Quality and Diversity in News

The implications of the digital age for the quality of information generally, and journalism in particular, has been a major issue for the study of communication technology, policy and regulation. The Quello Center has been interested in this issue, and one of its Associate Directors, Professor Steve Lacy, has co-authored a recent paper with Tom Rosenstiel of the American Press Institute, entitled ‘Defining and Measuring Quality Journalism‘. If you are looking for appropriate metrics for capturing the quality of journalism, such as measures of diversity, depth, richness, length, and more, this is a must read – if not the place to start.

Steve Lacy at the Quello Center

We encourage you to read this paper and email us or comment here on any aspect of this review of an incredibly important topic. This Rutgers research was supported by the Democracy Fund and the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation.

The paper is available online at: this download.

Other Quello Center work in this area includes the role of new media in shaping news coverage, including a 2010 project that examined news coverage and commentary about city government by daily newspapers, weekly newspapers, television, cable, radio and citizen journalism sites in 98 metropolitan central cities and 77 suburban cities.