Vast majority of journalists look for news online

A whopping 98 percent of journalists go online daily looking for news, according to a Middleberg/Ross survey titled, " The Seventh Annual Middleberg / Ross Survey of Media in the Wired World: Journalists Use of Internet at All-Time High."

Ninety-two percent use the Web for article research and 81 percent use the Web to conduct searches.

Seventy-six percent of journalists use the Web to find new sources and experts for stories on which they are working.

The study also found that 73 percent use the Internet to find press releases.

On an average day, 68 million American adults go online, 30 percent use a search engine to find information, and 27 percent get news online.

Other findings of the survey include:

- Journalists believe the Internet has made their jobs easier and improved the quality of their work.

- 71 percent of respondents lack training in computer-assisted reporting.

- 81 percent of print respondents are searching online daily, but journalists rarely use topic-specific search engines and lack knowledge about specialized Web sites.

- Only 44 percent say they would not consider using Web chat or newsgroup postings as primary or secondary sources.

- Corporate Web sites are a key source of information when reporting breaking news when no other primary source is available.