StinkyJournalism Study: 68% Ten Top US Newspapers' Blogs Are Edited

NEW YORK, Oct. 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A new study by media ethics news site StinkyJournalism.org has shed light on the often murky journalistic world of newspaper blogs. Specifically, StinkyJournalism.org wanted to find out if the content on major newspaper blogs was edited by any member of the staff before or after bloggers sent it out into the Web universe.

StinkyJournalism's two-month study of ten top U.S. newspapers' blogs reveals that 404 of the 591 blogs they publish -- 68% -- are edited, according to the newspapers themselves.  Only 8 of the 591 blogs -- 1% -- dealt with traditional news.

Further, the subject matter, content and authors of the blogs were examined and charted, and the results provide a snapshot of newspaper blog culture in 2010.

The majority of the 591 newspaper blogs are commentary- and opinion-driven (133), followed by sports blogs (119) and lifestyle blogs (78).

The newspapers studied were: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, USA TODAY, San Francisco Chronicle, NEW YORK POST, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, and The Boston Globe.

STUDY HIGHLIGHTS:

• 404 of 591 (68%) blogs published by newspapers are edited, according to the newspaper

• Only 8 of the 591 blogs -- 1% -- dealt with traditional news

• 7 out of 10 newspapers say they edit all blogs.  These include: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post,  Los Angeles Times, USA TODAY, San Francisco Chronicle, NEW YORK POST, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times and The Boston Globe.

• NEW YORK POST said it edits all but 6 senior sports writers' live blogs.

• San Francisco Chronicle and Chicago Sun-Times said they don't edit all their blogs all the time.

Alexa ranks StinkyJournalism.org in the Top 20 most visited news media watchdogs.

StinkyJournalism.org is published by Art Science Research Laboratory (ASRL), a not-for-profit, co-founded by its director, Rhonda Roland Shearer, an adjunct lecturer at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Iowa, and her late husband, Harvard professor and scientist, Stephen Jay Gould.  

ASRL has a non-partisan journalism ethics program in which students and young journalists work with professional researchers to promote the media's use of scientific methods and experts before publication.

SOURCE StinkyJournalism.org