Use of on-line services in newsrooms is growing rapidly, up about 7 percent in just one year.
In 1994, reporters, news researchers, and editors at about 57 percent of daily newspapers in the United States used some form of on-line services.
A year later, 1995 data from a national survey show a considerable 7 percent growth to 64 percent of daily newspapers using some type of on-line services-ranging from government bulletin board systems to commercial services to the Internet.
The findings are part of a two-year research project about CAR conducted in the School of Communication at the University of Miami that included data collected from 208 daily newspapers in 1994 and 287 in 1995. The response rates were about 41 percent in 1994 and 56 percent in 1995.
The differences in a newsroom's capability to use CAR may not be any more dramatic than in the use of on-line information services. Distinctions in large and small newspaper use of these on-line services are quite evident when basic use is analyzed by size.
Larger dailies, which were defined as those with daily circulation over 52,800 in 1995, are far more resource rich, have almost completely moved into on-line tools for reporting. While 64 percent used on-line services overall, more than 90 percent of the nation's large newspapers reported using on-line tools in 1995, overshadowing the 40 percent use level of smaller dailies.
If a news organization subscribed to an on-line service, chances were good that it was widely used. A total of 33 percent of daily newspapers searched one or more times daily in 1995. The figure was 27 percent in 1994.
In 1995, 25 percent of dailies searched once a week or more often, but not daily. Another 11 percent searched once a month or more often, but not weekly. A total of 6 percent searched less than monthly, and 24 percent said they had never used on-line services.
Bruce Garrison can be reached at (305) 284-2846, or send e-mail to bgarriso@umiami.ir.miami.edu