Information Seeking Behaviour of Kuwaiti Journalists

This study investigated the information seeking behaviour of working journalists in Kuwait using a self-administered questionnaire. The 92 respondents were mostly male, Arabic speaking, and expatriates. In terms of the type of information, they place emphasis on fact-checking, general and background information. Information is obtained by using a wide variety of both informal and formal sources. ‘Human’ sources, Internet, and ‘press releases’ are considered high in terms of both importance and satisfaction. The availability and use of ‘in-house electronic library of stories / reports generated by their colleagues’ is not only very limited but is also not satisfying. They consider their information searching skills very important for their work and are willing to go through training if it were provided to them. Lack of time is their top ranking problem. Several recommendations are made for improving the existing situation.