This study analyzed the levels of interactivity and multimedia on the newspaper websites of six English-speaking countries: the US, UK, Canada, Australia, Ireland, and New Zealand. The researchers coded features on a random sample of 360 US newspapers and all newspapers from the other countries. They found that larger newspapers generally had more multimedia and interactivity, and that the impact of computer ownership and broadband penetration on features varied by country. The researchers noted limitations and opportunities for future studies analyzing all sites simultaneously.

1.
Multimedia and Interactivity on Newspaper
Websites:
A Multi-Study Analysis of Six English-Speaking
Countries
Robert Bergland
Lisa Crawford
Sarah Noe
David Hon
Online Journalism Symposium 2010

2. Problem/Purpose of study
Shortage of studies which compare different countries
Different methodologies used in various studies makes
true country-to-country comparisons problematic
Goal: To examine several countries using a similar
methodology

3. Brief Literature Overview
Some key newspaper website studies:
• Peng et al 1999 survey and 80-site analysis
• Greer & Mensing’s 1997-2003 U.S. longitudinal study
• Sparks, Young and Darnell 2003 analysis of 113 Canadian news
sites
• Bivings Group’s 2006 Top 100 circulation U.S. papers
• Hashim et al 2007 study of 12 Australian newspapers
• Russial’s 2009 survey of 210 U.S. daily newspapers

4. Research Questions
RQ1: What are the levels of interactivity and multimedia within
the individual countries?
RQ2: What impact does circulation have on presence of
interactive/multimedia features?
RQ3: How do these countries compare in their newspapers’ use
of multimedia/interactivity?
RQ4: Is there a connection between computer
ownership/broadband in the countries and their newspapers’ use
of these features?

5. Methodology
Looked at top six English-speaking countries where
English was the first/dominant language: U.S., UK,
Canada, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand
 Survey methodology (a la Russial) was considered, but
dismissed: Concerns over response rate, reliable contact
information, cost, time
Chosen method: One-pass website analysis employed by
Bivings Group, Darnell/Sparks/Young

6. Methodology
●
Process
Team reviewed literature, examined websites to create 25-feature taxonomy for
U.S. 2007 study; added 7 features in 2008 study of the other countries
Compiled lists of newspapers for each country from Editor and Publisher directory
Used random sampling of U.S. papers (360, every fourth, of 1437 U.S. dailies),
with a +/- 4.5% margin of error
Used all of newspapers from other countries, eliminating duplicate sites (Note: only
12/60 Australian papers coded in time window)
Conducted pilot/inter-rater reliability test (95% in 2007; 96% in 2008) of 10
websites
Coded data over a one-month period

7. Number of Newspapers studied
US: 360* (Random sample—25%)
UK: 117
Canada: 100
Ireland: 9
New Zealand: 24
Australia: 12* (of 60)

8. General categories

9. Sample Spreadsheet

10. Results: Impact of Size
U.K./Ireland Newspapers Sites

11. Results: Impact of Size
U.S. Newspapers Sites

12. Results: Impact of Size
Canadian Newspapers Sites
(blue under 50K; red over 50K)

13. Results: Multimedia

14. Results: Multimedia

15. Results: Multimedia

16. Results: Multimedia

17. Results: MM/Interactivity

18. Results: Interactivity

19. Results: Interactivity

20. Results: Interactivity

21. Results: Interactivity

22. Results: Distribution

23. Connection Between Computer
Ownership/Broadband Penetration
In some countries, there seems to be a direct connection between
computer ownership/broadband and the ability and motivation for
newspapers to put multimedia and interactivity on their websites. Ex:
Ukraine with 1.7% broadband penetration in 2008, had very little
multimedia especially in a 2009 study:

24. Connection Between Computer
Ownership/Broadband Penetration
• Not much of a connection in English-speaking
countries studied
• U.S./U.K. numbers were fairly similar in many
categories
--Too little difference in CO/BP to judge, esp
given year gap
• Canada, with highest % of computer ownership
and higher than U.S. broadband, had some of the
lowest rates of multimedia/interactivity
• New Zealand did show some connection, with
the lowest rates of CO/BP and also the lowest
amount of multimedia/interactivity

25. Computer Ownership 2006

26. Broadband Penetration 2008

27. So what explains the difference?
Perhaps
• Economic Factors: Resources
-Personnel
-Equipment/Software
• Economic Factors: Ownership/chains
• Social Factors--Computer usage and
expectations of users
• Focus of management
• Journalism education/training

28. Limitations of study/Future research
Weakness of content analysis vs survey
One-pass vs multipass—might not have
viewed site on typical day
Redo study in 2011, looking at all sites
during the same period for equal comparison