Multimedia and Interactivity on Newspaper

Websites:A Multi-Study Analysis of Six English-

Speaking Countries

Robert BerglandLisa Crawford

Sarah NoeDavid Hon

Online Journalism Symposium 2010

Problem/Purpose of study

Shortage of studies which compare different countries

Different methodologies used in various studies makes true country-to-country comparisons problematic

Goal: To examine several countries using a similar methodology

Brief Literature OverviewSome key newspaper website studies:

• Peng et al 1999 survey and 80-site analysis

• Greer & Mensing’s 1997-2003 U.S. longitudinal study

• Sparks, Young and Darnell 2003 analysis of 113 Canadian news sites

• Bivings Group’s 2006 Top 100 circulation U.S. papers

• Hashim et al 2007 study of 12 Australian newspapers

• Russial’s 2009 survey of 210 U.S. daily newspapers

Research QuestionsRQ1: What are the levels of interactivity and multimedia within

the individual countries?

RQ2: What impact does circulation have on presence of interactive/multimedia features?

RQ3: How do these countries compare in their newspapers’ use of multimedia/interactivity?

RQ4: Is there a connection between computer ownership/broadband in the countries and their newspapers’ use of these features?

Methodology

Looked at top six English-speaking countries where English was the first/dominant language: U.S., UK, Canada, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand

Survey methodology (a la Russial) was considered, but dismissed: Concerns over response rate, reliable contact information, cost, time

Chosen method: One-pass website analysis employed by Bivings Group, Darnell/Sparks/Young

MethodologyProcess

Team reviewed literature, examined websites to create 25-feature taxonomy for U.S. 2007 study; added 7 features in 2008 study of the other countries

Compiled lists of newspapers for each country from Editor and Publisher directory

Used random sampling of U.S. papers (360, every fourth, of 1437 U.S. dailies), with a +/- 4.5% margin of error

Used all of newspapers from other countries, eliminating duplicate sites (Note: only 12/60 Australian papers coded in time window)

Conducted pilot/inter-rater reliability test (95% in 2007; 96% in 2008) of 10 websites

Coded data over a one-month period

Number of Newspapers studied

US: 360* (Random sample—25%)

UK: 117

Canada: 100

Ireland: 9

New Zealand: 24

Australia: 12* (of 60)

General categories

Sample Spreadsheet

Results: Impact of SizeU.K./Ireland Newspapers Sites

Results: Impact of SizeU.S. Newspapers Sites

Results: Impact of SizeCanadian Newspapers Sites(blue under 50K; red over 50K)

Results: Multimedia

Results: Multimedia

Results: Multimedia

Results: Multimedia

Results: MM/Interactivity

Results: Interactivity

Results: Interactivity

Results: Interactivity

Results: Interactivity

Results: Distribution

Connection Between Computer Ownership/Broadband Penetration

In some countries, there seems to be a direct connection between computer ownership/broadband and the ability and motivation for newspapers to put multimedia and interactivity on their websites. Ex: Ukraine with 1.7% broadband penetration in 2008, had very little multimedia especially in a 2009 study:

Connection Between Computer Ownership/Broadband Penetration

• Not much of a connection in English-speaking countries studied• U.S./U.K. numbers were fairly similar in many categories

--Too little difference in CO/BP to judge, esp given year gap• Canada, with highest % of computer ownership and higher than U.S. broadband, had some of the lowest rates of multimedia/interactivity• New Zealand did show some connection, with the lowest rates of CO/BP and also the lowest amount of multimedia/interactivity

Computer Ownership 2006

Broadband Penetration 2008

So what explains the difference?

Perhaps• Economic Factors: Resources

-Personnel-Equipment/Software

• Economic Factors: Ownership/chains• Social Factors--Computer usage and expectations of users• Focus of management• Journalism education/training

Limitations of study/Future research

Weakness of content analysis vs survey

One-pass vs multipass—might not have viewed site on typical day

Redo study in 2011, looking at all sites during the same period for equal comparison