53% Journalists turn to the blogs

Well I could have told you that the time lag between a link appearing in Fark and an "And Finally" item on the local news was now down to a few seconds. But researchers at Euro RSCG Magnet and Columbia University have confirmed that many journalists turn first to the internet when looking for stories...

Most often, those work-related tasks involve finding story ideas, with 53% of journalist respondents reporting using blogs for such purposes. But respondents also turn to blogs for other uses, including researching and referencing facts (43%) and finding sources (36%). Most notable, fully 33% of journalists say they use blogs as a way of uncovering breaking news or scandals.

It gives you a sense of the power of the blogs in setting the media agenda and again makes me wonder about the much hyped antagonism between bloggers and the mainstream media. The perception of conflict as been built on half-a-dozen high-profile cases. This study shows that the relationship is, as the song goes, "closer than close."