On the internet, the pluralism of information is supposed to result from the multiplicity of sources. The web is expected to offer a wider range of contents than offline media (as developed in the Long Tail theory). But such an assumption requires to be proved by empirical evidence. Our research aims to test this hypothesis on the basis of a transdisciplinary quantitative study of French speaking websites. Based on several thousands of articles coming from different categories of websites, the editorial identification of topical issues and the lexicometric analysis of the titles both highlight a more complex situation. The wide diversity of issues dealt with, during a day on the web, simultaneously presents a high concentration of a few major issues, often treated in a redundant way. These results show that the ideal of pluralism that the internet is supposed to embody needs to be put into perspective.

1. International conference
New media and information:
convergences & divergences
6-9 May 2009, Athens, Greece
DOES THE LONG TAIL APPLY TO ONLINE NEWS? A
QUANTITATIVE STUDY OF FRENCH SPEAKING
NEWS WEBSITES
Emmanuel Marty, Franck Rebillard & Nikos Smyrnaios
LERASS, University of Toulouse 3
ELICO, University of Lyon 2

2. Research questions
The web is generally considered as the paragon of cultural and
informational diversity => The Long Tail Theory & institutionnal reports
- Open nature of the Internet Protocol
- Low distribution costs compared to offline
- Aggregation of world wide niche markets
Has the agenda effect disappeared when it comes to online media?
Does quantitative growth of online information circulation necessarily
mean online news is more diverse?
International conference NEW MEDIA AND INFORMATION: CONVERGENCES & DIVERGENCES 6-9 may 2009; Athens, Greece

3. Methodology
Our research aims to answer those questions through a transdisciplinary
quantitative study of French speaking news websites:
-Representative sample of news sites with seven categories: newsmedia and
press agencies, weblogs, webzines, participatory journalism sites, portals and
aggregators.
-Survey of a total of 80 websites
-Used a semi-automated process of extraction of article titles and descriptions
through RSS feeds
-Crawling took place between 1 and 20 November 2008
-Tenths of thousands of titles and descriptions in our data base
- Applied three levels of analysis to our data
International conference NEW MEDIA AND INFORMATION: CONVERGENCES & DIVERGENCES 6-9 may 2009; Athens, Greece

4. A first overview of online news production
L emm a countT itle L emm a countDesc
The most frequent
oba m a 2825 avoir 28463
lemmas are related do
 
tre 2197 tre 20923
the Obama election
A 2113 p rˇsident 3982
fra nce 1562 oba m a 3708
which dominated the
avoir 1545 pre mi er 3676
web agenda through the
Ps 1396 source 3265
20 days period
sncf 1143 ba rac k 3027
royal 992 m ard i 3013
crise 947 faire 2977
F reque ncy of top t en F reque ncy of top t en
lemm as in the ar ticle titles lemm as in the ar ticle
descr iptions
News production
related to Obama
reach its peak on
election day and
follows the line of
events
International conference NEW MEDIA AND INFORMATION: CONVERGENCES & DIVERGENCES 6-9 may 2009; Athens, Greece

5. Variety and balance among topics
6th of november 2008 10th of november 2008
2617 titles, 385 topics 2040 titles, 309 topics
Average of 7 titles per topic Average of 7 titles per topic
Most frequent topics on both days
Number
Number Most frequent topics of the % of
Most frequent topics of the % of of
of November 10 sample sample
November 6 sample sample articles
articles
The French Socialist Party
Obama’s election 435 16,62% after the congress 129 6,32%
Obama and Bush meeting in
The congress of the French
the White House 114 5,59%
Socialist party 187 7,15%
Sabotage in French rail 112 5,49%
International institutions
facing the financial crisis 178 6,80% Goncourt (litterature prize)
awarded toAtiq Rahimi 108 5,29%
Stock market 121 4,62%
The situation in République
Rail strike in France 120 4,59% Démocratique du Congo 83 4,07%
International conference NEW MEDIA AND INFORMATION: CONVERGENCES & DIVERGENCES 6-9 may 2009; Athens, Greece

6. Variety and balance among topics
Repartition of articles per topic: a very unequal structure,
close to the Pareto distribution (the 20/80 rule)
20% of the topics include 81% of the titles
20% of the topics include 82% of the titles
Repartition of articles per topic
Repartition of articles per topic
(November 10th, 2008)
(November 6th, 2008)
150
150
140
140
130
130
120
120
110
110
N u m b e r o f a rt ic l e s
N u m b e r o f a rt i c le s
100
100
90
90
80 80
70 70
60 60
50 50
40 40
30 30
20 20
10 10
0 0
s
39 s
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11 s
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6
90
61
68
20
47
28
43
57
86
4-
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1
7
4
7
4
2
5
9
9
3
7
0
7
1
3
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32
19
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49
33
43
58
69
85
s-
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29
22
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25
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24
11
15
11
14
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21
23
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26
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36
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s-
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s-
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Topics Topics
236 of the 309 topics include less than
301 of the 385 topics include less than
5 titles each
5 titles each
International conference NEW MEDIA AND INFORMATION: CONVERGENCES & DIVERGENCES 6-9 may 2009; Athens, Greece

7. Lexical and editorial redundancy among topics
A strong correlation between editorial and lexical redundancy
Number of titles
Segments on november 6 Frequency of
for corresponding
the repeated
topic
segment
Japon des tissus cérébraux créés à partir de cellules souches 28 28
Obama le premier président noir élu face à des défis colossaux 27 435
perpétuité pour le beau père 30 ans pour la mère 23 51
Les marchés replongent malgré une baisse des taux en Europe 21 121
Segments on november 10 Frequency of Number of titles
the repeated for corresponding
segment topic
attentat à Bagdad fait 28 morts et des dizaines de blessés 46 66
Le Goncourt à l Afghan Atiq Rahimi le Renaudot au Guinéen 33 108
SNCF nouvel acte de malveillance le parquet anti terroriste saisi 23 112
Etats Unis Obama doit rencontrer Bush à la Maison Blanche 23 114
Most frequent repeated segments of at least ten words on November 6 and 10
International conference NEW MEDIA AND INFORMATION: CONVERGENCES & DIVERGENCES 6-9 may 2009; Athens, Greece

8. Lexical and editorial redundancy among sources
Redundancy - Portals: MSN News, Yahoo News, Orange News, and the AFP
press agency
- TV & Radio websites: France 2 and France 3 (Tv), RTL
(radio)
Diversity
- Free dailies (20Minutes, Métro); radio digital outlets(RFI and
and lexical
RMC), digital version of the magazine Nouvel Observateur
banality
- Electronic versions of print media, weekly or daily ( Le Point,
Les Echos, Libération, Le Monde)
- Citizen journalism website (Agoravox, The Post), webzine
(Backchich) & blogs
Pluralism
International conference NEW MEDIA AND INFORMATION: CONVERGENCES & DIVERGENCES 6-9 may 2009; Athens, Greece

9. Conclusion
The agenda effect is still very strong on the web
In many cases quantitative growth of information results to concentration
on a few dominant issues and to stereotyped treatment
Pluralism actors seem to be emerging but are still marginal
-Web’s technical structure favors reproduction of information
-Economic conditions of online newsrooms: low cost and high productivity leads
to desk journalism, rewriting and republishing existing material at the expense of
original content
- Low distribution costs online but still high production costs
Offered diversity (spectrum of issues) Vs. Consummed diversity
International conference NEW MEDIA AND INFORMATION: CONVERGENCES & DIVERGENCES 6-9 may 2009; Athens, Greece

10. Thanks!
Εσταριστούμε για την προσοτή σας
Full text :
http://nikos.smyrnaios.free.fr/Marty_Rebillard_Smyrnaios_Athens_2009.pdf
International conference NEW MEDIA AND INFORMATION: CONVERGENCES & DIVERGENCES 6-9 may 2009; Athens, Greece