The Gallup Organization on November 16 posted a fresh “poll analysis” about their survey released earlier in the week, and reported in the November 19 Media & Culture Channel, about how out of all the players in the war on terrorism the public only disapproves of one: the “news media.” The Gallup survey, taken November 8-11, found 54 percent public disapproval for how the news media are “handling the war on terrorism since September 11,” compared to 43 who approve.
In the November 16 posting, “High Approval for Most People/Institutions Handling War on Terrorism: But majority of Americans disapprove of news media's performance,” Gallup's David W. Moore revealed:
Approval ratings for the news media vary somewhat among demographic subgroups, but even the most positive groups show no more than half who approve, far below the approval rating of all other people and institutions mentioned in the poll. Exactly 50% of males under the age of 50 approve of the news media, as do 50% of Democrats and 50% of people who did not attend church in the past seven days. By contrast, only 38% of older males, 33% of Republicans and 33% of people who attended church in the past seven days indicate their approval.
Moore added that the public does not share the media's interest in resisting government efforts to limit information dissemination: “In general, Americans appear to be quite willing to support governmental restriction of news coverage, while at the same time several news reports have been critical of such efforts.
This tension between the desire of the media to cover events as fully as possible and the government's desire to restrict coverage in certain areas is reflected in two CNN/Time questions, asked of the general public on Oct. 12. When asked about problems in providing information about the war against terrorism, most Americans, 72%, said that the possibility of the government withholding too much information from the media and the American public was not a problem. On the other hand, 68% of Americans said it was a problem that the news media were providing too much detailed information about U.S. military actions.”
For the Gallup “poll analysis” in full, go here.
(This update courtesy of the Media Research Center.)
