News-Record.com

For those of you interested in public perceptions of the news business, here's a survey that is chock-full of information that, unlike some polls, just feels right. Conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, it takes a look at newspapers, local TV news, network news, cable news and Internet news, including blogs. It reviews political polarization, anonymous sources and media bias.

There's even some good news for newspapers in it, which is a rarity in these sorts of samplings.

Excerpts:

This is not the first time a Pew Research Center survey has shown the public to be broadly critical of the press, yet still favorable in its overall view of news organizations themselves. In fact, the public has long been two-minded in its views of the news media ­ faulting the press in a variety of ways, while still valuing the news and appreciating the product of news outlets.

Ain't that the truth?

Those who have a favorable view of newspapers also praise them for their local quality. But people most often cited various aspects to their content ­ sports scores, classifieds, community features, etc. Several respondents specifically cited the editorial pages as something that they liked about their newspaper, and others also cited a perceived lack of political bias in the paper.

The emphasis is mine.

Visitors to newspaper websites are starkly different from print newspaper readers in terms of their demographics, but not their politics. In addition to being much younger than readers of printed newspapers, the online newspaper audience is mostly male, wealthy, and highly educated. Nearly half of web-newspaper readers have college degrees, compared with 27% of those who rely on print, and one-in-five have household incomes of over $100,000.

That does suggest that we could do some online audience-building, doesn't it?

While there are deep differences about the press's power and performance, most Americans agree that news organizations, when deciding what stories to report, care more about attracting the biggest audience rather than about keeping the public informed.

Who'd thought that the county commissioners' pay raise, a piece on ministers' wives, a tax on movie tickets and the Triad's charitable giving would be such audience builders? And we thought they were public service articles.