This survey was conducted By Rebecca McKinnon on journslists who cover news in China. 90% follow blogs.

Blogs are now a near second to newspapers as the most trusted information source in Europe.  A quarter (24%) of Europeans consider blogs a trusted source of information, just behind newspaper articles (30%), but ahead of television advertising (17%) and email marketing (14%).  More than half (52%) of those polled said that they were more likely to purchase a product if they had read positive comments from private individuals on the internet.
 A Pew Internet and American Life survey showed that blog readership in the US jumped 58% in 2005 spawning a new desire for immediate news and information. News blogs like the Daily Kos have readership figures that put all but a handful of the major newspapers to shame.

And the trend continues.
 A recent report on Web 2.0 adoption in the US from the Luxury Institute found that 76 percent of people whose income exceeds $150,000 per year read blogs, up from 57% a year ago.
 This shift creates opportunities for luxury goods marketers to deepen relationships with their wealthy clientele, and the skill with which they seize — or fail to seize — these opportunities will have long-term implications, says the report.

How does this affect your media relations plan? Here are some tips from David Meerman Scott’s book on the New Rules of PR and Marketing: (My comments added in bold)

• Reporters who don’t know you yet are looking for organizations like yours and products like yours. Make sure they will find you on sites such as Google and Technorati.(Search optimized news releases, social bookmarks  and tags on syndicated content will do it for you.)
• If you blog, reporters who cover the space will find you.
• Pitch bloggers, because being covered in important blogs will get you noticed by mainstream media. (Talk to bloggers – don’t pitch them)
• Some (but not all) reporters love RSS feeds.  (Bloggers love RSS feeds)
• Personal relationships with reporters are important.  (Personal relationships with bloggers aren’t just important - they’re essential. Web 2.0 is about a conversation, not a pitch)
• Does the reporter have a blog? Read it. Comment on it. Track back to it.
• Before you pitch, read (or listen to or watch) the publication (or radio program or TV show or blog or podcast) you’ll be pitching to!
• Once you know what a reporter (or blogger) is interested in, send her an individualized pitch crafted especially for her needs.

I’ll be talking more about this at the Media Relations Summit 2007 in D.C. in a few weeks.  I hope to see you all there.