1. A survey in the US found that 99 per cent of journalists start their research for an article by going online. Yet they found answers to only 68 per cent of their questions across a broad range of business websites.

2. Two high-profile publications have attempted to highlight the problems with many corporations' online press rooms and offer suggestions for improvement. Kara Pernice Coyne and Jakob Nielsen's "Designing Websites to Maximize Press Relations: Guidelines from Usability Studies with Journalists", and "A Blueprint for Media Relations: Building Effective Online Press Rooms," by David Hubler et al. and published in PR News.

The studies cite the five most common reasons journalists gave for visiting a company's website:

• finding a PR contact
• checking basic facts about the company
• discovering the company's own spin on events
• checking financial information
• downloading images to use as illustrations in stories

The studies also found - For one, poorly designed corporate PR sites easily alienate journalists, as well as potential or current investors and consumers. The more difficult a site is to use, the less likely a journalist is to spend time on that site. In some cases, especially when deadlines are involved, journalists may simply choose not to write about a corporation if its online press room does not quickly provide the information they need.


3. A majority of journalists will start their research for a story online.

• journalists covering breaking stories will visit a corporate website before contacting a live person
• three out of five journalists say that information found on a company’s web site will influence their decision to include a company in their story
• journalists believe that only one-third of corporate websites provide what they need for their stories

(Source: Eighth Annual Middleburg/Ross Survey of Media)