Napoli, Philip M. (author), Weber, Matthew (author), McCollough, Katie (author), and Wang, Qun (author)
Format:
Research report
Publication Date:
2018
Published:
USA: DeWitt Wallace Center for Media and Democracy, Stanford School of Public Policy, Duke University.
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 124 Document Number: D11221
Notes:
26 pages., Findings based on an analysis of more than 16,000 news stories gathered over seven days, across 100 randomly sampled U.S. communities with populations of 20,000 to 300,000. Among the findings: 20 communities contained no local news stories, only about 17% of the news stories provided to a community were truly local; less than half (43%) of the news stories to a community by local media outlets were produced by the local media outlet; and just over half (56% of the news stories provided to a community by local media outlets addressed what was defined as a "critical information need." Findings provided evidence of the "news deserts" problem confronting local communities.
1 page., Author expresses concerns about disappearance of trustworthy news content and urges agricultural readers to be "cautious in whom you trust and what you believe in the 24/7 news cycle. We deserve to know all sides of a story, not just the one that the 'conservative' or 'liberal' media outlet wants you to believe."
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Document Number: D08852
Notes:
Pages 109-128 in Kunelius, Risto Eide, Elisabeth Tegelberg, Matthew Yagodin, Dmitry (eds.), Media and global climate knowledge: journalism and the IPCC. United States: Palgrave Macmillan, New York City, New York. 309 pages.
16 pages, via online journal, One of the nation’s most important industries, agriculture, has adopted social media to communicate with consumers and the public. At the same time, traditional news media remains important to the agriculture industry because many consumers still receive information about agriculture from sources such as newspapers and television. Little literature at the time of this study explored how social media is used specifically as a media relations tool. The purpose of this study is to examine how agricultural organizations in Ohio communicate via social media and how the messages could impact central Ohio traditional media outlets’ coverage of agricultural issues. The study is grounded in uses and gratifications theory, and previous social media studies. Data were collected from seven Ohio agricultural organizations’ Facebook pages and four central Ohio news outlets. Researchers found that Ohio agricultural commodity organizations use social media, but not necessarily to communicate with the news media. The industry received limited news coverage during the time studied, and we were unable to discern a relationship between social media and news media coverage beyond a commonality of stories. By communicating the results of this study with agricultural organizations and researchers, effective social media strategies can be developed to guide the future of social media as a media relations tool.
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 124 Document Number: D11226
Notes:
Via online Better News. 7 pages., Describes how the Sacramento Bee newspaper experimented with serving specific audiences for food stories in an effort to grow digital subscriptions. "The sprint terminology is borrowed from developers. We liked it because it allowed us to learn and get results quickly. If we failed, that was fine. If we found success, we kept going." Sprint efforts run from six to eight weeks. A drafted plan includes the strategy and tactics used to achieve SMART goals (SMART standing for specific, measurable, aggressive yet achievable, relevant and time-bound.) Team members measure "obsessively," meeting every week to discuss results and build new story plans. In a reported sprint example, digital subscriptions increased by more than 50 percent in 2018.
