Reagan Also Doubted : Media Hurt by Iran Crisis, Survey Finds

The Iran- contra arms scandal has eroded the public’s confidence in the media--and in television’s best known news anchormen--and led to an increasing belief among Americans that the press has a political orientation often out of tune with their own sentiments, according to a poll conducted by the Gallup organization for Times Mirror Co.

But, despite the decline in the media’s credibility, network TV news and daily newspapers continue to receive a higher believability rating than President Reagan, or congressmen of either party, following a scandal that has produced no winners.

Unverified Data Hit

In its coverage of the Iran-contra story, the media are most often criticized for the amount of coverage, its consequences to the country’s image and a tendency to rely too much on unverified information.

Seven in 10 Americans believe that the media helped bring about the crisis in the first place: Heavy coverage of U.S. hostages held in Lebanon, the public thinks, pressured the Reagan Administration into trying to obtain their release by dealing with Iran.

Surprisingly, though, Americans appear almost indifferent to the scandal. Only one-fifth of the respondents say they are following the Iran-contra news coverage very closely, and one-third say they are not. By comparison, previ

ous surveys found that the Challenger disaster was followed very closely by 80%. U.S. air strikes against Libya, followed closely by 58%, the TWA hostage crisis in Beirut, 48%, the nuclear accident at Chernobyl, 46%, and the hijacking of the Achille Lauro cruise ship, 35%, all had a more attentive audience.

The public’s inattentiveness to the scandal--16% say they have not even heard of Lt. Col. Oliver L. North, a key Administration figure in the arms deal--may be partly attributed to the complex political nature of the story. The findings may also reflect the fact that the crisis has sullied the reputation of a popular President whom most Americans would like to protect, and unpleasant news is best ignored.

Not a Simple Story

Of those surveyed, 44% feel there has been too much coverage of the story generally, Andrew Kohut, president of the Gallup Organization, said. Kohut noted also that the Iran story is a complicated one and “not nearly as simple a melodrama as a hostage-taking or the Challenger explosion.”

Kohut said that Reagan’s approval rating has rebounded from December, and a greater number (52%) now approve of his performance than disapprove (39%). But those figures, he said, do not accurately reflect how much his image has been tarnished by the scandal. For example, 42% of Americans believe the crisis is so serious that they now question the President’s ability to run the country; of those who disapprove of Reagan’s job performance, over half give him the lowest possible rating on a four-point scale measuring his believability.

Reagan Rating Drops

Another noteworthy trend is that last July the number of Americans who had a very favorable impression of Reagan (30%) was far greater than those who had negative perceptions (4%). Today, as many Americans rate the President very unfavorably (19%) as do very favorably (18%). Almost half of the public (46%) now feels it cannot believe most of what the President says.

Kohut found that the shift in opinion about Reagan from positive to negative has occurred primarily among whites, people over 50 and those with moderate to conservative political views.

“For the time being, at least, many have turned against the President, joining non-whites and the political left, the most consistent Reagan critics,” Kohut said. Most of the 1,502 interviews conducted between Dec. 27 and Jan. 4 by Gallup for Times Mirror, parent company of the Los Angeles Times, were held before Reagan went into the hospital for surgery and thus did not reflect significant sympathy for the President, pollsters said. The survey is the third in a series designed to measure public perceptions of the media and issues related to its performance.

Anchormen Are Casualties

Among the casualties of the scandal, Gallup found, were the network anchormen for the evening news--Dan Rather of CBS, Peter Jennings of ABC and Tom Brokaw of NBC. Rather’s believability rating suffered the steepest decline--to 28% from 40% in June, 1985. Jennings slipped to 25% from 33% in the same period and Brokaw to 24% from 29%.

Although a majority of Americans still places credence in the media, the poll reflected an apparent mood of disillusionment with all institutions involved in the scandal. The percentage of Americans who believe what they hear on TV has dropped to 66 from 83 in June, 1985, and those who believe what they read in their daily newspapers has fallen to 63% from 80%.

However, the press still has higher believability ratings than President Reagan (52%), congressional Democrats (44%) and congressional Republicans (41%).

An increasing number of Americans see themselves at odds politically with news organizations: 45% say there is a conflict between their views and those of the media, up from 33% two years ago. The percentage of the public that thinks the press has a particular political point of view--either liberal or conservative--has risen to 80 from 60 in that time. Partly because of sheer numbers, conservatives who think the press is liberal (31%) are probably a more important source of criticism than liberals who think it is conservative (14%), Gallup says. However, both groups have increased in size.

Watchdog Role of Press

The poll found that Americans have an ambiguous view of the media. On one hand, they are often critical of its performance; on the other, most believe a watchdog press is necessary to keep politicians honest. By a wide majority, they believe the press has done more to uncover the truth in the Iran-contra scandal than the President, his staff or Congress. And two of three Americans say the media are fair in their coverage of Reagan.

The margin of error is 3% in either direction in a survey of this magnitude.

Staff writer Penny Pagano in Washington also contributed to this story.

RATING COVERAGE OF THE IRAN-CONTRA AFFAIR

Numbers reflect percent of poll respondents How closely did you follow these recent news stories? Explosion of the space shuttle Challenger: Very Closely: 80% Fairly Closely: 16% U.S. air strike against Libya: Very Closely: 58% Fairly Closely: 27% Iran-Contra Affair: Very Closely: 20% Fairly Closely: 47% How do you evaluate news organizations’ performance in covering these stories: Explosion of the Challenger: Excellent: 57% Good: 33% Fair: 7% Poor: 2% Air Strike Against Libya: Excellent: 28% Good: 52% Fair: 16% Poor: 3% Iran-Contra Affair: Excellent: 19% Good: 49% Fair: 22% Poor: 9% Source: Times Mirror/Gallup Poll