When it comes to the news, Americans say they’re tired of so much attention on celebrity gossip and scandal stories … but are they really?
Experience has shown that healthy foods on the menu at fast food establishments test well in consumer attitudinal surveys — only to bomb big time when actually introduced.
It seems as though many people answer the way they think they’re “supposed” to respond, even though they’ll never actually opt for the apple slices in lieu of the order of fries.
I wonder if the same dynamics are at work in a recent Harris Poll, which queried ~2,500 Americans age 18 or over about their preferences for news topics. The online survey was conducted in August 2014, with the results released this past week.
For starters, three-fourths of the respondents felt that celebrity gossip and scandal stories receive too much coverage.
Indeed, many believe that entertainment news in general receives too much attention in the news:
- Celebrity gossip and scandal stories: ~76% claim too much attention is paid in the news
- Entertainment news in general: ~49%
- Professional spectator sports: ~44%
- Politics and elections: ~33%
And which topics do people feel aren’t covered sufficiently in the news? It’s everything that’s “good for you”:
- Education topics: ~47% believe too little attention is paid in the news
- Local/national humanitarian issues: ~47%
- Science topics: ~45%
- Government corruption and scandals: ~44%
- Corporate corruption and white collar crime: ~42%
- Global humanitarian issues: ~33%
- Health topics: ~30%
I suspect that the “actual reality” is different from how the survey participants responded. If news organizations weren’t seeing keen interest generated by their celebrity, entertainment and sports stories, they would stop producing them. Simple as that.
You can view more findings from the Harris survey, including data tabulations, here. Among the interesting findings is the degree of trust people have for various different news media: network TV news, local TV news, local newspapers, national newspapers, online news sources.
Hint: trust levels are nearly where they should be …
What are your thoughts about news topics? Which ones are getting proper coverage versus too much? Please share your observations with other readers here.
