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The design and methodology of researching newspaper sources

Offentliggjort 07/29/2008

Af Søren Schultz Jørgensen og Annegrete Skovbjerg

ANALYSE: Translation: Kirsten Sparre

The project adopted a unique approach to study newspaper sources. Over a four month period, researchers read through 14 issues of seven separate newspapers and approached as many sources as it was possible to locate contact data for with a view to obtaining basic data and their views on the experience of being a source for journalists. 751 different sources participated in the research.

The basic design of the research
The project on newspaper sources was based on a two-step model:

First, basic data about all sources in articles about culture, business and domestic affairs in seven Danish newspapers were entered into a database
Second, a questionnaire with 23 questions were sent to all the sources for whom it was possible to locate an e-mail address or other contact data. Sources only had one questionnaire even though some of them appeared as a source more than once

Newspapers studied

The newspapers studied were the seven most widely read newspapers in Denmark

Berlingske Tidende - subscription newspaper
Jyllands-Posten - subscription newspaper
Politiken - subscription newspaper
Ekstra Bladet - tabloid newspaper
B.T. - tabloid newspaper
MetroXpress - free newspaper
Urban - free newspaper

Sources included - and not included

The analysis centrered on sources appearing in articles that were

published in the sections about culture, business and domestic affairs
written by the newspaper’s own journalists as identified in the byline
published in the period between 1 June and 15 September 2006. July was exempted from the research to avoid bias from the silly season.

The analysis did not look at sources appearing in notes, stories from news agencies, voxpops, stories from public meetings where more than one journalist were present, reviews, letters to the editor, articles originally published in other media or articles with a foreign city in the dateline.

Basic data registered

Basic data registered for each source

Date for media appearance
Name of source
Gender of source
Media in which the story appeared
Section in which the story appeared
Type of source - background, profession or employment
Role of source - to act as an expert, party to a conflict, or providing personal experience
Number of sources who are quoted in the article
Order of appearance of source - the first source in an article was labelled 1, the second 2 etc.
Other types of information that can help identify contact data for the source

Questions asked in questionnaire:

All sources registered were sent an e-mail - and in some cases called on the phone - in order to ask them 23 question in five key areas:

Background information: Age, education, experience with journalists etc.
General opinions about media and journalism
Descriptive questions about the interview the source took part in: On whose initiative did it take place, where did it take place, how often was the journalist in touch with the sources, were agreements about reading through quotes set up, etc.
Attitude questions about the interview the source took part in: How well was the journalist prepared, did the journalist try to get the source to say something specific, how did the journalist inform the sources about the purpose of the article etc.
Attitude questioins about the article the source appeared in: Were the quotes correct and put in the appropriate context, was the headline appropriate, has the article had any effect on the source’s opinion about journalistic working methods etc.

Respondents were also given an opportunity to provide their own opinions and answers in the survey.

Response rates

751 sources responded to the survey. That is a very high response rate which is also reflected in a number of basic figures from the survey:

From the seven newspapers, a total of 2.351 sources were registered. Out of these 1.268 sources were not contacted either because it was not possible to locate contact data for them or they had already been contacted.
Questionnaires were sent to 1.091 sources - equalling 46.23 per cent
751 respondents answered all or most of the questionnaires which equals a response rate of 69 per cent. That is a very high percentage which is considered more than satisfactory.
Out of the 751 respondents, 710 had answered all questions.

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