TVnewspaper partnerships Models and benefits

1
TV-newspaper partnershipsModels and benefits

• Wilson Lowrey
• The University of Alabama
• wlowrey_at_bama.ua.edu

2

• Research questions
• What are the dominant dimensions of TV-newspaper
  partnering?
• How beneficial do managers perceive partnerships
  to be?
• What explains variability in managers
  perceptions of these benefits?
• How important are dimensions of partnering to
  perceived benefits?

3

• Method
• Sample of 700 daily newspapers drawn randomly
  from a 2003 EP Yearbook list of all U.S.
  dailies.
• Sample of 700 local TV news operations drawn
  randomly from Bowkers Broadcasting and Cable
  Yearbook list of all local TV broadcast stations
  in the U.S. listing a news manager.
• Mail survey sent three times to editors and TV
  news managers December 2003 to January 2004.
  Followed up once by e-mail with link to Web
  version of survey.
• Received 502 usable surveys for response rates
  of - 36.6 overall - 30.4 for TV news
  directors - 43.4 for newspaper editors

4
Number of partnerships reported by respondents
Present study
Present study
200 other in same areas
194 partnerships (226 orgs)
API count
62 partnerships
5
Characteristics of TV-newspaper partnering
Percent of news organizations that
partnerengaged in the following partnership
practices (N226)
(N7)
(N17)
(N30)
(N30)
(N68)
(N74)
(N96)
(N98)
(N104)
(N113)
(N130)
(N145)
(N187)
6
Dimensions of TV-newspaper partnering
Characteristics likely to be shared by news
organizations that partner
STRUCTURAL PARTNERING
CONTENTPARTNERING
BROADCASTPARTNERING

• TV and newspaper staffs work on beats together
  (.74)
• Share central news desk (.72)
• Newspaper reporters write for TV (.62)
• Ad reps sell packages of TV time and page space
  (.61)
• Have multimedia editors (.54)

• Staffs share source information (.74)
• Break newspaper stories on TV (.68)
• TV and newspaper cross promote (.65)
• Newspaper staff provides story content for TV
  (.62)
• TV staff provides story content for newspaper
  (.63)
• Plan news packages together (.50)

• TV broadcasts from newspaper newsroom (.84)
• Newspaper staff gives reports on TV (.76)
• Staff receives training in convergence (.59)

7
Benefits of partnerships
Average scores on scale of 1 to 5 (1 Worse, 3
no change, 5 better)
(N226)
8
Benefits of partnerships TV vs. newspaper
Percent seeing improvement in the following
characteristics
Newspapers
TV stations
(N226)
9
Comparing the models
Perceived news quality benefits of partnering
across the three models. Correlation between
degree of perceived benefit and strength of score
on partnering dimension.
Broadcastpartnering
Content partnering
Structural partnering
(N226)
10
Comparing the models
Perceived financial benefits of partnering across
the three models
Broadcastpartnering
Content partnering
Structural partnering
(N226)
11
Perceived benefits regressed on predictors
Standardized beta coefficients
Partnering intensity Time spent partnering TV or
Newspaper Dual ownership Organizational
size Audience share Mgr favors partnering Years
in journalism Perception other journalists Mgr
profess involvement
News quality benefits R-sq 37
(TV 0, Newsp 1)
Financial benefits R-sq .34
(N226)
12
Perceived benefits regressed on predictors
Standardized beta coefficients
Content partnering Structural partnering Broadcast
partnering Time spent partnering TV or
Newspaper Dual ownership Organizational
size Audience share Mgr favors partnering Percepti
on other journalists Mgr profess involvement No.
years journalist
News quality benefits R-sq 38
Financial benefits R-sq .36
(TV0, Newsp1)
(N226)
13
Non-partnering orgs vs. partnering orgs
Means of respondents ratings of their news
organizations (scale of 1 to 5)
More intensepartnering
Less intensepartnering
No partnering
(N502)
Significant differencesin means
14

• Conclusions
• Partnerships more prevalent than previously
  thought.
• Most partnering organizations swap content more
  than restructure newsroom or personnel roles.
• Dimensions of modeling break down neatly
  structural/content/broadcasting.
• Structural partnering predicts stronger success,
  broadcast partnering predicts less success.
• Economic benefits outweigh news quality benefits
  (especially ability to compete and gain
  audiences).
• TV news managers see substantially more news
  quality benefits from partnering than newspaper
  editors.
• Level of partnering intensity predicts success
  most strongly.

15
Preparing the labor force
Perceptions about hiring graduates trained across
different media types 1 not interested in
hiring, 3 neutral, 5 Very interested in hiring
School department heads
TV news directors
Newspaper editors
School department heads
TV news directors
Newspaper editors