Washington, May 26: Journalists have a very low self-esteem, this surprising result was produced by a survey conducted by the US-based Pew Research Centre and the Project for Excellence in Journalism. The survery reported several interesting points concerning the fourth estate. It said that scribes are growing more concerned that bottom-line financial pressures are "seriously hurting" the quality of news coverage. Two-thirds of national media staffers and fifty seven per cent of the locals believe that profit pressures are seriously hurting news coverage. Nearly half of national journalists said the press is too timid. An equal number of respondents said the media have not been tough enough on US President George W Bush. Nearly half said reporting is increasingly sloppy and filled with errors. Almost half said journalists often let their ideological views colour their work. Almost two-thirds said there are too many cable talk shows. Fiftyseven percent of the media executives polled claimed that the profession is headed in the right direction. Meanwhile, fifty four per cent of reporters said things are on the wrong track. "The bottom line," said Pew Director Andrew Kohut, "is that the press is an unhappy lot. They don't feel good about the profession in many ways."