Journalism: Just the Facts, Unless it’s Online

Whether it replaces or supplements a print publication, almost every magazine has a Web site. For marketers, the growth of content-rich websites correlates with the growth of online advertising and has opened the doors to new ways of reaching and interacting with our audiences.

Readers enjoy the convenience, speed and cost-effective (free) nature of these sites.  But a new research study may suggest that speed and convenience come at the most costly price of all – less than accurate content.

On Monday, The Columbia Journalism Review released its survey results and an accompanying article of a research project they conducted among 665 consumer magazines (5,000 magazines were approached).

One of the goals of the study was to clarify journalistic standards for new media. Here is what they found:

• 48% of magazines surveyed use less stringent copy-editing requirements on their websites than they do on their print publications.
• 27% use a less stringent fact-checking process on their websites than they do on their print publications. (57% fact-check the same way for print and online. 8% don’t fact-checked at all.)

While best practices for copy-editing and fact-checking are standards for print publications, the study finds that new media has not yet accepted there own set of best practices.

Victor Navasky , Columbia Journalism Review chairman, said of the results, “The conventional wisdom is that you have to be there first in order to get traffic, and you need traffic in order to sell ads, therefore you do not have time to do conventional copy-editing and fact-checking.”

Although editorial content and advertising content often fit in two different worlds, insights like these speak to their undeniable relationship.  A site needs to have visitors in order to sell ads.  But, first it needs to be a credible source of information to intrigue and sustain a high level of traffic.

Old media diminishing or transforming into new media is a sign of progression.  We are a convenience-driven society and fortunately technology has allowed us to be that way. But in this instance, progression can not come at a trade-off for standards.  Sometimes old practices are the best practices.

What are your thoughts on the CJR research findings? To learn more about the steps we take to choosing quality media, visit our media planning capabilities page.

Flickr photo courtesy of Just.Luc