From Subject to Soundbite

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Key Points

• In 1946, 53% of articles mentioning a research university were about that university, focusing on its research or activities. Today, just 15% of articles mentioning a university are about that university: the remaining 85% simply cite high-stature faculty for soundbite commentary on current events.
• Universities are slightly more likely to appear together in articles (from 1.2 average universities per article in 1946 to 1.4 in 2005).

Discussion

There are two primary ways in which an educational institution finds its name in the news: an article about the institution itself or an article quoting one of its researchers. It is common practice for a national-stature newspaper to include responses from prominent academics on important issues of the day. Recognizing this, universities often compile lists of "media contacts" on their websites to guide journalists to faculty members who are willing to comment on news stories. This is intended as a complement to the constant stream of press releases sent touting their own research. Figure 1 suggests that institutions today would do well to focus more on such media lists: the percent of news articles each year mentioning a research university that also references it in the title or lead paragraph has dropped from a high of 53% in 1946 to just 15% today.

Following the standard "inverted pyramid" convention of journalism, an article specifically about a university would likely mention it by name at the start of the article, while those that do not mention the name of a school until deep within the article are more likely to be a casual reference or soundbite. While not a perfect measure of the "centrality" or "aboutness" of an article, such an approach is readily amenable to the computerized scanning necessary to process 60 years of news coverage, and offers a strong approximation of topical focus. In this way, it is clear that New York Times coverage of research universities has shifted over the past 60 years from a focus on the institutions as subjects themselves to simply being sources of faculty to provide soundbites on the day's news.

Front page articles mentioning one or more research universities and referencing at least one in the title or lead paragraph have similarly declined over this period, leveling off in the late 1980's. A 1945 article on the USSR's ability to develop atomic weapons mentions the roles that numerous university faculty across the country played in the development of the United States' bomb. (Laurence). A 1968 article on migraines includes a quote near the end of the article from a University of Illinois professor offering statistics on the likelihood that a child will inherit the problem from its parents. (Brody) Such coverage is still extremely valuable to an institution in that it reflects the high national stature of its faculty, but as a whole, universities appear to have become news commentators as opposed to news makers.

As news coverage changes to a commentator focus, it might be expected that articles would draw from faculty at multiple institutions to provide opposing points of view. This would lead to a higher number of research institutions mentioned per article, compared with news coverage about an institution, which would likely mention just that institution. Figure 3 shows the average number of research universities mentioned together in a news article for each year. Overall, the number stayed fairly constant from 1945 to 1977, but increased from 1.2 to 1.4 from 1978 through 2000, indicating that universities were slightly more likely to appear together in an article over this period.

Figure 1 - Percent of New York Times news articles mentioning a research university that were actually about that university


Figure 2 - Percent of New York Times front page articles mentioning a research university that were actually about that university


Figure 3 - Average number of research universities mentioned per article

References

• Brody, Jane E. (1968, March 4). Headaches: A $400-Million Problem. The New York Times. p. 1
• Laurence, William L. (1945, November 17). Langmuir Urges Atom Pact, Says War Might Strip Earth. The New York Times. p. 1