Press and the Public: A Strained Marriage : Poll documents the quarrel, but can the parties live apart?

There is scarcely a sentient American who hasn’t at one time or another had a quarrel with the news media. And now there is a sense that the relationship between the people of the United States and their news media has become increasingly strained in recent years. Certainly the findings of the Times Mirror Center for The People & The Press, in a survey of attitudes about the press released last week, confirm that sense. Polled were top business executives, members of Congress and local leaders from across the country.

The biggest complaint about the press was that it seems almost unceasingly negative. The survey found agreement that “too negative” news may be transforming the media from a vehicle for change into an impediment to change.

But before anyone forms a line to shoot the messenger, hold on. Of course there is good news that deserves to be told. But there’s an awful lot of bad news out there too, news that citizens need so they can organize, lobby and vote for positive change.

As one Washington editor put it in a report issued with the survey findings: “Our function in a democracy is to hold up to the public things that they have the ability to change, through their votes or pressures on their public officials. . . . What do people most need to know? Things that they can change through civic action. . . . People don’t know the reality in a lot of the things they want to change.”

The survey is available via written request to the Times Mirror Center for The People & The Press, 1875 Eye St. NW, Suite 1110, Washington, D.C. 20006. It’s worth reading for its wealth of insights into the attitudes of reporters, editors, readers and political and business leaders. For instance:

--The alleged cynicism of the news media may be overrated. According to the survey, newspeople more than average citizens think that politicians are honest and ethical. And it is not just officeholders whom people distrust. The public is more distrusting of business executives, the military and even religious leaders than are newspeople.

--The public grades the press more harshly than the press grades itself. The press gives itself a B for its coverage of the Clinton Administration, but the public rates that coverage as no better than a C.

--Editors and reporters tend to agree with the public that the press has a hard time covering issues such as religion and family values. One reason: The mainstream press is obligated to look at values, which are by nature subjective, from a variety of viewpoints in order to consider the perspective of the minority as well as the majority. While many well may see that approach as a minus, some see it as a huge plus in a democracy, as did the founding fathers.

Finally, when asked why the public is so angry with the press, journalists pointed to sensationalism in tabloid newspapers and television shows as the cause. Certainly that’s a factor. But what the poll brings out more than anything else is the need for “the people” and “the press” to find ways to sit down and chat more often: through polls, through letters, through personal computers. We suspect the two groups are not wholly different species after all.

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Cynicism Index

Percentage who say that the press is too cynical about the 104th Congress:

National press: 19%

Local press: 26%

General public: 47%

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Source: Times Mirro Center for The People & The Press