The OSU national newspaper study

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The OSUnational newspaper study

• OSU News Communication Services

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What is the national newspaper study?

• Mid-December, 1999, through April, 2000
• Examined 2,472 articles related to higher
  education in
• Los Angeles Times
• New York Times
• USA Today
• The Oregonian
• Studied articles to determine how national
  newspapers cover higher education.

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How do national newspapers cover higher education?

• Of all stories, percentage related to
• 45 published research studies
• 22 from articles published in national
  journals
• 24 medical/health news
• 16 expert sources
• 2 generated from new university programs
• 2 gifts/grants/funding
• 1 related to educational administration

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Where do the stories on research studies come
from?

• 48 articles published in national journals
• 27 generated by reporters
• 10 lectures at major national academic
  conferences
• 8 university announcements
• 5 book releases

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Which journals do the media use?

• 126 journals cited in the newspaper articles
• 14 journals cited more than five times
• 27 journals cited more than twice
• 4 journals made up 47 of all journal citations

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The top 5 national journals

• 91 Nature
• 70 New England Journal of Medicine
• 63 Journal of the American Medical Association
• 59 Science
• 16 Proceedings of the National Academy of
  Science

(537 references total)
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How do universities make front page national news?

• Only 22 articles (of 2,472) on the front page of
  more than one of the newspapers on the same day.
• 15 (68) of these stories generated from
  research studies.
• 8 (36) generated from articles published in
  national journals.
• More front-page stories generated from national
  journals than all other sources combined.

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How difficult is it to make national news?

• Only 36 stories appeared in at least three of
  the four newspapers surveyed.
• Of these stories
• 25 (69) were generated from research studies
  19 (52) came directly from national journals

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Stories in USA Today

• Research studies 55
• National journals 25
• Expert sources 13
• Opinions/editorials 5
• Police reports 4
• Educational trends 3

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Stories in the New York Times

• Research studies 49
• National journals 26
• Expert sources 19
• Opinions/editorials 6
• Government actions/reports 3
• Student protests 3

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Stories in the Los Angeles Times

• Research studies 39
• National journals 18
• Expert sources 19
• Opinions/editorials 10
• Government action/reports 7

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Stories in The Oregonian

• Research studies 38
• National journals 18
• Expert sources 11
• Events/lectures 7
• Government action/reports 5
• Opinions/editorials 5
• Higher education funding 5
• Education programs 5
• Student protests 5

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Schools mentioned most often?

• UCLA 119
• Harvard 118
• U.C.-Berkeley 111
• USC 104
• Stanford 84
• Oregon State University 83
• Columbia 67
• University of Oregon 64
• University of Pennsylvania 57
• University of Michigan 57

Note 56 of all the stories related to Harvard
were generated from research studies. 55 of all
the stories related to U.C.-Berkeley were related
to research studies.
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OSU and comparable institutions

• We looked at how OSU stacked up against
  comparable institutions. For this part of the
  study, only the New York Times, Los Angeles Times
  and USA Today were analyzed.

• U.C.-Davis 20
• University of Oregon 11
• North Carolina State 8
• Oregon State 7
• Colorado State 6
• Iowa State 4
• Michigan State 3
• Kansas State 2
• Utah State 2
• Washington State 2
• Oklahoma State 0

Five of the seven OSU stories (71) came directly
from research studies. Two of the seven (28)
came from national journals. The other 2 stories
used OSU experts. In all cases, OSU generated
national media coverage only when it was
associated with research studies.
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What did OSU news coverage focus on during this
time period?

• Events (lectures, conferences, entertainment)
  100 stories (49)
• Administration/honors (appointments, awards,
  grants) 38 stories (18)
• Research (studies, book releases, etc.) 36
  stories (17)
• Programs (program information) 17 stories (8)
• Students (scholarships, honor roll, enrollment)
  12 stories (5)

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