Haiti coverage is just right, according to the American public

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Sometimes the American people, like a good jury, get it right.

Following weeks in which one American comedian has paraded a racehorse across his stage wearing a mink snuggie and a television network paid the entertainer $45 million to go away, and an earthquake claimed the lives of at least 150,000 in Haiti and other American entertainers went on air to raise millions of dollars for relief, people say they heard way too much news about the first and just about the right amount about the latter.

Seven in 10 Americans (69%) say in a Pew Center news-interest survey released today that the media devoted too much coverage to late-night Conan O’Brien’s departure from NBC’s ‘The Tonight Show’ and Jay Leno’s imminent return.

Seven in 10 (71%) say the earthquake and relief efforts in Haiti have received the right amount of coverage.

The Pew poll of 1,010 Americans carries a possible margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points, but this call isn’t even close.

-- Mark Silva reporting for Tribune politics blog The Swamp

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