News Media, Heal Thyselves: Sourcing Patterns in News Stories about News Media Performance

Abstract

The past decade has seen a marked increase in the amount of coverage afforded the “media angle” in major news stories. But where do journalists turn to find support for stories they write about themselves? It is hypothesized that certain sources do recur in these stories. A series of LEXIS-NEXIS searches was performed between April and October 1998 for news stories and broadcast news transcripts from 1990 to the present that focused either on news media coverage or the practice of journalism. Stories were taken from major daily newspapers in the United States and broadcast transcripts from ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN. In all, nearly 3,500 source citations from 677 newspaper stories and 131 broadcast news transcripts were coded. The analysis revealed that former CBS reporter Marvin Kalb was the most frequently cited source during this period, followed by Washington Post Executive Editor Leonard Downie, author and University of Virginia Professor Larry Sabato, Bill Kovach, a former journalist now affiliated with the Nieman Journalism Fellowships, Robert Lichter, director of the Center for Media and Public Affairs, and Los Angeles Times Editor Shelby Coffey. The analysis revealed that individuals involved in the day-to-day practice of journalism were used as sources in nearly one third of the stories reviewed. Readers and viewers were rarely called on as sources by journalists.