News organizations that disseminate content primarily in traditional print, television, and radio formats are disappearing from the global media landscape. Overall, the majority of journalists surveyed work for news organizations that are either fully digital (33%) or a hybrid of traditional and online (40%). About one-quarter are employed by traditional news organizations.
Read the full report at International Center for Journalists
Based on more than 2,700 responses from journalist and newsroom managers in 130 countries, there are a lot of interesting insights offered in the 77-page ICFJ report.
But temper your analysis for the fact the survey did not employ a scientifically random nor demographically balanced set of respondents, based on the methodology described. For instance, the quoted claim that traditional newsooms are disappearing is not entirely proven by the data, only that staff from more digital and hybrid newsrooms than traditional newsrooms accessed and completed the widely promoted online questionnaire.
With that caveat, other interesting “findings” in the report include:
- Journalism is a young person’s profession in all newsrooms – not just digital-only ones.
- Technologists remain sparse in newsrooms, even digital-only ones. Meanwhile, established roles continue to dominate.
- Most journalists regularly use a narrow range of digital skills. Less than one-third of newsrooms are using advanced digital skills.
- Two-thirds of newsrooms worldwide have a dedicated social media and audience engagement team.
- Most newsrooms use only basic analytics data to make decisions. Newsrooms do not focus heavily on engagement metrics.
- Younger adults are the most sought-out market for newsrooms worldwide.
- Journalists in hybrid newsrooms are more likely to work collaboratively, while those in digital-only newsrooms are more inclined to work independently.
- Most media organizations around the world (85%) employ some kind of content management system in their newsrooms.
- More than half of newsrooms and journalists fail to secure their communications.
- Digital-only newsrooms are twice as likely to generate revenue from alternative sources than traditional or hybrid newsrooms.
