During the course of my time at EchoDitto, I've been asked by many clients about whether traditional journalists and reporters actually care about blogs and other forms of new media like podcasts and Facebook. The question has been very hard to answer, mainly because there hasn't been a ton of research on the subject, seeing as how it's so new. So many of our answers are anecdotal, citing a changing newsroom where the line between online and offline journalists is increasingly blurred, and the jump in traffic we see when websites are linked to from the Drudge Report, compared to a mention in a major metropolitan newspaper.

That's why we were thrilled to see a new study published by our friends at Brodeur last month. The study asked reporters to rank blog and social media news sites by beat: travel, technology, politics, health care, and lifestyle. The results are not terribly surprising, but they are incredibly useful, as they represent one of the first attempts to quantify the role of new media in traditional journalism. Some highlights include:

• Over half of all reporters from all beats said social media and blogs are having a positive influence on the editorial direction of reporting.
• 4 in 5 reporters indicate a positive influence of social media and blogs on the diversity of reporting
• Over two-thirds of political reporters (77%) and half of lifestyle reporters (53%) felt that social media had a negative impact on the tone of coverage in their area.
• Over two-thirds (67%) of lifestyle reporters said that social media was having a negative impact on the accuracy of reporting in their area.

The study also lists the top blogs and online news sites in each category, with TMZ, Huffington Post, Engadget, TripAdvisor and NIH leading the lifestyle, political, technology, travel and health categories respectively.

To see the entire study, visit:
http://brodeurmediasurvey.com

As a side note, I also loved that they used the flickr slideshow widget to display the data from the survey, although the slides are a little small to fully appreciate in the widget. I recommend viewing them on flickr directly.