Brodeur and Newswire in the US have just completed a survey of journalists in the US into how journalists view social media.

Almost 500 journalists responded from the 5 subject areas ('beats') focussed on - technology, lifestyle, health care, travel and politics.

What were the top line results? From the Brodeur web site....

"....According to the study over half of all reporters from all beats said social media and blogs are having a positive influence on the editorial direction of reporting.  Reporters were also overwhelmingly positive on the influence of social media and blogs on the diversity of reporting with approximately 4 in 5 reporters indicating a positive influence.  However, views on tone, quality and accuracy varied by beat...."

Last year Brands2Life did a similar survey in the UK and again found that journalists were using social media as a 'story source' and a way of keeping an eye out for breaking trends and news. With the recent use of Twitter by 'citizen journalists' to break news before even the traditional news sources like Reuters and AP have got the news out it is interesting to see how many journalists now use Twitter.