The Medill Media Industry Survey, conducted online from November 30 to December 31, 2021, measured the opinions of 1,543 people in the news industry in the United States who completed the questionnaire.
The survey was conducted by Associate Professor Stephanie Edgerly from the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University. Edgerly collaborated with Danielle K. Brown, Cowles Professor of Journalism, Diversity and Equality at the Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Minnesota. Medill Senior Associate Dean and Professor provided logistical support Tim FranklinJohn M. Mutz Chair in Local News, who directs the Medill Local News Initiative.
Medill used Cision, a database of media listings, to obtain the email contact details of people who had at least one of the following keywords in their profile: columnist, correspondent, director, editor, producer, journalist, writer.
From this list, Medill removed anyone who did not currently work for a US company that met at least one of these criteria: A newspaper or magazine with a circulation greater than 30,000 copies; An online news website with monthly traffic over 30,000; A television program or channel (national or regional); A radio program or station (national or regional); A cable/satellite program.
Medill then randomly selected 25,000 people and invited them to participate in the survey. Respondents work for various categories of media: 30.1% newspapers, 31.5% digital only, 15.2% television, 9.3% radio and 12.8% magazines.
About 42.4% of participants were supervisors. Their average age was 46.6, the youngest being 19 and the oldest 87. About 49.9% identified as male, 47.8% as female, and 0.7% as non-binary.
Respondents were predominantly white. Breakdown: 86.9% White, 4.9% Asian, 4.1% Black, 4% Hispanic, 0.8% American Indian, 1.5% Other race. Some checked more than one breed and others refused to provide their breed.
About 63.3% had a bachelor’s degree and 31.1% had a graduate degree. More than 60% had degrees in journalism.
Some survey questions were drawn from previous research. Questions about the pandemic were adapted from a project on journalism and the pandemic survey of global journalists in 2020. Social media questions are taken from a 2019 Pew poll survey measure public opinion on social media sites.
This is Medill’s second annual media survey.
Article image by J. Kelly Brito used under Unsplash license (Unsplash)
