They Love Us, They Really Love Us

Surveys are what they are, and should always be taken with a grain of salt. But here's one that shows that reporters are paying more attention than ever to blogs:

The study finds that some 70% of journalists who use blogs do so for work-related tasks. 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%). Fully 33% of journalists say they use blogs as a way of uncovering breaking news or scandals.

First we're a resource; then we're the new guys; then we're peers.

Another part of this survey looked at reporters view of their profession:

# 45% of journalists are less trusting of the professional behavior of their own colleagues — up from 34% in 2003.
# 93% note that they are less trusting of colleagues who are paid to act as spokespeople.
# 79% believe that recent revelations about journalists taking payment from third parties has had a strong effect on media credibility.
# 78% believe that Rathergate has profoundly altered the media's credibility.
# 93% of journalists said they are being "excruciatingly careful" in fact-checking their stories in 2005 — a huge increase from 59% in 2003, likely a reflection of the press's declining credibility.

I love that last one. Just two years ago, nearly half of all reporters were less than "excruciatingly careful" in fact-checking. Makes you wonder what got missed in the days when there weren't all us self-appointed, publicly accessible media watchdogs out there, doesn't it?