Summary Judgments

Many of the problems that journalists see with the news media they attribute to television news, especially local television news. People in local television point their fingers at local newspapers. The national newspapers are well rated by both print and broadcast journalists, at all levels.

The public, however, likes local television news much better than network news, and somewhat better than newspapers. The political leaders and business executives surveyed were much more critical of network news than local news. To the extent it has a judgment about them, the public is more positive about national newspapers than about local papers. Leadership groups from Congress to local community leaders also have a better regard for national newspapers than for other types of news media, but they are not as harsh in their judgments about local television as are most journalists.

Journalists rate their own news organizations very highly. Working journalists are slightly more self critical than the higher-ups. But top people and those below them do differ very much on the consequences of bottom line financial pressures that have beset most news organizations in recent times. Publishers, top editors and their broadcast equivalents do not think that these pressures are hurting the quality of journalism, but pluralities of middle level print and broadcast journalists strongly disagree.

These concerns notwithstanding, journalists at all levels thought their own news organizations were doing a good job in dealing with the problems that most arouse the press's critics. However, significant percentages of media respondents thought their own organization could do a better job of covering complex stories and of adequately covering the positive developments.