The study, unveiled by the City University's Department of Journalism this month, shows that while 89% of national newspaper journalists can access the internet from their own desktops, only 11% of regional staff can.
Similar figures are reported for broadcast journalists, with 89% of national radio and TV journalists having individual access, compared with only 43% of their regional colleagues.
The survey found that those who do not have individual access to the internet were four times less likely to log on more than three times a day. Shared access to the internet severely limits its usefulness, the researchers found, as 23% without a desktop connection said they 'hardly ever logged on'.
Frustration is growing among those denied desktop access. Fewer than half of those without immediate access agreed with the statement that journalists and media organisations were acting quickly. In contrast, nearly two thirds of those with individual access said they were.
Overall, 43% of those surveyed who accessed the internet did so once or twice a day. This contrasts with recent findings from the US (see here) where three quarters of those in a similar survey said they log on every day.
Nearly half of UK journalists cited 'too much information to process' as a disadvantage of the internet. The second most-cited problem was 'lack of training'. Women were far more likely to cite 'time wasted routing information' as a disadvantage than men.
Those without desktop access appear to suffer from other barriers to cyberspace, the survey found. They were much more likely to cite 'lack of training', 'lack of support staff' and 'cost' as disadvantages to logging on.
The split between information haves and have nots is also noticeable in magazines. There, journalists working in the trade press were more likely to have desktop internet access. While only 21% of those working on consumer titles have access, 47% of their colleagues working on trade titles do.
Significantly a whopping 46% of all trade title journalists thought their publication would be available in an online-only format within the next 15 years. The equivalent figure for those working for consumer magazines was 25%. Overall, 12% said they foresaw their publication existing solely online in the next five years while 20% said their publication go this way in the next 10 years.
E-mail was identified as the most useful aspect of the internet. E-mail press releases were accessed most to generate stories followed by use of search engines, web news sites and news groups.
See the Netmedia site for more information about the survey
See also US journalists growing more dependent on the internet
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