"Do most stations do a good job of respecting the audience, listening to viewer concerns and presenting the news in a way which doesn't under estimate their intelligence, or is this an area where they need to improve?"



Over 25% of all viewers complain about this issue, and two-thirds of them feel strongly about it (particularly men, 18-24s, 35-49s, and minorities).



What Viewers Really Say about Being Patronized

Many viewers feel patronized by their local newscasts, saying the media "talks down" to them — implying that they need to be spoon-fed. It's as if some stations feel they know more about what viewers want than the viewers themselves. Viewers say that when stations hold back on in-depth reporting, attempt to educate rather than inform, repeat the same stories and the same information over and over, and spend so much time explaining the obvious, it's obvious just how much they're underestimating the intelligence of their viewers. Many say it's as if stations think they're reading the news to children.

Viewers also say stations show disrespect when they report the news in a biased manner, when viewpoints of other races/cultures are not taken into account, when coverage is limited to big cities, when there's too much sensationalism, when promos try to manipulate them, when there's too much reliance on visuals to tell a story, when there's not enough relevant content, and when there are too many negative stories. "Respect" also means not invading the privacy of people in the news, especially victims' families.

Viewers often believe these stations are more interested in the ratings — paying more attention to what the competition is doing — than on actually giving viewers what they really want to see. Again, listening to the actual viewer comments dispels any notion than this is nothing more than "socially acceptable response:"

The News is Oversimplified — "The audience out there IS well-informed, and oftentimes much more than the media...We're not stupid, we're educated people, and we're watching the news because we're interested in the news...They talk to people like they're dummies...A lot of `em try to create the story like they're talkin' to five-year old kids, which sometimes they are...A lot of stations simplify. Don't insult my intelligence by YOU deciding what I need to see or hear. Give it to me, and then I decide...There are issues that, as a viewer, I can discuss or analyze by getting information without someone simplifying. A lot of newscasts seem to feel their viewers are too unintelligent to hear certain issues...They talk to you like two-year olds...It's like they're talkin' to little kids...Most people who watch news aren't three-year olds, they're working class adults in a middle-class society...The way they present the news, it's almost like we're still in school...I'm looking for them to inform me, not educate me...People can put two and two together...The local newscasts imitate each other, and try to appeal to the average citizen or the lowest common denominator. Because if they appeal to the intelligent or well-read citizen, they think they'll lose 50% of their viewing base...When I started watching news in this area, I thought it was very juvenile. Most of it was really not news...For example [if they're talking about] a safety thing in the home, they're [often] talking about something VERY basic that anybody with ANY common sense would know, and they act like they're really telling you something...They feed you the news like you're an idiot...Pretty much the whole media thinks the American public is stupid, and I resent that...They seem to think people don't understand what they're talking about... They can not report the news to us without spending three times as much time giving us an analysis as to WHY this is. I have sufficient intelligence to make up my own mind. I don't need someone to explain to me WHY this is happening or WHY I should think this way...I don't need some TV person explaining to me what I've heard someone say...We can judge for ourselves...I think they just pick out what they want to feed us, and just assume we're not smart enough to figure it out for ourselves. I just wish they'd report the news straight without any commentary."

Stations Talk Down to You — "They're a put-down. They [think] they're so much better than everybody else because they're makin' millions of dollars a year...I don't mean to sound like I'm an Einstein, but I feel like I'm being talked down to frequently by the people on the news broadcasts. They don't take my intelligence into account...They have a know-it-all attitude...They seem to think our opinions out here are worthless. Only the opinions of the media and the elite seem to be of any value to them. If you're different than their opinion, then you're totally wrong. I think we out here in the general public have a good degree of understanding and intelligence of a situation...A lot of times in their local interviews, the newscasters tend to be above the person they're talking to. And a lot of times, the people are more intelligent than the newscaster will EVER be on the subject they're dealing with. They tend to talk down to `em...Sometimes they tell you something that's pretty obvious. You wouldn't have to be that bright to figure it out."

Stations' Choice of Material Is Way Off Base — "They put on what they want and not necessarily what anybody else wants to hear...Just put out the truth instead of what they think people wanna hear...They don't inform them the whole [story], they pick and choose what they think people want to hear...They tend to cover what they feel is general interest. It's not always what's happening NOW in the area...They don't listen. They show what they want..The media has a tendency of feeding us what they want us to know instead of givin' us the information. They treat us like a bunch of idiots...They put on what they wanna put on, not what the audience really wants to hear. We'd like to know more about the community than worldwide."

Stations Slant the News — "I know I don't get all the news that's really out there. The news is slanted...You'll hear different takes on the same story from liberals and conservatives. That's why when I DO watch the news, I try to watch several different versions of the days' events, because I know if I don't, I'm never going to get the true story...They try to force their propaganda down the throat of society instead of giving them the basic truth of what really happened. I don't need to hear the extra speculation of what they think might've happened, or how they think they could solve it...On a lot of news spots, they tell you what their opinions are of it like nobody else has got an opinion on it...They're tryin' to tell us how to think. Just lay the facts out there and let us decide...The news lets people see or hear what they want `em to hear. If they're interviewing a person, they cut the people off sometimes. They put the part they want on there. Maybe if they put the whole thing on there, people would look at the opinion differently. I know there's only a certain amount of time, but they get to choose what they want on there, and what they left out may be valuable to some other person...They seem to talk to the same age and the same groups of people, and all the rest of us are left out. The newscasts seem to be based mostly on the white male [point of view]."

Stations Don't Offer Enough Depth — "Nothing has any depth to it...There are too many news bites where they don't give enough substance about the issues they're talking about...There's no analysis...I don't think there's very in-depth coverage of things. Everything is pretty basic. Things they should talk about in-depth, they don't...It's reporting superficial things."

Stations Resort to Tabloid Tactics — "They should report the news, not try to make [the news]...They make things bigger than they really are. I think the media causes trouble a lot of times. Like if the KKK comes, they say `I WONDER what's going to happen?'"

Stations Invade People's Privacy — "Sometimes they invade the privacy of others; they should think of others before they report. I understand the first amendment and everything, but they should respect people...Have some compassion for local people that were murdered, etc...I feel sometimes people's privacy is disrupted by the way they represent things...For example, they'll say `the person at 4683 so-and-so street died in a fire, but we're withholding the name.' Well, you know who it is because they gave the address."

Stations Aren't Listening to What Viewers Really Want — "If they would listen to the people, we wouldn't have so much of the news repeated...How can you do something if you don't know what they're telling you? You've got to listen first, don't you?...They're not paying attention to what people want...We're the ones watching, and there's certain things we wanna see and hear...A lot of decisions are made by ratings and not really what the people like. I've found the ratings are usually off. I don't know where they get their ratings, but I don't think they represent the true population."

Stations Think Uneducated People Are Stupid — "Even uneducated viewers have morals and beliefs...Even if you're not educated, you still have common sense...Just because we don't have a lot of money or a college education, they think we're not as smart or as intelligent as them. [But] just having the basic knowledge of everyday life and coping with life, sometimes we're smarter than them because we deal with daily problems."

Stations Think Viewers Just Want Negative News — "There's a lot of crime, vulgarity and violence, and very few positive images...I know they have a tendency to put on what they think people wanna hear. They wanna find the worst story to air, and you don't wanna hear that! You wanna hear the better things sometimes."

Stations Don't Offer Enough Relevant News — "I'd rather learn about things that are relevant to my life vs. a cartoon. [The things they report] are relevant to a police officer, but not to me...Some of the stuff they report on [doesn't] make any difference...We're the ones that need to know the news. If the news is stuff I don't need to hear, I'm gonna go to a different station. [It needs to be] stuff I'm interested in and that I need to know in my everyday life."

Other — "Every night, I don't like the news. They say `Is it gonna rain tomorrow? Stand by, we're gonna tell you at 11.' I'm sorry, I'm a working man, I'm in bed at 11:00...They portray stuff in a demeaning way for races other than Caucasian...Without us, there would be no them. Without viewers, there would be no news...I watch a lot of local television, and it seems as though they rely more on visual than they do on the audience's own creativity. They can TELL us the news, they don't have to show it to us all the time."