Media Blog

Today’s youth are the first generation who have never known a world without the internet. Therefore, realizing they are not necessarily more web savvy than others can be surprising. According to a new study released by Northwestern University, this is indeed the case: many young adults rely on the prominence of web search rankings to determine whether they should access content, rather than evaluating the actual website’s features. Overall, web search and brand recognition play a prominent role when young adults evaluate online news and information.

The quantitative and qualitative study examined the behaviours of 1,600 first-year U.S. university students, most ranging from 18 to 19 years of age. It looked at the factors involved when web users decide whether they should trust what they are reading online.

For many young adults, searching online is just as important as verifying websites when assessing the credibility of online information.

“To complete many of the assigned tasks, students often turned to a particular search engine as their first step. When using a search engine, many students clicked on the first search result. Over a quarter of respondents mentioned that they chose a Web site because the search engine had returned that site as the first result suggesting considerable trust in these services. In some cases, the respondent regarded the search engine as the relevant entity for which to evaluate trustworthiness, rather than the Web site that contained the information.”

What is more, when asked where they look for current events and information, young adults often rely on offline and online brands to assess the quality of news and information they are consuming.

“We found that mentions of corporate brands dominated students’ reported habits, with 63% of all respondents mentioning a corporate brand as part of their routine search behavior. Nineteen percent of participants mentioned the Google brand as part of a routine.”

More: Trust Online: Young Adults’ Evaluation of Web Content

Flickr photo: decembercrimson

Tags: Education, New Media, Trends

With the recent discussion surrounding the dismissal of CNN Senior Editor of Mideast Affairs Octavia Nasr for sharing personal political opinions on Twitter, when and where is it appropriate for journalists to share their opinions?

On CBC Radio One’s Q, Stephen Ward, director of the Centre for Journalism Ethics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and former director of the UBC Graduate School of Journalism, discusses the state of objectivity in today’s news environment.

Click here to listen.

Flickr image: malix

Tags: Education, Trends

Ten students from the UBC Graduate School of Journalism were nominated for two Emmy Awards for their news documentary Ghana: Digital Dumping Ground. Led by UBC Assistant Professor Peter Klein, the documentary, which was aired on PBS Frontline World, garnered nominations in two categories: Outstanding Investigative Journalism and Outstanding Research. It is the first time that Canadian university students have been nominated for an Emmy in a news category.

For Digital Dumping Ground, students traced the path of electronic waste around the globe, to Ghana, China and India, and discovered public health, human rights and national security concerns.  The documentary also received the prestigious Sigma Delta Chi Award for best documentary of the year from the Society for Professional Journalists earlier this year, and it was nominated for another US prize, the Livingston Award for Young Journalists.

“People work their entire careers to get any of these awards,” said Prof. Klein, “so it’s pretty special that our students achieved this recognition for the great work they’ve done so early in their careers.”

The UBC Graduate School of Journalism is a partner institution of the CMRC. More »

Ghana: Digital Dumping Ground »

Tags: Awards, Education, New Media, UBC

This week Reuters released its Handbook of Journalism to the public. It is a must for any journalist. This is the first time that Reuters has published the entire handbook online for free.

“This handbook is not intended as a collection of “rules”. Beyond the obvious, such as the cardinal sin of plagiarism, the dishonesty of fabrication or the immorality of bribe-taking, journalism is a profession that has to be governed by ethical guiding principles rather than by rigid rules. The former liberate, and lead to better journalism. The latter constrain, and restrict our ability to operate. What follows is an attempt to map out those principles, as guidance to taking decisions and adopting behaviours that are in the best interests of Reuters, our shareholders, our customers, our contacts, our readers and our profession.”

Source: Reuters

Tags: Education