educators and professionals agree (Garrison, 1997; Ross& Middleberg, in computer-assistedreporting. Several nationwide surveys in the print journalismmedia. 1996) have been conducted todetermine the use of computers has been ignored by thesestudies. Where there Television news outlets,however, have largely 6 "unreliable for drawing meaningful been research, the responserate was so small, it was conclusions" about tv newsrooms(Ross & Middleberg, 1997). Purpose frequency with which television newsrooms The purpose of this study wasto explore the indicate the availability of necessary practice computer-assistedjournalism. The results will also Research also will reveal whatCAR skills journalists computer hardwareand software for CAR. possess in thenation's tv newsrooms. directors believe CARskills are Furthermore, the researcherswill examine whether news what CAR skills important for journalists intheir newsrooms. Thisstudy will also determine well as the skills news news directorsbelieve journalists musthave in their newsrooms as directors would like journalists topossess. LITERATURE REVIEW Computers in TelevisionNewsrooms A Brief History of journalists were large systemsknown For several decades, theonly computers available to organizations used themfOr production-oriented as mainframes.In the 1970s, some news newsgathering tools. A fewenlightened newspapers activities, but rarely usedthe mainframes as and analysis. However, at this time wereusing the large systemsfor occasional data processing political poll data analysis(Garrison, 1996a). this was done only forspecial projects, such as and relational databasesoftware The development (since1980) of powerful statistical evolution in investigativeand daily news- programs for desktopcomputing set into motion an and few regulations areresponsible gathering strategies. Easier