Maria Grafstrom and Karolina Windell of Uppsala University in Sweden analysed how business journalists were using blogs.

Presenting at the Future of Journalism conference in Cardiff, they found that the number of business articles that talked about blogs. By 2006, more than 1,000 articles about blogs from none in 2002. More than 20% cited a blog as a source.

But when journalists were asked if they used blogs, 63% said they didn’t reference them.

Only about 4% said they found information on blogs that they use in their reporting.

However, most journalists recognised that it was important for their work to be discussed in the blogosphere.

The researchers concluded that business journalists don’t see blogs as valid and legitimate sources, quoting one journalist who dismissed blogs as opinion-oriented, rather than factually-oriented.

In contrast, more than 50% used wikis as an online source.

Discussing the results of the study, the researchers wondered if journalists were hesitant to say they used blogs as sources for stories, even if they recognised that blogs were part of the media ecosystem.

Ironically, they added that many Swedish journalist have their own blogs.