Explain Yourself ...

How kids used the Web

     Gary Kromer, Star-Telegram director of research, shared an article in Marketing Daily about the 2007 American Kids Study's look into what kids are doing online. Evidently, they aren't reading the newspaper, but I can't remember when any news other than coverage of exceptional developments or personal interests was of much interest to youngsters.

     Here's a breakdown of the study's findings:

     What Are Kids Doing Online? Among kids ages 6-11:

     Played online games 78.1%

     Did stuff for school/ homework 34.2%

     Listened to music 28.6%

     Watched videos 26.2%

     Looked for web sites/surfed the web 22.7%

     Used e-mail 20.4%

     "Found out about different things I like" 15.7%

     Got tips or cheats on games 15.6%

     Shopped or looked at things to buy 13.1%

     Downloaded music 12.7%

     Downloaded games 11.8%

     Used instant messenger 9.3%

     Went to chat rooms 3.7%

     Have their own e-mail address 29.2%

     Source: 2007 American Kids Study

     -- David House

Coverage of presidential candidates

     Always interesting is the Center for Media and Public Affairs' studies of the media's coverage of presidential candidates. Provides a good sense of who's on the radar and how, but the studies focus on Big TV, so it's actually a myopic "medium" study. Studies of newspapers' and other print products' coverage probably would turn up similar results, but they aren't included. Aggravating, but that's life. Results still are worth noting.

     That said, here's the text from a CMPA news release that came out today. Thought I'd go ahead and just copy the release into this item rather than throw in a link and waste your time getting to a site. By the way, Ron Paul wasn't mentioned in the study, which indicates he hasn't been much on Big TV's mind, so I'm including the link to his site along with the candidates who were mentioned. Here's the CMPA release:

CENTER FOR MEDIA AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS

2100 L Street, N.W. * Suite 300 * Washington, D.C. 20037 * 202-223-2942

December 26, 2007 Contact: Donald Rieck

Election Study Finds Media Hit Hillary Hardest; Obama, Huckabee Fare Best; FOX Is Most Balanced (not a typo)

TV election news has been hardest on Hillary Clinton this fall, while Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee have been the biggest media favorites, according to a new study by the Center for Media and Public Affairs (CMPA) at George Mason University. The study also found that Fox NewsChannel’s evening news show provided more balanced coverage than its counterparts on the broadcast networks.

These results are from CMPA’s 2008 ElectionNewsWatch Project. They are based on a scientific content analysis of all 481 election news stories (15 hours 40 minutes of airtime) that aired on the flagship evening news shows on ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX (the first 30 minutes of “Special Report with Brit Hume”) from October 1 through December 15, 2007.

MAJOR FINDINGS: Hillary Pilloried? On-air evaluations of Hillary Clinton were nearly 3 to 2 negative (42% positive vs. 58% negative comments), while evaluations of her closest competitor Barack Obama was better than 3 to 2 positive (61% positive vs. 39% negative). John Edwards attracted much less coverage, but his evaluations were 2 to 1 positive (67% positive vs. 33% negative).

Sen. Clinton was evaluated more often than all her Democratic opponents combined. Examples:

“Critics say her best known Senate vote, on Iraq, was driven by politics, not by principle.” – Andrea Mitchell, NBC

“She was widely blamed for a health care policy so secretive and complex it died at birth.” – Major Garrett, FOX

“I’ve been inspired [by Obama] to believe that a new vision is possible for America.” –- Oprah Winfrey, FOX

It’s All About Hillary: Four of the ten most heavily covered candidate-related issues concerned Ms. Clinton:

#1. Clinton campaign’s strategy and tactics, 47 stories; #7. Her electability, 18 stories; #8. Her alleged policy flip flops, 14 stories; #9. Her honesty/integrity, 12 stories.

Other hotly debated candidate issues included: #2. Barack Obama’s strategy/tactics, 46 stories;

#3. John Edwards’ strategy/tactics, 24 stories;

#4. Mitt Romney’s religion, 20 stories;

#5. Romney’s strategy/tactics. Huckabee Leads GOP: Among Republicans, Mike Huckabee fared best with evenly balanced coverage – 50% positive and 50% negative evaluations by reporters and sources. Fred Thompson came next with 44% positive comments, followed by Mitt Romney with 40% positive, Rudy Giuliani with 39% positive, and John McCain with 33% positive. Examples:

“He [Huckabee] seems very real, very authentic. It’s hard not to like him, and you can’t say that about some of the other Republican candidates.” – Bob Schieffer, CBS

“What he [Romney] talked about was a complete repudiation of any notion of separation of church and state…” – Sally Quinn, ABC

“Rudy [Giuliani] would be a great candidate if he was pro-life, but… that is an issue we can’t overcome. It’s a huge handicap for him.” – voter, FOX

Who’s Fair and Balanced?:

Fox News Channel’s coverage was more balanced toward both parties than the broadcast networks were. On FOX, evaluations of all Democratic candidates combined were split almost evenly – 51% positive vs. 49% negative, as were all evaluations of GOP candidates – 49% positive vs. 51% negative, producing a perfectly balanced 50-50 split for all candidates of both parties.

On the three broadcast networks, opinion on Democratic candidates split 47% positive vs. 53% negative, while evaluations of Republicans were more negative – 40% positive vs. 60% negative. For both parties combined, network evaluations were almost 3 to 2 negative in tone, i.e. 41% positive vs. 59% negative.

Policy Debate: The campaign coverage has been relatively issue oriented -- 188 stories dealt with policy issues, 191 with campaign strategy and tactics, 162 on the candidates’ standings in the horse race, and 122 on heir personal backgrounds. (A story could cover more than one of these topics.)

The most frequently debated policy issues were #1. Illegal immigration, 32 stories; #2 Iraq, 22 stories; #3 Electoral reforms, 18 stories; #4 Abortion, 13 stories; #5 Iran, 12 stories.

Methodology

The Center for Media and Public Affairs is a media research organization that uses scientific content analysis to study news and entertainment media content. CMPA is affiliated with the George Mason University, where CMPA President Dr. S. Robert Lichter is Professor of Communications.

CMPA has monitored every presidential election since 1988 using the same methodology, in which trained coders tally all mentions of candidates and issues and all evaluations of candidates. We report the evaluations by non-partisan sources, excluding comments by the candidates and campaigns about each other, because research shows that non-partisan sources have the most influence on public opinion, and they are also more subject to the discretion of reporters. However, we maintain data files on partisan evaluations as well.

     -- David House

The greetings we get ...

From today's Onotes:

     Foul felicities: Jerry’s Christmas card wished us blessings. Then he got to the point. He enclosed a clipping of a recent essay by Bronx native Annie Korzen, a comedy writer and actress who cast It’s a Wonderful Life as a horror flick. We got the gift of Jerry’s views about that. “This artical (sic) is another reason I do not subscribe to the Star Telegram,” he wrote. The Star is constantly dedicated to knocking family values and Christian values. Who cares where (Korzen) came from or what she did. I certainly could care less.”

     Comment: Maybe Jerry just needs a laugh. We’ll send him a gift from Dave Barry: “In the old days, it was not called the Holiday Season; the Christians called it 'Christmas' and went to church; the Jews called it 'Hanukkah' and went to synagogue; the atheists went to parties and drank. People passing each other on the street would say 'Merry Christmas!' or 'Happy Hanukkah!' or (to the atheists) 'Look out for the wall!'”

     That’s the spirit: Unlike Jerry, Patricia didn’t bother with a card. She wrote her season’s greetings on Ziggy stationery, and she included a clip of the recent b&w photo of Southcliff Baptist Church’s singing Christmas tree. “Why wasn’t this picture on the front page in color instead of the color picture of the daughter of Wade Phillips? Just another way to get sports on the front page!”

     Comment: Interesting to note the quick-read aspect of those pics. Phillips’ daughter just took a glance, but there were nearly 90 choir members in that tree photo. Took a while to study 80-odd faces in various states of creative expression.

     -- David House

Reader reaction to survey results

     There’s still comparatively light reader reaction to results of the Belden survey that found considerable support for the new format. E-mails and phone calls to this corner of the world still haven’t topped 50. One reader says that’s because people figure it’s pointless to complain; another reader says it’s a measure of what the survey found. So far, most respondents were more interested in sharing an idea on how to improve the paper. Here’s a sampling:

    ‘M.’: I am satisfied with the new format of the FWST, although I had no complaints about the previous format. I do have a complaint about the Sunday delivery in two separate packages (I would not complain if they were delivered at the same time!). I do not appreciate having to go outside twice in freezing weather. I do not understand the benefits, if any, for this. The Dallas Morning News found a better way to deal with the increased bulk of the Sunday edition.

     Brent: I want to compliment you on your new format. In addition, I very much appreciate some of the changes you've made since the new format was released (i.e. TV sports listings was put back on Page 2 of the Sports section, Sunday comics are not buried in advertisement). I have one more suggestion. On the weather listing for national cities, I would recommend including Columbia, S.C. You currently have Charleston, S.C. However, there can be a wide range on variance between a coastal city and one that is 100 miles inland. If you need to replace a city to balance out the overall format, let me suggest removing Trenton, N.J. With Trenton being halfway between PHL and NYC, it would be easy to look at either for weather info.

     Bonnie: The format is fine except for one thing. Take this article as an example. It is on the front page of Sunday’s Star-Telegram. I was interested so started to read the article, only to discover that in order to finish the article I have to go to not just another page in the same section but another section altogether. Now I have a decision to make. Do I put down the front page, rifle through the other sections to find the appropriate section, hope I remember the page number and finish the article? After finishing the article do I put down the second section and go back to the first, or complete the second section? Let’s say I go back to the first section and start yet another article. Any six of those remaining articles on the front page will take me to yet another section, very confusing for an old woman. ... On a positive note, “News to know” in each section helps me make sure I didn’t miss anything as I move back and forth from section to section. Thanks for this venue!

     Barbara: You didn't survey me! I hate the new format. Anything I read on the front page, I'm going to read again, so the only intelligent thing to do is skip it. I really dislike how you have dumbed down the paper. ... I still take the newspaper. I want to know who died. I work the crossword and read the comics. I devour what's left of the opinion section, and I always read the letters to the editors. ... I read how my representatives voted every week, and try to remember this when I vote. ... Since the paper takes so much less of my time, I find I spend much more time reading the news on the Internet, and I'm surprised how much important news is never covered in the Star-Telegram. Now I have expressed my opinion.

     James: While I am not surprised that the majority "like" the new format, I am disappointed. The new format reminds me of my Weekly Reader when I was in elementary school 45 years ago. I will give you credit for including some of the innovations from another publication from that time, Highlights for Chldren, see the old hidden picture or your "spot the differences" picture. Unfortunately, if that's what the masses want, and can understand, then that's what you should provide. I have also noticed an increase in mistakes in your publication. I don't pick at grammar or syntax, however some issues involve historical, geographic, and even purported "facts" that are incorrect. ... I went from reading two papers daily back to one, yours. ... Eventually my wife and I will probably just go to the Internet for our news as your publication has developed a habit of referring readers to electronic sources for "more information."

     David: We moved from Syracuse, N.Y., 18 months ago, and I immediately subscribed to the S-T. I like the reporting, especially the sports. I really only have two complaints about the new format. 1. In an effort to cram every highlight on the front page, there is never a single article you can read from the front page without going somewhere else, usually to another section. ... 2. Weather. What weather? There is really just a temperature report .... Never any explanation of what or why the weather is or will be, even though the weather guy's picture is all over the place. Use his brain and put his meteorology report in there! And one thing you could borrow from the Syracuse Post-Standard: Put the weather on the back page! ... I know that back page is better for ad revenue, but if you want to know what I want, that's it.

     Bob: I too, am pleased with the way the changes have taken place. However, I do have one comment. Can some type of computer-user column be added? I thoroughly enjoyed Dr. Bombay. (He knows now about Mr. Modem on Wednesdays.)

     Harvey: I have received the paper daily for over 20 years. I read it from front to back. The New Format was never a point of concern to me. Like anything else that is new, use it for awhile and it just falls into the daily routine. Now the big thing that has happened is that the reduction of content has been a major problem to me. Yes I can see how the direct writing of some of the stories gets the point across. But then in that case there could and should be more of them. I suggest that consideration be given to a section on the weekend that would be “World News.” ... That would be because it would eventually have some effect on our daily lives.

     Jim: The new format is fine. The TV Guide is too big, but it is not falling apart anymore.

     -- David House

"Doe's" bad messages

     Where's all this "Meet John Doe" stuff coming from? I saw a little bit of it last week on TMC, and I've had it on my mind ever since. I was struck by so many parallels with current issues and developments in the newspaper industry. My wife and I watched the classic briefly while having a quick dinner. She's a writer, too, and we work almost every night at home.

     So there was Barbara Stanwyck playing young reporter Ann Mitchell. The new owner of the paper was firing her and other staffers in a newsroom shakeup (a familiar development at newspapers around the country these days), but, as the managing editor reminded her, she had one last column to write. (That bothered me, because reporters rarely write columns, seeing as how their credibility as objective newsgatherers would be compromised, but that's beside the point at hand ... )

      So "Ann Mitchell" storms back into her office (a reporter with a column and an office????????!!!!! ah, but this is a movie after all), sits down and begins to bang out a deliberately fraudulent column in which she fabricates a down-and-out person with issues that melt hearts everywhere. Nooooo. Cardinal sins. Major violations of ethics. She just flat lied right there on the silver screen and people probably just kept eating their popcorn, approving of retribution aimed at the heartless new owner. My blood ran cold. As we know from high-profile exposure of recent instances of ethical lapses, those practices have contributed greatly to the news media's loss of credibility. But I digress.

     Anyway, according to synopses I read later (I had to turn off the TV and get back to work), Ann Mitchell not only keeps her job, she becomes a star. (What a message!) Her column ultimately creates such a stir that circulation's driven through the roof. That's the ticket, baby. The paper's owner is thrilled with record bottom-line results. To heck with the lies that nurtured them.

     Hollywood journalism. Shudder.

     I don't know whether journalists are more ethical these days than back then, but I'd bet on one probability. I'd suspect there's never been a time when journalists have been more keenly aware of the need for ethical work.

     -- David House

One of "Doe's" lasting points

     "Meet John Doe" illustrated the power of the press in 1941 to spark nationwide movements through coverage. Formation of populist "John Doe" clubs became a fad in the movie's aftermath, fanned in part by its winning two Oscars in 1942.

     Same holds true today. Awesome force is created when the news media collectively focus on an issue. Such power has an up side and a down side. Champions of truth and justice stand to gain, but so do propagandists and manipulators.

     -- David House

More about 'Doe'

     A movie I referenced in today's column left some readers wanting to know more about "Meet John Doe," the newspaper-related 1941 flick starring Barbara Stanwyck and Gary Cooper.

     There's fascinating insight here on filmsite.org. Here's their description:   

     "The film was intended to combat pro-Nazi Fascist forces present in America with its story of a young female newspaper reporter (Barbara Stanwyck) who writes a fraudulent column after threatened with being fired. In the spoof, she invents a fictitious reader as the author of a letter - a suicide-martyr who protests against an injust political and social system. And then because of public interest and demand (and soaring newspaper sales), she incarnates an American ex-minor-league baseball player/hobo (named John Doe - an Everyman character) to sell his services as an imposter and impersonate the non-existent character. The has-been tramp preaches charity, kindness, plain-speaking, homely aphorisms, and a doctrine of good-neighborliness. He becomes a national figure, and causes the spread of 'John Doe Clubs' across the country. The benevolent, empowering fraud is eventually uncovered (and opposed by corrupting, unscrupulous political influences), and Doe is forced to publicly admit the charade.

     "The dangers of a complacent nation (with hunger amidst a land of plenty) being manipulated and taken over by neo-Fascist forces and Hitler's Third Reich (a reality in the early 1940s) are countered in the film by the actions of the ordinary 'little man.' Suffering humiliation and near failure, John Doe decides to prove his sincerity by leaping from the top of City Hall, but is persuaded otherwise by the real John Does of the world. [The greatest difficulty with the film was that five alternative endings were shot (or created in the editing room), and it was undecided how the film would conclusively end. The conclusion that seemed most inevitable and unavoidable was John Doe's sacrificial suicide on Christmas Eve (a deeply-religious act) but that downbeat ending was rejected by preview audiences.] "

     -- David House

Star-Telegram readers like our new format

As most Star-Telegram readers know, last spring we introduced a new look and a new format to present news and information in the paper.  Our intention was to improve the paper so that readers could find what they want easier and faster, and to make it a paper that could be enjoyed by people who only read it occasionally as well as frequent readers.  We especially wanted to make it a quicker read for those who are time-pressed, yet continue to deliver in-depth news for people who have more time to spend with the paper. 

To see if we succeeded in that, we engaged Belden Research to conduct a readership study for us during September/October. It involved interviews with 800 readers throughout our market. The margin for error was + or – 3.5 percent.  (The numbers don’t always add up to exactly 100 percent because some people answer they ``don’t know.’’)

We got the results last week, and the news is overwhelmingly positive.  Of the readers who had an opinion about whether they preferred the new format or the old, three out of four said the new Star-Telegram is doing a better job of meeting their personal needs and interests. Specifically:

* 48 percent said they liked the new format better vs. 15 percent who said it was worse.

* 37 percent were neutral.  They like the new format as well as the old

Although we expected readers who subscribe and read the paper daily would not be as positive about the changes as less frequent readers, that didn’t turn out to be true. In both cases, the numbers broke down to three out of four prefer the new format to the old.

One of the big changes we made was a new front page format that summarizes the day's most interesting and important stories and guides readers who want more information to the information inside the paper. Those readers who had a preference liked the new front-page treatment better than the traditional front page we used to produce.  When asked whether they think the new front page makes it easier to find things inside the paper, it was nearly 3 to 1 positive:

* 21 percent said it was much easier

* 21 percent said somewhat easier (so net of 42 percent said it was easier)

* 16 percent said more difficult

* 29 percent said they like it as well as the more tradional front page

When asked about the balance of news between local and national/international on the new front page:

* 72 percent said it was good

* 14 percent said it was not good

* 14 percent had no opinion

When asked about the balance between interesting/entertaining stories on 1A and important news:

* 78 percent said it was good

* 11 percent said it was not good

* 11 percent had no opinion

We also asked readers who said they had ``high interest’’ in a particular topic how they thought we were doing on coverage of that topic in the new format compared to the old format.  The numbers were again overwhelmingly positive for every attribute mentioned:

* 38 percent said coverage of DFW professional sports was better, vs. 3 percent who said it was worse (the rest said the coverage was about the same).

* 37 percent said our coverage of the environment/green living was better vs. 2 percent worse

* 33 percent said local news coverage in general was better vs. 5 percent worse.  Same for local high school sports.

* 31 percent said health/fitness/nutrition coverage was better vs. 2 percent worse. Same for coverage of Fort Worth news.

* 30 percent said coverage of college sports and national business news was better vs. 4 percent worse.  Same percentage also said we were providing more consumer information on how to save money.

* 27 percent said our local business coverage was better vs. 3 percent worse.  Same for Food information.

* 26 percent said our coverage of Arlington/Mansfield was better vs. 5 percent worse.  Same for news about technology/gadgets and family news.

* 25 percent said our coverage of Northeast Tarrant was better vs. 3 percent worse

* 24 percent said our national/international news coverage was better vs. 7 percent worse (this was the highest negative number we saw in this particular part of the survey although it was still more than 3 to 1 positive)

* Information about travel, gardening, home improvement and celebrity news finished in the 21-23 percent positive range/2 percent negative range.

Finally, we asked readers whether they were reading the new Star-Telegram more or less with the new format:

* 24 percent said they were reading it more.

* 59 percent said they were reading it the same amount as under the previous format

* 15 percent said they were reading it less.

But of that 15 percent who said they were reading it less, we suspect that many of them are really reading the same amount of content but it is taking them less time than before because it is organized better.  So that translates to ``reading it less.''

-- Jim Witt

   

   

Story-telling ...

There was a time -- not so long ago -- when we had a fairly limited set of tools to use in telling a story. We learned to use them well, but it limited us on some stories. The Web has given us new tools.

From the latest news cycle, consider the story of the Watauga police chase in which an officer collided with a motorcycle. We can describe it in print, but the web allows us to actually post the dash cam video. Alas, the video alone would not explain the odd fact that it was apparently leaked to a web site. The police did not release the video when we asked for it under the Freedom of Information Act.

In pairing words and images -- across two platforms -- we can do a better job of telling the story for the readers. Good work by Melissa Vargas.

-- Rex Seline

Mall mayhem ...

The shootings at a mall in Omaha touched a nerve here in Fort Worth. We recall a similar tragedy at Wedgewood Baptist Church. Some of us have even closer connections; I was born in Omaha, I still have family there, and I have shopped at that mall.

From a journalistic perspective, it's worth noting one of the challenges in covering such tragedies: The initial curiosity is about the shooter, but you don't want to focus on the shooter to the exclusion of the victims. That challenge is heightened when authorities are slow to release the names of the victims, as they have been in Omaha.

The authorities are justifiably trying to be sensitive to the kin. But we have found that families often want the stories of the victims shared, too. In the end, the families don't want the spotlight solely on the shooter, and telling the stories of the victims is one way to begin the grieving process.

As journalists, we also want to share the stories of courage in the face of tragedy. We've already heard a few stories from Omaha about store employees and shoppers shepherding people to safety in back rooms. I'm sure more will come out.

If Wedgewood is a guide, Omaha will find a way to mourn and heal. My thoughts are with the residents there today.

--Rex Seline