About Andrew Van Dam

Andrew Van Dam of The Wall Street Journal previously worked at the AHCJ offices while earning his master’s degree at the Missouri School of Journalism.

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A survey by a George Washington University researcher and a public relations metrics firm found that reporters and editors rely heavily on social media. In case you haven’t seen any of the recent coverage, here are a few interesting numbers (pulled along with some accompanying text from the press release).

For research:

• 89 percent use blogs
• 65 percent use social media sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn
• 52 percent use microblogging services such as Twitter
• 61 percent use Wikipedia
• 84 percent said social media sources were “slightly less” or “much less” reliable than traditional media
• 49 percent said social media suffers from “lack of fact checking, verification and reporting standards”

Reasons journalists use PR professionals

• 44 percent use them for “interviews and access to sources and experts”
• 23 percent use them for “answers to questions and targeted information”
• 17 percent use them for “perspective, information in context, and background information”

Andrew Van Dam of The Wall Street Journal previously worked at the AHCJ offices while earning his master’s degree at the Missouri School of Journalism.