Media

jakeXT

(10,575 posts) Fri Apr 4, 2014, 03:18 AM Apr 2014

Study: Do you always agree with the topics newspaper editors choose to cover?

Research suggests social media users don't always agree with newspaper editors about which topics are the most important, an article in the academic journal Journalism Studies reveals.

Duke University academic Marco Toledo Bastos examined the output of the New York Times and the Guardian over a two-week period in October 2012. He determined how much content appeared under 19 broad section headings (world news, sport, opinion and so on), and then analysed how that distribution compared to what was shared on social media.
His results show significant differences in the topics emphasised by newspaper editors and social media users. While users of social media platforms favour sharing opinion pieces, along with national, local and world news, the editors themselves emphasised sport, the economy, entertainment and celebrity stories.
"The results show that social media users express a preference for a subset of content and information that is at odds with the decisions of newspaper editors regarding which topic to emphasise," Bastos observes.

http://www.sciencedaily.com:80/releases/2014/04/140403105750.htm

5 replies

= new reply since forum marked as read

Highlight:

Study: Do you always agree with the topics newspaper editors choose to cover? (Original Post) jakeXT Apr 2014 OP

No, but I have lived in different parts of the world and as a consequence I am interested in MADem Apr 2014 #1

In the past it was easy for everyone to have the same pop culture experience, jakeXT Apr 2014 #4

Yes, precisely! It's a small world, after all...but it's got a TON of media outlets and channels to MADem Apr 2014 #5

Seems rather absurd Sherman A1 Apr 2014 #2

This is explained well by Herman and Chomskis Propaganda Model. Ed Suspicious Apr 2014 #3

MADem

(135,425 posts)

1. No, but I have lived in different parts of the world and as a consequence I am interested in

Reply to jakeXT (Original post)

Fri Apr 4, 2014, 03:25 AM

Apr 2014

news that holds no interest to most Americans. I am not annoyed that US news doesn't cover these topics, they just aren't geared to US audiences. And with the internet it is easy to get the news that you want, when you want it.

I notice I have huge gaps in my understanding of American news and pop culture during the years I did not live here, especially in the years before satellite dishes. I had to get all my information from Newsweek, Time, US News and World Report and the International Herald Tribune. Radio and shortwave broadcasts from BBC World Service and VOA, notwithstanding the propaganda aspect, were helpful when I could get them.

Any time I learn of a gap I try to fill it--sometimes I've watched "marathons" of old TV shows I missed due to being away.

jakeXT

(10,575 posts)

4. In the past it was easy for everyone to have the same pop culture experience,

Reply to MADem (Reply #1)

Fri Apr 4, 2014, 05:41 AM

Apr 2014

with just a handful of channels. Now everyone is their own program director, you can watch shows from around the world or even go back into the past. I think there is so much out there, that people have way less intersecting experiences than in the past.

It's fun to look at different countries in the google news section and what they focus on, the US even has a Spanish version there
http://news.google.com/?edchanged=1&ned=es_us&authuser=0

MADem

(135,425 posts)

5. Yes, precisely! It's a small world, after all...but it's got a TON of media outlets and channels to

Reply to jakeXT (Reply #4)

Fri Apr 4, 2014, 06:05 AM

Apr 2014

watch!

Sherman A1

(38,958 posts)

2. Seems rather absurd

Reply to jakeXT (Original post)

Fri Apr 4, 2014, 03:32 AM

Apr 2014

I would suspect, that even in a perfect situation or world that there would be differences of opinion on this or most any topic. This is why we need to as citizens and consumers of news, we need multiple sources of content.

Ed Suspicious

(8,879 posts)

3. This is explained well by Herman and Chomskis Propaganda Model.

Reply to jakeXT (Original post)

Fri Apr 4, 2014, 03:45 AM

Apr 2014

I wanted to copy and paste a paragraph from the intro of Manufacturing Consent which succinctly explains in muted, accessible, and nonhyperbolic tones the crux of the model and the subtle causes of the factors that shape what we receive as news. My kindle app doesn't seem to allow copy and past functionality, but hers a link that gets a bit more into the argument than I intended. Anyway, the book is well worth a read. And their explanation is more than plausible. It also explains why chomski himself gets very little mainstream press and is portrayed ss a sort of nutty commie out of touch liberal from MIT. Elitist.

http://www.chomsky.info/onchomsky/2002----.htm

The internet makes news shaping hard for major outlets. I do not feel for them, however.

Reply to this discussion