Media research does not stop being useful whilst at university and your next assignment is on deadline. It also underpins a lot of media coverage and the news organisation's wider editorial strategies too.
Journalism.co.uk has rounded up ten best places for media research on the internet to help you get the relevant numbers on everything from digital news to diversity.
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (RISJ)
RISJ at the University of Oxford publishes academic reports and papers. It publishes the annual Digital News Report, the most comprehensive paper on the trends driving the digital media market. Its latest 2022 report spans 93,000 online news consumers in 46 markets covering half of the world's population.
There, you will find country-by-country statistics on news consumption habits on social media and different mediums, willingness to pay for online content, polarisation of news audiences, and even perceptions of media coverage around Ukraine.
Besides the DNR, RISJ publishes individual papers on a range of topics and also does wider research projects around trust in news.
Pew Research Center (Pew)
Pew is an American think tank which studies public opinion on a range of trends that shape the world.
Amongst the mix of politics and sciences, you will find surveys on journalism and news-related topics, including the foremost concerns of journalists, news consumers' perceptions of the media, and job layoffs within journalism. A lot of the data leans towards a US audience but you will find data on overseas markets too.
Ofcom
The UK communications regulatory body publishes a lot of data relevant to UK broadcast journalism. Recent reports look at news consumption in the UK across different mediums, and attitudes towards broadcast media.
Want to stay up to date? There is also a calendar for research to be published later in the year.
National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ)
A UK journalism industry accreditation body and professional awarding organisation. It also delivers industry research, most prominently on the latest diversity figures in UK journalism.
Public Interest News Foundation (PINF)
A UK foundation that supports independent public-interest news organisations through impact funds and industry research. The PINF Index, now in its second year and informed by publisher surveys, offers a full picture of the size, shape and economics of the independent publishing sector.
Charitable Journalism Project
A collection of journalists, funders, lawyers, academics and media experts working to advance public understanding of public-interest journalism. It curates a lot of wider research and media analysis, as well as producing its own research projects on news deserts in the UK.
YouGov
You have probably heard of this one. YouGov is a global community of people who sign up and complete surveys on a range of topics, frequently giving their opinion on subjects relevant to the news industry.
It can be hit and miss to find what you are looking for. Try punching in some journalism-relevant terms in the search bar. You can find, for example, the popularity of newspapers across different age and sex demographics.
Socialinsider
This is a social media analytics tool which also provides audience insights and data on all the main platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn.
Head to its blog section and you will find case studies for specific social media features and platforms, like an analysis of more than 350k Instagram Reels to determine what formats work best.
Takumi
An influencer and creator marketing platform. It produces reports and whitepapers which reveal great insights on the behaviour of audiences and content creators on TikTok. As journalism wrestles with the role of 'journo-influencers' to stay relevant, research into these spaces will prove more important.
Medill Local News Initiative
The LNI launched in November 2018 by Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications, together with Spiegel Research Center and Knight Lab Foundation. It set out to assess the growing challenges of US local news outlets and the business models that have been disrupted by changes in the digital landscape.
It is regularly publishing research and analysis in this space. Despite being a few years old, the Medill News Leaders Project 2019 provides a tonne of interviews with local news leaders, examining the revenue models, rise of non-profits, innovation, disruption to TV, and the future of local news. This provides an excellent source of qualitative information about the challenges to US local news in the digital space.
What did we miss? Send your best sources of media research to us and help us grow this list
This piece was originally published on 11 September 2019 and was updated on 23 August 2022
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