PEW pole finds journalists worried profession on wrong path

Pew finds Journalists Worried
By Jennifer Saba
Published: May 24, 2004
Editors and Publishers

NEW YORK More than half of all national journalists (51%) and almost as many local journalists (46%) believe that their profession is off the mark and headed down the wrong path, according to a comprehensive study released today by The Pew Research Center, The Project for Excellence in Journalism and The Committee of Concerned Journalists. The study surveyed 547 national and local journalists from print, online and broadcast media.

Many journalists believe that increased financial pressure is "seriously hurting" the quality of news coverage -- 66% of national newspeople and 57% of local journalists see it this way. That percentage is climbing when compared to past surveys. In 1995, for example, 41% of national and 33% of local journalists expressed this view.

Not surprisingly, those national and local journalists -- about 75% -- who have witnessed newsroom cuts firsthand are among the most worried about the effects of bottom-line pressures, the study said.

In an essay accompanying the study, Bill Kovach of the Committee of Concerned Journalists, and Tom Rosenstiel and Amy Mitchell of the Project for Excellence in Journalism, state that journalists feel that "more than ever the economic behavior of their companies is eroding the quality of journalism. In particular, they think that business pressures are making the news they produce thinner and shallower. And they report more cases of advertisers and owners breaching the independence of the newsroom."

Still, opinions vary about the profession depending on position. Within national organizations, 57% of news executives think the profession is going the right way whereas only 39% of reporters think that's the case.

While many journalists are unhappy with what they perceive as a turn for the worse, the study found no evidence that the USA Today and The New York Times scandals had any impact on their views. "The number of journalists who cite 'ethics and standards' as the biggest problem facing journalism has not grown since 1999," the study said. "In fact, just 5% of national journalists and 6% of local journalists cite ethics or a lack of standards as the biggest problem in journalism, about half as many as in the 1999 survey." And it found that journalists think that plagiarism is no more rampant now than it was in the past.

That said, the study found that credibility was mentioned more than any other concern, and more so with print journalists. Thirty-nine percent of journalists working at national newspapers, magazines and wire services say credibility with the public is the biggest problem facing the industry -- versus 15% of national broadcast journalists. It's echoed at the local level too: 33% of print journalists versus 12% of broadcast journalists.

The concern over credibility swings wildly across age groups. Only 10% of those journalists under 35 think it's the biggest issue the profession is facing while 26% of those 35-54 think it's a concern, and 33% for those 55 and over.

Furthermore, the study said that a growing number of national journalists think that stories are "increasingly full of factual and sloppy reporting from 30% in 1995 to 40% in 1999 to 45% today."

And yet, national newspapers get the highest grade in terms of quality and depth of coverage. Ninety-two percent of national journalists and 80% of local journalists give national newspapers a thumbs up, handing out A and B grades. Major media Web sites also came out on top: 70% of national and 57% of local journalists doled out an A or B.

The decline in readership is not alarming to journalists. Only 15% of print journalists at both national and local levels say it's an important issue.

Nationally 76% of journalists and 77% of local journalists say that management has been addressing ethical issues in the newsroom -- about that same as they did in 1999.

Despite fears for the future, journalists as a whole are happy with leadership in their organizations. Nationally, 30% of journalists say their management is doing an excellent job and 41% say they are doing a good job, the study found. On the local level, 22% give their leaders an excellent rating and 47% give them a good rating.

But overall, things seem grimmer than five years ago. Kovach, Rosenstiel and Mitchell's essay ends on this note: "If five years ago we saw the seeds of change, today we see a trend toward fragmentation among all players involved -- journalists, executives and the public. Not only do they disagree on solutions, they seem further apart on identifying the problems."
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Jennifer Saba ([email protected]) is associate editor for E&P.