Survey Finds High Interest in Avianca Crash

The crash of an Avianca Airlines jetliner near New York’s Kennedy Airport was the nation’s most closely followed news story in January, but no story gained an overwhelming share of America’s attention during the month, according to the latest Times Mirror News Interest Index, released today.

The index, a monthly survey of public interest in news coverage, found that one in three Americans said they “very closely followed” coverage of the Avianca crash, placing it only 33rd among 90 news events measured since 1986.

Grabbing slightly less attention were the Charles Stuart murder case in Boston (29%), the arrest of Washington Mayor Marion Barry (28%) and the acquittal of defendants in the McMartin child abuse trial (27%).

The survey also measures a special group called “serious news consumers,” who make up 12% of those surveyed this month. The so-called serious news consumers are those who regularly read a newspaper, watch a TV news program, listen to National Public Radio news or read monthly opinion magazines. Even this group reported paying less attention to events during January. News from Eastern Europe was one example, with 39% paying very close attention, contrasted with 58% in December.

Interest in much of the news in January broke along racial lines. Nearly 40% of non-whites, for instance, said they were very closely following the Stuart, Barry and McMartin stories. By contrast, less than a third of white respondents very closely followed these stories.

Age made a difference too. The Super Bowl and the Stuart case attracted the most attention of adults under age 30, whereas the proposal by Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.) to cut Social Security taxes attracted the most attention of adults over 50.

Among the population as a whole, however, the Super Bowl was closely followed by 22%; the dispute between President Bush and Congress over treatment of Chinese students was followed by 16%; unrest in Soviet Azerbaijan by 13%, and the legalization of black opposition groups in South Africa by 11%.

The results are based on telephone interviews conducted for Times Mirror by the Gallup Organization under the direction of the Princeton Survey Research Associates. The survey interviewed 1,245 adults Feb. 1-4.

The survey has a margin of error due to sampling of plus or minus three percentage points.