An interesting post by Debbie Weil. She quotes research by communications firm Bordeur into the use of blogs by journalists.

Here are some highlight findings of how journalists use blogs:

• 78.3% use them for story ideas/news angles
• 76% use them to get an insight into topics
• 46.9% use them for speed of breaking news
• 57.1% read blogs 2 -3 times per week
• 27.7% have their own blog
• 16.3% have their own social networking page
• 71% have a list of blogs they read regularly
• 52% use Google as the search engine when identifying blogs

Reasons they use blogs:

• 74.1% speed
• 68.6% availability of information on subject matter 
• 61.8% establish tone of 'conversation'

They have less trust in blogs as having a strong editorial policy or being accurate but rather see them as a source of stories and information to follow-up.