|
In this issue we present the results of recent news contributed by UK universities and research institutions. Over fifty UK institutions have recently begun contributing their news via Newswise.
At the onset of this study, 11 research news releases have been contributed by these institutions. Several have contributed announcements and features. What we have found in the past is substantiated here: news releases based on research news are effective; the others are not nearly so effective or international in reach. There are exceptions, but the rule is that research news virtually always generates clips in the news media.
The following brief report demonstrates the effectiveness of the research news releases.
Newswise found clips for all 11 UK research news releases contributed to Newswise. To search for clips, we primarily used Google News, which is a dynamic index of current news from approximately 4,500 news sources worldwide. While Google News is not a comprehensive clipping service—in many cases it provides a mere "tip-of-the-iceberg" perspective of the true reach of a given news item—it nonetheless provides us with a starting point and common basis for comparison. Typically, institutions with clipping services found far more clips than we found using Google alone.
Two stories gave particularly striking results:
World's First "Robot Scientist" Proves a Major Success in the Lab
— Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)
This news item proved a major success in the news media internationally; it received widespread coverage around the world as shown below. BBSRC found a total of at least 117 clips in unique media outlets. We found nine (9) using Google News, of which two were unique.
At least 19 UK media outlets, including:
|
|
BBC
|
Economist
|
|
Financial Times
|
Reuters
|
|
Guardian
|
Scotsman
|
|
Times
|
|
At least 50 US, including:
|
|
|
|
Chicago Tribune
|
CNN
|
|
|
Newsday
|
|
San Francisco Chronicle
|
|
|
|
|
|
Washington Post
|
AP
|
At least 7 Canadian, 10 Australian, and 20 more scattered world-wide.
|
High Heels Don't Harm Knees
— The University of Warwick
This release also created widespread coverage, especially in Canada. Newswise found the following clips:
|
|
|
|
|
|
Hamilton Spectator
|
|
Edmonton Journal
|
|
|
UK vis-a-vis outside UK: In all but two of the 11 research releases, we found clips outside the UK, and all of these media outlets had Newswise subscribing journalists.
We are not claiming credit for all of the results of these releases. Most institutions distribute their news to the news media via several methods. It is probably advantageous for journalists to see a news release via two or more sources.
However, we do believe Newswise contributed to the effectiveness demonstrated here. Our primary evidence is that many of the articles are bylined by journalists who subscribe to Newswise.
The effectiveness of Newswise was most apparent in the clippings outside the UK, although many of the reporters bylined in the UK articles are also Newswise subscribers.
In addition to the stories contributed by UK universities and societies, we received releases from Lancet and the British Medical Journal. These also were very effective.
|
