Network TV News Credibility Slips
In a separate survey by the Center, the public perception of the believability of two network news anchors eroded significantly, as did the believability of two news networks, compared to three years ago. Tom Brokaw, NBC News, and CBS News were the exceptions, experiencing only statistically insignificant decreases in this respect. Cable News Network (CNN), although its rating dropped, again scored highest in believability among the networks. The print media’s believability ratings were flat, with no significant increases or decreases either among national or local daily newspapers.
Respondents were asked to rate various individuals and organizations on a four-point scale, with “4,” the highest ranking, meaning that “all or most” of what that person or organization says was considered believable. Dan Rather and Peter Jennings both slipped seven percentage points in this highest ranking compared to February 1993 — to 29% for CBS’s Rather and to 27% for ABC’s Jennings. Brokaw’s rating was 29%. CBS News’ rating was statistically unchanged at 30%, while that of ABC News fell four percentage points to 30%. NBC News was rated at 28%. CNN’s believability rating dropped from 41% to 34% over the same period.
Cannot Never
Believe Believe Heard Can't
4 3 2 1 of Rate
CNN 34 37 14 4 1 10=100
February, 1993 41 35 10 4 2 8=100
August, 1989 33 31 11 2 8 16=100
June, 1985 20 24 7 1 10 38=100
ABC News 30 44 17 5 * 4=100
February, 1993 34 42 17 4 * 3=100
August, 1989 30 46 14 3 1 7=100
June, 1985 32 51 11 1 * 5=100
CBS News 30 42 17 6 * 5=100
February, 1993 31 44 16 5 * 4=100
August, 1989 29 45 16 4 1 5=100
June, 1985 33 51 11 1 * 4=100
NBC News 28 46 18 5 * 3=100
February, 1993 31 42 18 6 * 3=100
August, 1989 32 47 14 2 * 5=100
June, 1985 31 51 12 1 * 5=100
Dan Rather 29 39 18 8 1 5=100
February, 1993 36 40 14 6 1 3=100
August, 1989 36 40 13 6 1 4=100
June, 1985 40 41 8 2 4 5=100
Tom Brokaw 29 37 18 7 2 7=100
February, 1993 32 41 16 5 2 4=100
August, 1989 32 42 14 3 3 6=100
June, 1989 29 40 8 1 10 12=100
Peter Jennings 27 37 18 8 2 8=100
February, 1993 34 40 15 4 2 5=100
August, 1989 35 39 11 3 5 7=100
June, 1985 33 41 8 1 8 9=100
Bernard Shaw 9 22 16 10 18 25=100
The Wall Street Journal received the highest credibility evaluation of any of the print media outlets tested. Print ratings continue to lag behind those achieved by the TV networks, for the most part.
Cannot Never
Believe Believe Heard Can't
4 3 2 1 of Rate
Wall Street Jn'l 28 29 13 7 3 20=100
February, 1993 30 32 14 6 2 16=100
August, 1989 30 26 9 3 6 26=100
June, 1985 25 23 6 2 1 43=100
Your daily paper 24 37 26 8 * 5=100
February, 1993 22 41 25 8 * 4=100
August, 1989 26 41 24 7 * 2=100
June, 1985 28 52 13 2 * 5=100
USA Today 20 34 20 9 3 14=100
February, 1993 20 36 21 7 1 15=100
August, 1989 21 32 18 5 6 18=100
June, 1985 13 26 13 2 4 42=100
Associated Press 14 40 22 9 3 12=100
February, 1993 16 39 23 7 3 12=100
August, 1989 21 43 18 4 6 9=100
June, 1985 21 40 11 2 2 24=100
Influential papers
NYT, WP & LAT 14 36 18 10 3 19=100
June, 1985 16 34 11 3 1 35=100
On balance, C-SPAN received more positive believability ratings (43% “4 or 3”) than negative ratings (21% “1 or 2”). The Christian Broadcasting Network’s ratio was mixed (38% to 34%). Among talk show personalities, TV’s Larry King received more negative than positive ratings (30% to 49%) and radio’s Rush Limbaugh’s ratings were very negative (23% to 67%).
Cannot Never
Believe Believe Heard Can't
4 3 2 1 of Rate
Christian Broadcasting
Network 20 18 21 13 6 22=100
C-SPAN 19 24 12 9 10 26=100
Larry King 9 21 28 21 4 17=100
Rush Limbaugh 8 15 25 42 3 7=100
Politicians are viewed as far less credible than most news media outlets or personalities, although the comparison is somewhat unfair, since by definition professional politicians have significant built-in doubters among supporters of opposition parties. Over the three-year period, President Bill Clinton’s believability rating slipped four percentage points, to 14%; GOP contender Bob Dole stands at 7%; and potential candidate Ross Perot plummeted from 16% to 7%. Only non-candidate Colin Powell rose in these ratings, from 24% to 28%, at which position he rivals the network anchors in believability.
Cannot Never
Believe Believe Heard Can't
4 3 2 1 of Rate
Bill Clinton 14 31 25 28 * 2=100
February, 1993 18 35 25 19 * 3=100
Colin Powell 28 36 19 9 2 6=100
February, 1993 24 31 18 6 13 8=100
Robert Dole 7 25 35 26 2 5=100
Ross Perot 7 22 34 34 * 3=100
February, 1993 16 32 30 20 * 2=100
Newt Gingrich 4 16 30 41 2 7=100
Demographically, the decrease in believability of television and its anchors has occurred primarily among older Americans, both in the 30 to 49 year old group and the 50 and older group. This is in considerable contrast to the Center’s finding, reported above, that the decrease in television viewing has occurred primarily among younger adults, 18 to 29 years old.
News Media Better Liked Than Congress, Business and Political Parties
The public has not changed its view, by and large, on how much they like the media compared to other social institutions and organizations. While they may believe in the news media less these days, network television news, local television news, and daily newspapers all received very or mostly favorable ratings of 79% or better. Local television news stood the highest in this respect, at 84%. Also noteworthy is that the abrupt rise in unfavorable ratings of network TV news in 1995 and 1994 has disappeared.
In contrast, Congress gets a favorability rating of only 45% (mostly and very favorable combined), down 9 percentage points since February 1995. Most continue to regard Bill Clinton favorably (at 57%). Hillary Clinton’s ratings (at 49%) have revived somewhat while Dole’s have slipped somewhat (to 48%) since this past February.
Among organizations, labor unions are looked upon less favorably than in the recent past — 47% very and mostly favorable, down from 57% two years ago and similar to the 1985 ratings. By way of comparison, recent favorability ratings of other organizations include: business corporations, 59%; the military, 82%; the United Nations, 65%; the Republican Party, 52%; the Democratic Party, 49%; and the American court system, 35%.
Who Reads, Watches, Listens
News consumption habits show some clear demographic patterns, the Center’s survey found. Network TV news and local TV news are watched regularly more by older viewers, for example. Older persons also read newspapers regularly to a greater extent, although high newspaper readership is correlated with high education, as well as age. At the entertainment end of the spectrum, regular viewers of TV tabloid programs [TV tabloid programs refer to “shows such as A Current Affair, Hard Copy or Inside Edition.”], “Tell-all” daytime TV shows [“Tell-all” daytime TV shows refer to “the daytime talk shows Ricky Lake, Jerry Springer, or Jenny Jones.”], Court TV, and MTV are disproportionately black rather than white, and less well educated. Religious radio shows also attract proportionately more blacks and the less educated as regular listeners compared to the regular audiences of NPR, Rush Limbaugh and other talk radio programs.
Finally, working mothers are less likely to be regular watchers of network news programs (33%) than average but are at the national norm in their viewership of local news and CNN and in their readership of news magazines. Single parents are more likely to regularly view MTV than the average American and are less likely to watch the nightly network news. They are also heavy viewers of Tell-all talk and tabloid TV shows.
Other demographics in audience profile:
- Nightly network news shows are viewed regularly by 64% of people 65 years old or older compared to only 22% among under 30’s. Democrats are more likely than Republicans to tune in (47% vs. 39%), as are non-computer users more than users (50% vs.35%).
- Local TV news programs are also viewed regularly more by older persons, but the disproportion is significantly less than for network news. Women watch local TV news more than men, Democrats more than Republicans, and non-users of computers more than users (71% vs. 60%).
- CNN is watched regularly more by men than women, as well as older persons and better educated persons.C-SPAN is seen regularly by twice as many men as women. Less well-educated persons and those who do not use computers most often say they never watch the channel.
- TV news magazines are seen regularly by significantly more women than men and much more by older than younger viewers (50% of 50 year olds and older vs. 19% of 29 year olds and younger).
- Tabloid TV shows are regularly viewed more by women than men (22% vs. 16%) and blacks twice as often as whites (34% vs. 17%).
- Tell-all TV shows are viewed by younger persons, women more often than men, and blacks four times more often than whites (32% vs. 7%).
- Daily newspapers were read “yesterday” far more often by older Americans (70% 65 years old and older vs. 29% under 30), whites more than blacks (52% vs. 37%), and the better educated (64% of college graduates vs. 35% of those with less than a high school degree).
- NPR is listened to more often by college graduates (22%) and online users (20%) than average (13%).
- Religious radio is heard more often by older Americans (17%), blacks (25%) and Southerners (17%) than average (11%).
The Politics of News Media Audiences
In this survey of news interest and usage, the Center also sought to construct a political and social profile of respondents based on their attitudes toward government and its role in society, their political preferences and political knowledge, and their social tolerance.
The broad conclusion is that not much political difference exists among audiences of the mainstream media — daily newspapers, network and local television news, and CNN. However, CNN and C-SPAN viewers were considerably more knowledgeable about political affairs than average Americans (by 13 percentage points and 18 percentage points, respectively), as were readers of news magazines (by 9 percentage points). Viewers of television news magazines were distinguished only by the high approval rating they give President Clinton.
Significant differences did appear in the values of different television, radio and print audiences. National Public Radio listeners, for example, have distinctly liberal values, and business magazine readers have more conservative values. But they are relatively middle-of-the-road when compared to consumers of speciality media.
Other features of speciality TV audiences:
- MTV viewers are least critical of the federal government.
- Tell-all TV talk show audiences are most accepting of homosexuality.
- Clinton gets his highest approval rating from viewers of TV magazine shows and readers of tabloid newspapers.
- Rush Limbaugh has many more Republicans and nearly twice as many conservatives in his audience than business magazines.
- Tabloid television (like Current Affair) and Tell-all TV audiences contain considerably more Democrats than Republicans or Independents.
- Tabloid newspaper (like National Enquirer) readers and tabloid TV viewers are more pro-social welfare than average and are among the least politically informed of all audiences.
- Tell-all TV viewers are by far the least informed on strictly political questions (19% knew Rep. Newt Gingrich is Speaker of the House vs. 50% of the public), but were just as informed as the general public about the current minimum wage.
Little Partisan Bias
A majority of the public (53%) see no partisan bias in the way the press is covering the presidential election campaign. Of those who perceive bias, about as many think the press is biased in favor of the Republicans (14%) as believe it tilts toward the Democrats (22%). A Times Mirror survey in August 1988 found 58% seeing no news media bias, while 22% saw a Democratic bias and 7% a Republican one.
In the current poll, there were more Republicans who saw a Democratic bias (40%) in the media, than Democrats who observed a Republican bias (20%).
Campaign News
Americans continue to rely overwhelmingly on television for news about presidential election campaigns. Asked how they get “most” of such news (with two answers permitted), 81% said television, 48% said newspapers, and 21% radio. Four years ago, in May 1992, the responses were quite similar: 86% television, 51% newspapers, 17% radio. While specialized on-line sources geared toward political news have burgeoned in recent months, only 2% said they are getting most of their campaign news from on-line sources.
Women are more likely than men to get news about the campaign from television, as are Democrats more than Republicans and Independents, and lower income more than higher income respondents. Men prefer newspapers more than women in this respect, as do college graduates more than those with a high school education or less. College graduates are more likely to use on-line sources (6%) than any other demographic group for campaign news. Radio is favored by young people more than older ones; and by nearly one-third of Evangelical Republicans.
Of those who name television as their primary source of campaign news, a plurality (48%) say most of that news comes from network TV, about four-in-ten name local TV, and 28% name CNN. Perhaps reflecting the falloff in network news viewership among young people, those under 30 are much less likely than those over 50 to say they get most of their campaign news from network TV (37% vs. 58%, respectively). Whites are more likely to rely on network TV (50% vs. 40% of non-whites), while non-whites use local TV at a higher rate (48% vs. 41% of whites) in this respect. College graduates and those in the highest income bracket are among the most likely to be getting most of their TV campaign news from CNN (37% and 36%, respectively vs. 28% of the general public).
The survey also asked about use of some specialized media for campaign news. Nearly one-in-five respondents (18%) say they learn about the presidential campaign or the candidates regularly or sometimes from religious radio shows such as “Focus on the Family” and from the Christian Broadcasting Network. About two- thirds of the public say they never learn about the campaign from these outlets. More than a third (37%) cited talk radio shows and 13% cited MTV.
Fully 25% of Americans said they learn something about the campaign from late night TV shows such as David Letterman and Jay Leno; 6% said they do so regularly and 19% said sometimes. Young people “learn” from late night TV at a much higher rate than older people. Some 40% of those under 30 years old say they regularly or sometimes learn about the campaign from this source, twice as many as those over 50.
Alternative Sources of Campaign News
(% often or sometimes)
------Age------ -----Party ID-----
Total 18-29 30-49 50+ Repub.Democ.Indep.
% % % % % % %
Learn about the
campaign from...
Religious radio shows 18 11 18 22 23 19 13
Christian Broadcast Net. 18 12 16 25 23 18 15
Talk radio 37 38 39 34 45 34 35
MTV 12 20 8 14 11 16 11
Late Night TV 26 40 23 20 24 27 28
Crime News Tops Interest
Crime, the local community and health are the subjects that most interest the American public. Culture and the arts, news about famous people, and business and financial news are the least interesting of 14 subjects tested in the current survey.
People under the age of 30, and even those under 50, are less interested than those over 50 years of age in the kinds of stories that dominate the front page and the top of the news broadcasts. News about politics, international affairs and even local government holds less interest for younger news consumers, as shown in the table below.
---- News Interests by Age ----
Total 18-29 30-49 50+
% % % %
1. Crime 41 43 39 44
2. People/events in your community 35 28 36 39
3. Health 34 27 29 45
4. Sports 26 30 24 24
5. Local government 24 14 22 32
6. Science & technology 20 19 20 19
7. Religion 17 12 13 26
8. Political news 16 10 13 22
9. International affairs 15 10 11 24
10. Entertainment 15 24 13 12
11. Consumer news 14 12 12 18
12. Business & finance 13 10 13 15
13. Famous people 13 16 10 15
14. Culture/the arts 10 9 9 11
The Center’s survey also sought to construct a profile of the generic news interests of the regular audiences of the various media outlets. Such audiences were almost always more interested in certain topics, whether crime, local government or health, than the general public which included those who consume the news only sometimes, hardly ever and never. Nonetheless, certain themes emerged that shed light on the nature of audiences.
Audiences of all outlets were very interested in crime, but none more so than MTV, Tabloid TV and Tell-all TV show viewers. Fully 62%, 60% and 59% of their regular viewers, respectively, said they followed “very closely” news about crime. Somewhat surprisingly, viewers of network television news followed crime news marginally more closely than viewers of local television news, despite the greater diet of such news on local outlets. Least interested in crime news were listeners of NPR and religious radio shows and readers of news and business magazines (all 43% of their regular audiences). In comparison, 41% of the general public said they followed crime news very closely.
At the other end of the spectrum, interest in news about art and culture was highest among regular listeners to NPR and viewers of C-SPAN; 20% of their regular audiences said they followed such stories very closely. Viewers of Tabloid TV and Tell-all talk shows, as well as Limbaugh s listeners, are least interested (8%, 9% and 9%, respectively), even below that of the general public (10%).
Rush Limbaugh’s listeners showed high levels of interest in politics, both local and national, while viewers of daytime Tell- all TV showed very little interest in political news. The daytime audience showed higher than average levels of interest in news about entertainment and famous people.
One surprising finding was that international news was followed very closely by more network news viewers than newspaper readers (26% vs. 18%), and viewers of C-SPAN and CNN were even larger consumers of foreign news (37% and 30%, respectively).
The gender gap so prevalent in politics today is also apparent in news interest. Men express much higher levels of interest in sports, science and technology, politics, international affairs and business. Women show more interest in news about their communities, health, and culture and the arts.
Shared Audiences
While most outlets have distinctive appeals, there is also considerable overlapping of audiences, particularly when the outlets emphasize similar types of stories. For example, of regular network news viewers, 86% also watch local news, 55% also watch TV news magazines, and 82% also read daily newspapers. At the same time, there are striking cases of outlets in which there is virtually no overlapping of audiences. Of those same regular network news viewers, merely 5% also read print tabloids regularly, 6% read business magazines, 7% watch MTV, 7% listen to Limbaugh, and 9% watch C-SPAN.
From another perspective, the biggest consumers of CNN are C-SPAN viewers and vice versa. A high proportion of readers of business magazines also watch CNN regularly. C-SPAN viewers are about the highest consumers of all kinds of serious media. NPR listeners are about the lowest consumers of daytime Tell-all TV, MTV, and tabloids (both TV and print). Viewers of the Tell-all TV shows favor MTV and the TV tabloid shows while being among the lowest consumers of serious news outlets such as C-SPAN, NPR and business magazines.
Unabomber and Child Pilot Crash Top Stories
Two major news stories drew large audiences in April: the FBI’s arrest of the Unabomber suspect and the fatal plane crash of 7-year-old Jessica Dubroff while attempting to become the youngest pilot to fly across the country. Both stories were followed “very closely” by 44% of the public. Men were somewhat more interested in the Unabomber than women, while women were considerably more absorbed by the air tragedy.
Another air crash, which took the lives of Commerce Secretary Ron Brown and 32 other Americans in the Balkans, was followed very closely by 34%. Blacks were twice as interested as whites in the story (62% vs. 31%).
The public remained interested in news about Republican presidential candidates, with 23% following such stories very closely, down only insignificantly from a month earlier. Clinton’s veto of a bill banning so-called partial birth abortions was also followed very closely by 23%. The military conflict between Israel and Muslims in Lebanon attracted 21%, the situation in Bosnia 20%, and Congressional passage of a new law dealing with domestic terrorism 15%.
