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MEDIA-US: Public's Grasp of Current Issues Unchanged Despite Internet, Cable TV
By Jim Lobe
WASHINGTON, Apr 16, 2007 (IPS) - Despite the emergence of 24-hour cable
television news and fast-growing use of internet news sources, the U.S.
public's knowledge of national and international personalities and issues
is little changed from nearly 20 years ago, according to a new survey
released by the Pew Research Centre for the People and the Press.
Indeed, the survey, which was conducted in early February, found that in
some areas public knowledge may actually have declined somewhat.
While three out of four U.S. respondents could name their state's governor
in 1989, for example, only two-thirds could do so today. Similarly, nearly
half (47 percent) could correctly identify the president of Russia 18
years ago, compared to only 36 percent today.
Perhaps most remarkably, only 69 percent could identify Dick Cheney, who
has been in office for six years, as the current vice president, while 74
percent correctly named then-vice president Dan Quayle in 1989, despite
the fact that he had been in office for less than a year.
On the other hand, the 1,502 respondents in the survey were somewhat more
knowledgeable about national issues than their counterparts 18 years ago.
''The survey provides further evidence that changing news formats are not
having a great deal of impact on how much the public knows about national
and international affairs,'' according to an analysis that accompanied the
results.
The poll also found that respondents with the most correct answers were
more likely to watch ''The Daily Show'' and the ''Colbert Report'' on
cable's Comedy Central network and peruse the major newspaper internet
websites.
Those respondents with the least correct answers, on the other hand, were
more likely to watch the right-wing Fox News cable channel, local
television news, or the major television network morning news programmes.
The survey, which posed 23 core questions to measure knowledge of current
events, found that correct answers correlated most strongly with
education, income levels, voter registration, and gender. There was
virtually no difference, on the other hand, between respondents who
identified themselves as Republican, Democrats, or independents.
Among other things, the survey tested whether the respondent could
identify key national and local public officials, such as Hillary Rodham
Clinton, Robert Gates, Barack Obama, and Arnold Schwarzenegger; what party
controls Congress; and the status of important pending legislation. It
also asked several factual questions about the war in Iraq and the U.S.
trade balance.
The average respondent answered 12 of the 23 questions correctly.
For comparison purposes, the respondents were divided into three roughly
equal groups: the 35 percent who got 15 or more answers correct were
classified as ''high''- knowledge respondents, while another 31 percent,
who answered 10 to 14 questions correctly, were classified as ''medium''.
The remaining 34 percent fell into the ''low'' category.
The best predictor turned out to be education. Sixty-three percent of
college graduates - compared to only 20 percent of respondents with a
high-school education or less - fell into the ''high'' category.
Gender was also a significant factor: 45 percent of men answered 15 or
more questions accurately, while only 25 percent of women did.
There were also major differences among age groups. The so-called
baby-boom generation - those aged between 50 and 64 - were more than
three times more likely (47 percent compared to 15 percent) to score in
the ''high'' category than the youngest group, aged 18 to 29.
Those with annual incomes greater than 100,000 dollars were four times
more likely to score in the ''high'' range than those respondents with
annual incomes of less than 20,000 dollars, according to the report.
In addition, over 90 percent of respondents in the ''high'' category were
registered to vote compared with about half of the respondents in the ''low''
category.
The poll found that those respondents who use more news sources to obtain
their knowledge about the world knew more than those who use fewer
sources.
The respondents were asked if they regularly watched, read, or listened to
each of 16 different sources, including local television and newspapers,
network morning and evening news, cable stations, National Public Radio
(NPR), TV news, newspaper, and other internet blog or search-engine sites,
and specific news and talk radio and TV programmes.
Ninety-four percent said they regularly get news from at least one of the
sources. The average number of sources regularly used was between four and
five (4.6).
Local TV news was cited by 71 percent of respondents as one of their
regular sources of news, followed by their local daily newspaper (54
percent), network evening news (46 percent), the Fox News Channel (43
percent), Cable News Network (CNN- 39 percent), and network morning news
(34 percent).
Of those who scored in the ''high'' knowledge range, the most popular
sources of news were the Comedy Central news shows, the major newspaper
internet websites, public television evening news programme ('NewsHour
with Jim Lehrer'), the 'O'Reilly Factor' (a talk show on Fox News), NPR,
and Rush Limbaugh's right-wing talk-radio show.
All of these, however, have relatively small audiences. Twenty-eight
percent of respondents said they regularly listen to NPR; 17 percent, the
'O'Reilly Factor'; 16 percent cited the Comedy Central shows; 14 percent,
the 'NewsHour'; 12 percent, major newspaper websites; and eight percent,
Rush Limbaugh. Among college graduates, meanwhile, all six sources were
considerably more popular.
Ninety-three percent of respondents were able to correctly identify both
Senator Hillary Clinton and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger,
while nearly two-thirds could identify Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
and Senator Barack Obama.
Nearly half (49 percent) could identify the new Democratic speaker of the
House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, while only one in five identified
Pentagon chief Robert Gates and even fewer - a mere 15 percent - the new
Senate Majority Leader, Democrat Harry Reid.
Nearly nine in ten respondents knew that President George W. Bush intended
to increase troop levels in Iraq, and three out of four knew that the
Democrats hold a majority in the House and that Clinton is running for
president. Seven out of ten knew that more civilians have died in Iraq
than U.S. troops and that Washington is running a trade deficit with the
rest of the world.
(END)
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