We gotta "defund" NPR. :>)
Those most knowledgeable about the campaign were Internet users, National Public Radio listeners and newsmagazine readers.
39% See Bias In Reporting On Campaign
Nontraditional Media Gain Ground, Poll Finds
By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, January 12, 2004; Page A06
Americans are evenly split over whether news organizations favor one political party or the other, with a growing number of Democrats joining a larger number of Republicans in seeing the media as biased toward the other side.
Twenty-nine percent of Democrats surveyed by the Pew Research Center say presidential campaign coverage is tilted toward the GOP, up from 19 percent in 2000, a study released yesterday says. Forty-two percent of Republicans see bias toward the Democrats, up from 37 percent in the last presidential campaign. Overall, 39 percent see biased reporting, and 38 percent do not.
"Democrats think the media are giving President Bush a free pass," said Andrew Kohut, the center's director. "For years most of the discontent was on the Republican side, and now it's bipartisan."
Equally striking is a fundamental shift in which more Americans are turning away from the establishment media and getting their campaign information from newer outlets. One-third say they regularly or sometimes get political news from the Internet, a jump of nine percentage points in four years. Among people younger than 30, one in five reports regularly learning about the campaign from such comedy programs as Jon Stewart's "Daily Show" and "Saturday Night Live" -- double the level of four years ago.
Television news programs, trying to court this audience, routinely run clips of Jay Leno, David Letterman and Stewart, who was recently featured on Newsweek's cover.
The survey of 1,506 adults was not as encouraging for traditional media outlets. Pew found a significant decline in Americans who regularly get their campaign news from local television (42 percent, down from 48 percent in 2000), nightly network news (35 percent, down from 45 percent), newspapers (31 percent, down from 40 percent) and newsmagazines (10 percent, down from 15 percent). One exception was cable news networks, which are regularly consulted by 38 percent (up from 34 percent).
The greatest defections were among those younger than 30, nearly two-thirds of whom say they are not even somewhat interested in the Democratic presidential campaign. Only 15 percent could say which candidate served as an Army general (Wesley K. Clark) or which one was House majority leader (Richard A. Gephardt).
Major political controversies may be reaching fewer voters than campaign insiders think. Nearly six in 10 of those surveyed, regardless of age, say they have heard nothing about Howard Dean's widely reported remark about appealing to "guys with Confederate flags in their pickup trucks." Just 20 percent say they have seen any of the Democratic debates. Those most knowledgeable about the campaign were Internet users, National Public Radio listeners and newsmagazine readers.
After years of hype, the Web has clearly come into its own in the 2004 campaign. Nearly one in five Americans reports going online for political activity, such as researching issues and e-mailing campaigns. Dean's supporters were somewhat more likely than others, by 26 percent to 19 percent, to seek news online.
The questions about bias reveal a news audience that is increasingly fragmented along ideological lines, a far cry from the days when nearly everyone watched the three major networks. Majorities did not see bias in the early stages of the 1988 and 1996 campaigns.
Four in 10 Democrats -- but only a quarter of Republicans -- cite CBS, NBC and ABC as their main source of campaign news. Nearly twice as many Republicans as Democrats rely primarily on Fox News for their political information (29 percent to 14 percent), while CNN is favored by 27 percent of Democrats and 20 percent of Republicans. One-fifth of Republicans, but only 12 percent of Democrats, turn mainly to radio, where talk shows are dominated by conservatives.
Another sign: Fox viewers are much more likely to see a great deal of bias in media coverage than viewers of CNN, network news or local TV news.
The more ideological people are, the more likely they are to feel strongly about media bias. Conservative Republicans, by 47 percent to 8 percent, say the media lean toward Democrats, while liberal Democrats, by 36 percent to 11 percent, say coverage tilts the other way.
Still, two-thirds of those questioned say they prefer news from outlets without a political point of view, while one-quarter favor news that reflects their views.
© 2004 The Washington Post Company |
