1. The Use of Interactive Features on News Websites: An International and Interorganizational Comparative Study.
- Author
-
Himelboim, Itai and McCreery, Stephen
- Subjects
PRESS ,WEBSITES ,COMPARATIVE studies ,NEWSPAPERS ,INTERNET ,INFORMATION resources ,COMPUTER network resources - Abstract
The decline in readership and the rise of the Internet as a source for information have made news media's online outlets more important than ever. This study first maps the use of interactive features by news organizations around the world. Then it examines whether the use of these features is associated with the political, economic, and organizational ecologies that news media work in. 100 news websites from 30 countries were coded for their use of interactive features. One major finding was that news media preferred using features that maintain the one-to-many flow of information over opening two-way communication channels. The medium that a news organization is associated with was the most potent predictor of the use of interactive features: Websites of newspapers used, overall, more features than others. Also, overall, news media in richer countries were more likely to use even the simplest features than media in poorer countries. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2010