Study concludes that many top news sites don't do RSS well

E&P - NEW YORK A new study from the International Center for Media and Public Agenda, looking at 19 top news sites, released today concludes that RSS feeds work very poorly for anyone who uses news for more than infotainment.

Cited as among the best users of RSS: The Los Angeles Times, ABC News, Christian Science Monitor, BBC World Service and Fox News.

Among the worst: Al Jazeera, The Guardian and The New York Times.

Rather than RSS, the study found, casual news consumers users should
just stick with Google's Top Stories.

"The problem," the study concludes, "is that many news outlets don't want to share all the news that's on their site—especially stories that are not staff-written or produced. One reason may be that such stories, such as those by AP or Reuters, don't carry the 'brand' of the news organization. But without those stories, many RSS feeds are not truly delivering news 24/7 and, in addition, lack the breadth of news their home sites deliver.

"As a result, RSS users have no idea what they're missing. The study
illuminated how difficult it was to get even all of the staff-generated
stories from "today" via RSS feeds. And without going back to the home
site and checking, a user doesn't know exactly what is NOT being sent
via the RSS feeds. What's more, the study uncovered, just because two
separate news outlets both have feeds labeled "International" hardly
means that they have decided to send the same type or quantity of news
through their feeds."

Full study here.