News Consumption: Meeting People Where They Are

News Consumption: Meeting People Where They Are Susan Nold @SusanNold @AStraussInst Talia Stroud @TaliaStroud @EngagingNews

Outline of this session Your work in the modern communication environment Snapshot of public attitudes about and use of media Engaging and educating audiences

The Annette Strauss Institute exists to cultivate informed voters and engaged citizens. We do so through research, education and outreach programs focused on three key pillars: civic discovery, young people and civil dialogue.

I really care and I think I can make a difference. Annette Greenfield Strauss

Your Job...

Your job

Learn Impact Educate Act Lead Learn be informed and accurate Impact get your point across, make it stick Educate constituents, reporters, public, staff, legislators Action vote, endorsement, acceptance Lead advance your goals/agenda

Observations challenges: 21 st Century news environment is more diverse, fragmented, less transparent. Audience attention is more complex, scarce. The capacity of government hasn t expanded at the same rate the demands have increased.

A en on me data value Competition for our attention. Get it. Keep it. Hyperlinked internet vs. closed platforms The Attention Economy Attention Management New policy questions, ethical considerations, privacy concerns.

Observations opportunities: News literacy education and Media literacy education is needed Skilled 21 st Century Communicators are needed Media s impact on democracy and society should be explored and understood Digital s impact on news democracy and society should be better understood. Understanding government capacity and pressures.

Digital requires a new playbook for communicators. Better able to target audiences, customize messages. More ways to reach and engage your audience. Perhaps easier to mobilize and connect with your audience. However There is more competition for audience attention. Audience attention spans are short. Messages and narratives can get out of your control quickly.

Themes in the Texas Media and Society survey: Where people get news Identifying Fact vs. Opinion Identifying news Handling unfamiliar sources Fact checking Blurred lines between professional and personal/individual and institution Anonymity less transparency and disclosure

Remember Work you do is as needed as ever Apply principled leadership to your work Understand the impacts on society Become an informed news consumer Effective communication is a key to making a difference solve complex problems Thoughtful approach to your work Import to staying current and continue to learn

Texas Media & Society Survey (TMASS) Three wave study June 2 June 14, 2016 Fielded by GfK / Knowledge Networks Representative sample of 1,006 Texans and 1,009 Americans Questions ask about media use, community involvement, and political engagement Thanks to generous funding from the Cain Foundation, the Denius Chair for Press Integrity, and the Moody Endowment for Excellence in Communication

Public Attitudes about Media Coverage of Politics The news media Agree Neither Disagree Need to do more to hold political candidates and elected officials accountable. 73.8% 18.6 5.5 Focus too much on the loudest voices. 70.1 22.9 5.3 Focus too much on scandals. 69.6 19.6 9.0 Are manipulated by elected officials who want to get media coverage. Should give more coverage to political candidates running for office. 63.0 27.3 8.1 25.1 42.9 30.1

Public Attitudes about Fact vs. Opinion Agree Neither Disagree The news media should just present the facts, without any analysis. It is easy for me to tell the difference between hard news and opinion in the media. Journalists have difficulty removing their personal opinions from their reporting. It is impossible for journalists to objectively report the news. Journalists should be able to include their own views when covering a story. 57.6% 22.3 18.3 54.0 28.9 15.3 53.7 32.1 12.5 35.5 30.8 31.4 21.1 26.9 49.9

Thinking about the news media as a whole, do you think that they have a... 12% 53% 35% Liberal bias Neither or not sure Conservative bias

How often do you come across news and opinion stories from organizations that you haven t heard of before? 11% 5% 10% All of the time Most of the time 51% 23% About half of the time Some of the time None of the time

How often do you check the accuracy of the news you get? 23% 34% 6% 18% 19% All of the time Most of the time About half of the time Some of the time None of the time

Journalist Credibility and Social Media (results only among the 72.6% who use social media) When journalists use social networking sites More Credible No Effect Less Credible To post their personal views about the news. 9.4% 53.0 35.6 To post personal details about their lives. 7.5 65.3 25.8 To promote stories that they wrote. 8.8 66.6 23.0 To respond to questions about the news. 28.7 59.9 9.8

Do you think that journalists should disclose Their partisan affiliation if they report on politics Their investments if they report on the stock market Their religious affiliation if they report on religion. Their sexual orientation if they report on same sex marriage 26.8% Yes 21.1% Yes 19.3% Yes 17.1% Yes 55.1% No 62.5% No 63.9% No 67.2% No 16.4% Uncertain 14.7% Uncertain 15.4% Uncertain 14.4% Uncertain

When news organizations report on Companies that buy advertising from them, they should let the public know. The company that owns them, they should let the public know. 63.7% Agree 71.6% Agree

Journalists should Donate money to political candidates if they want to. Sign petitions for causes they believe in if they want to. 54.5% Agree 70.2% Agree

100% Use of Social Media 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% Facebook YouTube Instagram Twitter Snapchat Reddit Other None

100% How closely do you pay attention to the following categories of news? (% somewhat or very closely) 80% 60% 40% 20% 0%

100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% How closely do you pay attention to the following categories of news? (% somewhat or very closely) 18 29 60+

100% How often do you get news from each of the following? (% often) 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% Television Computer Smartphone Print Radio Family and friends Tablet

100% How often do you get news from each of the following? (% often) 18 29 60+ 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% Television Computer Smartphone Print Radio Family and friends Tablet

Got news in the past 14 days from Source % Local television news 56.0 Local newspaper 37.3 Facebook 28.1 ABC / CBS / NBC Nightly News 25.8 CNN 22.8 Fox News Cable Channel 21.0 Yahoo News 16.1 NPR 13.4 MSNBC 12.9 Google News 11.3 Sources % The Huffington Post 10.3% ABC / CBS / NBC Late night comedy 9.4 USA Today 9.0 YouTube 8.3 The New York Times 8.1 Washington Post 6.8 NewsHour on PBS 6.6 Comedy programs on cable channels 6.0 Twitter 5.7 Wall Street Journal 5.7

100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% In the past month, from which sources do you get information about local politics?

100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% In the past month, from which sources do you get information about local politics? 18 29 60+

In the past 12 months 24.5% Signed a petition 14.3% Contacted a politician or a local government official 2.7% Worked in a political party or action group

Contacted a politician or a local government official in the last 12 months Age Yes No 18 29 9.1% 23.3% 30 44 15.4% 26.8% 45 59 28.7% 26.2% 60+ 46.9% 23.7% Education Yes No Less than high school 3.5% 13.8% High school 15.3% 32.0% Some college 34.0% 27.4% Bachelor's degree or higher 47.2% 26.8% Race / Ethnicity Yes No White, Non Hispanic 79.7% 62.4% Black, Non Hispanic 4.9% 12.7% Hispanic 9.8% 16.5% Other 5.6% 8.4% Gender Yes No Male 47.5% 52.1% Female 52.5% 47.9%

Engaging News Project To provide research based techniques for engaging online audiences in commercially viable and democratically beneficial ways.

demographics

Reporter Involvement in Comments Design Partner with local news station Across 70 different political posts, we randomized whether: 1)Reporter engaged 2)Station engaged 3)No engagement Engagement was respectful, highlighting strong comments Results Reporter engagement Reduced incivility Increased provision of evidence

Reporter Involvement in Comments Techniques to spark conversation and highlight productive comments: 1. Answer legitimate questions (e.g. Good question Mandy ) 2. Ask questions (e.g. What are your thoughts on that? ) 3. Provide additional information (e.g. Here s a link to the bill text. ) 4. Encourage and highlight good discussion (e.g. Tom, you bring up something interesting )

Problems and Solutions: Writing Effective Headlines 50 A/B tests Solutions vs. non solutions headlines Solutions headlines = more page views

Quizzes

engagingnewsproject.org/ create a quiz

News Consumption: Meeting People Where They Are Susan Nold @SusanNold @AStraussInst Talia Stroud @TaliaStroud @EngagingNews