Blogger news more believable for most Americans

A majority of Americans have more faith in bloggers as purveyors of news than traditional media which they say is out of touch with what the people want. A majority of 55 per cent in an online survey said bloggers are important to the future of American journalism and 74 per cent believe that "citizen journalism" will play a vital role in future.

Around 74 per cent opine that Internet has had a positive impact on overall quality of journalism and 53 per cent consider Internet-based media provide the greatest opportunity to the future of professional journalism.

The survey conducted by the media was released at a conference hosted by the School of Communications of Miami.

In the national survey of adults, 72 per cent said they were dissatisfied with the quality of American journalism today. Nearly nine out of 10 media insiders (86 per cent) said they believe bloggers will play an important part in journalism's future.

Dissatisfaction with today's news reportage is greater among those nationwide online respondents who identified themselves as conservative (88 per cent). They said they were unhappy with journalism, while 95 per cent of "very conservative" respondents said the quality of journalism today is not what it should be.

Among those respondents identifying themselves as liberal, 51 per cent said they are dissatisfied with the quality of journalism. Dissatisfaction levels were also highest among older respondents. About 78 per cent of those aged 65 and older said they are dissatisfied.

Most respondents (65 per cent) also said they believe traditional journalism is out of touch with what Americans want from their news, with the highest levels of dissatisfaction with traditional journalism among those age 70 and older, the very conservative (95 per cent), and libertarians (89 per cent).

Despite concerns about its quality, 72 per cent of those in the national survey said journalism is important to their community. More than 81 per cent said websites are important as a source of news, although television ranked nearly as high (78 per cent), followed by radio (73 per cent). Newspapers and magazines trailed with 69 considering newspapers and 38 magazines important.

While blogs were rated as important sources of news by 30 per cent of the online respondents, they were not considered as good a news source as the backyard fence with 39 per cent saying their friends and neighbours are an important source of information.

Bureau Report