media survey

I was one of a random sample of journalists selected to take a survey by the Annenberg Foundation’s Commission on the Press, which I did yesterday by web poll. (They called to remind me that I hadn’t taken it, so it seems to be serious). There’s obvious limits as to how insightful any multiple-choice survery can be, but there were some good questions.

E.g., “For each of the following individuals, please indicate how close, if at all, the person comes to your idea of what a journalist is.” The individuals were Larry King, James Guckert AKA Jeff Gannon, Brian Williams, Mike Wallace, Katie Couric and Chris Matthews. You could answer “very close,” “somewhat close,” not to close” or “not at all close.” (me: “very close” for all except Guckert (“not at all”) and Williams (“somewhat”). Although after reading Williams’ bio, I’m very hard-pressed to justify that answer).

Next question: “Now thinking about the public, how easy is it for the public to distinguish between those who are journalists and those who are not journalists? (My answer: “Not too easy”) “How important is it that the public is able to make this distinction?” (“very important”)

“Do you think it is a good thing or a bad thing for the American people if some news organizations have a decidely political point of view in their coverage of the news? (“somewhat bad”)

“Here are some reasons various people have given for why the people at CBS News and Dan Rather ran the [Killian memo] story about Bush. For each, please indicate whehter you think it was a major reason, a minor reason, or not a reason at all for why CBS News and Dan Rather ran the story?

“CBS News and Dan Rather were lied to by their sources … CBS News and Dan Rather believed the story was accurate and provided new information about the controversy surrounding Bush’s service in the National Guard … CBS News and Dan Rather are liberals who dislike President Bush … CBS News and Dan Rather were in too much of a rush because they were worried other news organizations would get the story first.” (My answer was “major” for all except the liberal question, for which I said “minor”).

Anyway, I’ll be curious to read the results of the survey when it comes out.