Papers Get Respondents’ Nod for Job Well Done : TV Listed as Primary Source for News

Slightly more people get most of their news from television than from newspapers, but the public is divided on which medium does the best job, according to a new Los Angeles Times Poll.

In the poll, a telephone survey of 2,993 persons conducted over the last five months, one of the first questions people were asked was, “Where (do) you usually get most of your information about what people are doing today and what’s going on?”

The response: 42% said television, 38% said newspapers, 13% said radio, 4% said other persons and 2% said magazines.

The margin was similar when, later in the survey, people were asked, “Generally speaking, do you think you get more out of the news in a newspaper because there is more information available or do you think you get more out of the news on television because you can see the people and places involved?”

The response: 49% said television, 44% said newspapers and 5% said they saw no difference between the two.

‘Very Good’ Ratings

But when respondents were asked to rate the job done by the newspaper they read most frequently and by the local and network television news programs they watched most frequently, they gave a “very good” rating to newspapers more often than to television: 65% said newspapers do a “very good” job; 51% said local television news does a “very good” job; 43% said network television news does a “very good” job.

When those who said the various media do a “fairly good” job are added in, the good vs. bad ratings are very similar for all three; in each case, more than 90% of the public says the medium does a good job, and only 4% or 5% say it does a bad job.

The public also said, overwhelmingly, that all three do either a “very good” or “fairly good” job of presenting the news accurately and impartially. Public approval in those areas ranged from 84% to 96%.

Unlike the general public, college-educated professionals say they get most of their news from newspapers, rather than from television (by a margin of 45% to 34%), and they say they get more out of the news in the newspaper than the news on television (by a margin of 66% to 27%). College-educated professionals are also much more likely to say their newspaper does a “very good” job overall than they are to give that rating to television news.

But among college-educated professionals and the general public alike, more people interviewed in this poll said their local television news program does a “very good” job in presenting the news accurately than said that of their newspaper or network television news program.

Accuracy on TV

On accuracy, 50% of the general public said their local television news program does a “very good” job; 39% gave that rating to their newspaper and only 37% gave it to their network television news program.

Among college-educated professionals, the rating was 42% for local TV news, 30% for newspapers and 28% for network news.

On presenting the news fairly and impartially, 45% of the general public said their local television news program does a “‘very good job;” 30% gave that rating to their newspapers, and 28% gave it to their network news program.

Among college-educated professionals, the rating was 39% for local TV news, 23% for newspapers and 20% for network TV news.

Only a very small percentage of the public gave any of the news media a “bad” rating on accuracy or impartiality, but of those who did give that rating, more gave it to their newspaper than to either their network or local television news programs.

On accuracy, 7% said their newspaper does a bad job, 4% said their network television news program does a bad job and 3% said their local television news program does a bad job.

On presenting the news fairly and impartially, 13% said their newspaper does a bad job, 9% said their network television news program does a bad job and 5% said their local television news program does a bad job.