Theoretical and Practical Considerations in Operationalizing Newspaper and Television News Competition

Internet Competition and Us Newspaper City Government Coverage

“…This is consistent with a similar hypothesis by Lacy and Vermeer (1995) about economic competition and is consistent with a study of city government competition by Lacy et al (1999), who found that the increase in reporterÁeditor discussion of competition was related to changes in city government coverage. The editor's influence on both the perception of competition and action to change professional processes is consistent with the classic study by Breed (1955), who found that newspaper reporters were socialized into newsroom behavior by observing activities of editors and fellow journalists.…”

“…It appears that the perceived quality of coverage is far more important than the number of outlets, which has an intuitive appeal and is consistent with the argument from Lacy and Vermeer (1995) that there may be a threshold effect in competition affecting managers. Just having other outlets covering the same beats or topics does not guarantee an impact on professional behavior from competition.…”

Journalists' Perceptions of How Newspaper and Broadcast News Competition Affects Newspaper Content

“…Differences in percentages may reflect several factors: (1) some journalists may be more accurate in their perceptions than others; (2) competition varies in intensity from market to marketthe intensity of competition in the market where a journalist worked probably would affect perceptionsof theimpactof competition;and (3) journalistsvaryin theirdefinitions of quality and diversity.…”

“…6 Research during the late 1980s spawned the "financial commitment" model. Named by Litman and Bridges7 and formalized by Lacy, the model contains four steps: (1) intense competition increases money spent on news gathering; (2) as financial commitment to news increases, content quality, as defined by journalists, increases; (3) as quality increases, audience utility increases; (4) as audience utility increases, the news organization'scirculation or ratings increase! Two recent studies have provided partial9 and strong supportlo for the financial commitment model.…”

In Step at the Top? Optimism, Efficacy, and Orientation Among Local Television News Managers

“…Table 1 data also show a level of competition rated above the midpoint on a 5-point scale (M ¼ 3.89, SD ¼ 1.13). This is not, of course, a true measure of competition (see Lacy & Vermeer, 1995) but reflects only the news director's generalized assessment.…”