A comparison of news databases’ coverage of digital-native news

Abstract

Digital-native news has become widely read and award-winning sources for news, and it is important to understand if news aggregator databases provide access to these emerging news outlets. This study compares four news aggregators’ coverage of popular and Pulitzer Prize finalists’ digital-native news organizations to print-native news outlets. It found only 14 out of 47 born-digital news organizations are available in the aggregators, and of those outlets, only four have a 100% date coverage.

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“…This was done to compare the results of each news aggregator, as neither was inclusive of content from all San Francisco Bay Area media organizations. In particular, ProQuest typically licensed content from medium and large publishers (Gilbert & Watkins, 2020). Digital-native and hyperlocal, particularly neighborhood, publications were often excluded (Gilbert & Watkins, 2020).…”

“…In particular, ProQuest typically licensed content from medium and large publishers (Gilbert & Watkins, 2020). Digital-native and hyperlocal, particularly neighborhood, publications were often excluded (Gilbert & Watkins, 2020). While Google News included these publications, it did not always include full text access to articles behind publisher paywalls (Gilbert & Watkins, 2020).…”

“…Digital-native and hyperlocal, particularly neighborhood, publications were often excluded (Gilbert & Watkins, 2020). While Google News included these publications, it did not always include full text access to articles behind publisher paywalls (Gilbert & Watkins, 2020). As such, we used both, an increasingly common practice (Gilbert & Watkins, 2020).…”

“…While Google News included these publications, it did not always include full text access to articles behind publisher paywalls (Gilbert & Watkins, 2020). As such, we used both, an increasingly common practice (Gilbert & Watkins, 2020).…”

News story aggregation and perceived credibility

“…The term's use for this study differs from two other definitions of "aggregator." One is databases, such as Newsbank or ProQuest, that let users search for content from multiple sources (see Gilbert & Watkins, 2020) and pull the results to their screen. The other is the technological definition of "aggregation" as the use of software tools such as Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds or similar applications programmed to search for topics or sites preselected by users, then push the results to a single site for users (see Doree, 2007).…”