Ethics Newsline®

From the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania:

“The American public disapproves only narrowly of partisan journalism, splits about evenly on whether news organizations usually get their facts straight, and narrowly accepts the idea that the government can limit the right of the press to report a story, according to a national survey conducted for the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy Center.

“But journalists, including reporters, editors, producers, news executives, and owners, were also surveyed for the study which measured the divide between those who work in the news media and those who consume it. They heartily disagreed with the public on all those issues and many others.

“‘This study reveals a worrisome divide between the public’s view of journalism and journalists’ own views of their work. If journalists do indeed believe that what they do is valuable, fair, and ethically sound, it’s past time they began to put that case more effectively to the public,’ noted Geneva Overholser, co-editor of a new Oxford University Press book, The Press.

“Sixteen percent of the 673 journalists who were polled and 43 percent of the 1,500 members of the public surveyed said it was ‘a good thing if some news organizations have a decidedly political point of view in their coverage of the news.’ Eighty percent of journalists and 53 percent of the public said it was a ‘bad thing.’

“Eighty-six percent of journalists but only 45 percent of the public said news organizations generally ‘get their facts straight.’ But 48 percent of the public and only 11 percent of journalists said news organizations were ‘often inaccurate.’ When serious mistakes are made, 74 percent of the journalists said news organizations quickly report the error, but only 30 percent of the public said they do. In the public, 24 percent said news organizations try to ignore errors and 41 percent said they try to cover them up.

“‘The public perception that journalism is often inaccurate should raise alarm in the journalistic community. Confidence in the press is built on the belief that fact is reliably reported,’ said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, co-editor of The Press….

“Asked if the government ‘has the right to limit the right of the press to report a story,’ 44 percent of journalists said ‘never,’ 48 percent said ‘rarely,’ and 6 percent said ’sometimes.’ Among the public, just 29 percent said ‘never,’ 17 percent said ‘rarely,’ 37 percent said ’sometimes,’ and 14 percent said ‘always.’

“Some of these and other differences appeared to reflect the fact that the media sample, with a median experience level of 23 years, is distinctly more liberal than the public in general, measured by a separate poll of 1,500 adults. Thirty-one percent of those in the journalists’ sample called themselves liberal, 49 percent said they were moderates and just nine percent said they were conservatives. In the public generally, 24 percent said they were liberal, 33 percent moderate, and 38 percent conservative….

“The survey revealed differences among conservative journalists and conservatives in the public at large, as well. For example, among conservatives in the general public, 21 percent said the government never had the right to halt reporting and 15 percent said rarely. But among conservative journalists, 32 percent said ‘never’ and 54 percent said ‘rarely.’…

“The public also rated the ethics of journalists well below that of teachers, but above that of government officials, lawyers, and politicians. Seventy-four percent of the public said journalists’ ethics were good. Eighty-nine percent rated teachers’ ethics good, 54 percent rated the ethics or government officials or lawyers good, and 43 percent rated those of politicians good.

“But 95 percent of journalists ranked their trade’s ethics as good; 32 percent said ‘very good,’ a rating given by only 7 percent of the public….

“Besides accuracy, the survey measured many areas of public distrust of news organizations. Journalists shared many of their criticisms, though rarely with the same intensity. For example, 79 percent of the public said they believed ‘a media company that receives substantial advertising revenue from a company would hesitate to report negative stories about that company.’ The issue was put somewhat differently to journalists, but 33 percent said that to either a great extent or a moderate extent, ‘media organizations either intentionally or unintentionally avoid news stories that are potentially unfavorable to major advertisers.’ But 47 percent of journalists said the same of unfavorable stories about their company’s owners.

“Both journalists and the public gave positive ratings to how the New York Times and CBS News handled recent reporting scandals, although many said they had not heard or read about those events….”