If nothing else, opinions of the news media about Bill Clinton debunk the old notion of liberal bias. Clinton's job performance rating was lower among the press at the time of the survey than it was among the general public. Older newspeople disapproved of his performance much more often than younger journalists. But journalists from national news organizations of all ages have some second thoughts as to whether they have under-covered Clinton's achievements. As many as 48% think so, while 49% believe that the President's successes have been adequately aired. Media people who approve of Clinton's performance in office were much more inclined to think that the press has under-covered his achievements than those who disapprove. Two-thirds of approvers think Clinton's successes have received short shrift, while only one-third of disapprovers take that point of view.

No To Newt 's Charges Too

While the press is sympathetic to some criticisms of its coverage of the Clinton administration, it rejects out of hand Newt Gingrich's charges that it has been too cynical, too negative and nit picked too much in its coverage of the Congress. Fully 8 1 % of the sample of media people employed by national news organizations rejected this charge as did 74% of local media. There was much more agreement from media respondents that the press has not adequately covered the potential consequences of elements of the Contract with America. About half of both local and national media respondents took this view. The survey found that even a

majority of media people who described themselves as conservative thought that the Contract consequences had been given too little coverage.

In that regard, the poll found only a few more liberals among Journalists employed by national news organizations (22%) than in the general public (19%) or among the leadership groups sampled. However, there were decidedly fewer self-identified conservatives in the national media (5%) compared to the public (39%), talk show hosts (36%), business leaders (42%), local politicians (39%) or community leaders (35%). Media respondents more often described themselves as political moderates than did the other groups surveyed. Within the media, relatively more liberals were employed by national newspapers (26%), and more conservatives were employed in local TV (24%).

A Values Gap

The ideological differences between the media and the public are even more pronounced with regard to social and cultural values, and many in the media acknowledge the difficulty this creates for news organizations. Opinions on the issue of homosexuality illustrate the values gap between the media and the public. The public is divided as to whether homosexuality should be accepted (41%), or discouraged (53%), as are members of Congress, top business executives and local community leaders. But members of the national media feel it should be accepted by a 83% to 4% margin, and this view is almost as prevalent among the local media (75% to 14%).

Many in the national and local media (47% and 56%, respectively) agreed with the charge that the personal values of people in the news media make it difficult for them to understand and cover such things as religion and family values. Two-thirds of the public and majorities of each of the leadership groups concurred.