Thumbs up for news media
USA Today reports that Americans have generally given the news media a "thumbs up" for its coverage of Hurricane Katrina. The paper cites a study by the highly regarded Pew Research Center. The study surveyed 1,000 Americans between Sept. 6 and 7, and found that 65% of respondents rated news coverage of the hurricane good or excellent (this compares with the 54% approval rating the news media received for its 2004 presidential election coverage). Not surprisingly, television-- and particularly cable television--was the main source of information. CNN was the most popular source, cited by 31% of respondents, compared with Fox (22%); local news stations (19%); ABC (14%); NBC (12%); MSNBC (9%) and CBS (8%). CNN also boasted of its lead in a full-page ad placed in today's (Wednesday's) New York Times. It still seems the case that CNN is the go-to news network at times of crisis, even though it is normally beat into second place by Fox.
The show of public support might explain the news media's increased willingness to challenge government authorities, both on the air and in the courts (the same article notes that CNN successfully "filed suit against FEMA in U.S. District Court in Houston Friday after government officials said the news media had no right to show pictures of Katrina victims. FEMA and the army later backed off that demand).
USA Today quotes Tom Rosenstiel of the Project for Excellence in Journalism, who expresses his hope that most or all news organizations continue to emphasize the story, with “each one synthesizing and adding to what others are learning. If only one or two news organizations do it, it won't have the same effect.” The question is “how many news organizations have the investigative muscle to handle a story this complex, and how many can afford to lose a team for the time it will take to do that, especially in TV,” argues Rosenstiel. “I fear the list of news organizations that can do that today is not very long. And sadly, it gets shorter if ad sales go down and other news pushes Katrina off our radar screens.”
posted by hdougie at 9/14/2005 05:15:00 PM
5 Comments:
I am not sure if 1,000 people is enough to conduct a survey that asks whether the Hurricane Katrina coverage of the media is good or not, but since you mentioned that it is a "highly regarded" research center, I will believe that this result is reliable.
It is good to hear that the general public is appreciating what they see in the media. The recent coverages of the southern states affected by the hurricane show numerous images that directly tell what is going on down there. It is important for the audiences to be able to see these images so that they have a better understanding of the matters.
While it is important for the coverage of Katrina to be broadcasted in as many news organizations as possible, if so many man power and energy is used for this coverage, who is going to take care of other things that are going on in the country? It is hard to say that organizations should emphasize the Katrina news while they have limited article space or air time.
I just hope that while the Katrina news will be broadcasted less frequently, as Tom Rosenstiel says, when other news come in to push it off the radar screen, that people still hold interest and keep on making relief efforts.
Hiroko Yuki
Of the millions of people in the United States that watch news programs, that these 1,000 people accurately represent the same feelings. Where did they get these people from and how random was the selection? I believe news outlets need to, as Tom Rosenstiel suggests, put more effort into finding all the facts and giving a complex story full attention that it deserves. It will keep the American people more stable and satisfied.
While being as critical as the major news media as anybody, I agree for the most part with this poll. I think we should give some credit to them for their coverage of Hurricane Katrina. This is not the typical news event to cover and I believe that for the most part they kept the focus on the important issues.
Now granted, they could've done better in certain areas and there are still many points to be made of the handling of the characterization of the people left in the area.
Still however, I believe that in all, this poll does reflect the feelings of most Americans.
-Seth Solomon
I think that it is great that the news media is challenging the government and FEMA for their slow efforts in the Katrican disaster. I do think that some of the anger from the media has had a negative impact. Instead of focusing on all the efforts of rescue, they focused only on what wasn't being done. I'm not sure that in a time of crisis that it is always appropraite to bring down spirits even lower than they already are. I guess this would bring up ehtical issues! I do believe that the media did a good job of coverage because I always knew what was going on. I do believe that we need to examine the ethical issues of fighting the government ,and giving them even more trouble when they are trying to fix their mistake. Did the media and other anger slow or disrput the rescue efforts? Is it really approprate to argue during a crisis rather than after? Casey L. Hanna
The main source of media from the 1,000 people interviewed was from television. Although I think its great that 65% of Americans thought media coverage of Katrina was "good or excellent", I believe that all forms of media should have been evaluated better.
While television just IS the main source of news for most, I believe that it's coverage of an event like Katrina can get very repetitive. Newspaper articles along with online documents of the event can cover a wider range of topics dealing with the issue, which are just as important as day-to-day television coverage of the event.
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