Archive notice: This article was originally published on July 16, 2007. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
As part of the survey, the dpa subsidiary evaluated the answers of around 1,200 journalists from all departments.
The majority of journalists surveyed (36 percent) believe that publishers’ influence on the media industry will decrease. Almost one third, by contrast, assumes that market power will remain the same. Seven percent of those surveyed even believe that the classic media houses have “no chance” against providers such as Google. More than half of the media makers surveyed (53 percent) attest that German publishers and media companies are only moderately equipped for the digital future.
Web 2.0 technologies are playing an increasingly important role in the media industry. Blogs, podcasts and social software have already achieved tangible importance for the daily work of journalists. Almost one third of those surveyed say that Web 2.0 has very high (5 percent) or high (25 percent) relevance. However, just five percent say that they frequently use blogs to find journalistic topics. And only three percent stated that they frequently evaluate blogs as a source. But for around one in four journalists (27 percent), blogs offer a good opportunity to find out about moods and opinions. Analogously, the same number of media makers believe that the lack of credibility of blogs represents a risk for editorial work.
The journalists surveyed predominantly assume that daily newspapers will continue to be produced on paper in the future: Almost half (46 percent) of those surveyed hold this opinion. Only one fifth predicts a renaissance for the daily newspaper as a constantly updated digital reading film. Journalists tend to assess the phenomenon of citizen journalism positively. More than 40 percent believe that this new form of reporting represents an enrichment of classic journalism. Only 15 percent of the editors surveyed see the hobby writers as a threat to their professional field.
