Keeping some Demons Down

Here's an article just begging to be knocked down. "Why I don't trust readers" at Slate, whole thing is here.

According to a Pew survey in the States, the percentage of respondents saying 'they believe most of what they read in their daily newspaper' has dropped from 84 percent in 1985 to 54 percent in 2004. However, 88 percent gave their "daily paper" a favourable rating in 1984 and 80 percent did this year, 2005.

The author of the article says scathingly:

"Your average reader is not to be trusted because he just doesn't know his own mind."

"The average reader can't keep a consistent thought in his head for two minutes."

All because he can't interpret the data in the wider context of media usage and market research methodology.

US newspaper readership is declining. The decline is so significant that many city newspapers are distributing tens of thousands of copies for free, in order to have the right readership statistics to maintain their advertisement prices.

Believing what you read in your local paper and feeling favourably towards it are two different concepts. You can "favour" a publication that keeps you informed about local sports teams (and they can't lie about that!) and provides you with a good entertainment guide and advertising sales alerts, while discounting the "news" that bulks it out.

The author cites a study and it's worth quoting from his article so you can see the holes in the argument too:

"A 2005 Annenberg Public Policy Center survey reveals that the majority of the public can't possibly hold the Blair affair against journalism for the simple reason that his perfidy - the most widely publicized of all journalistic scandals in the last decade- is largely unknown to them....only 31 percent of respondents were familiar with the Blair episode."

You can see the problems with this right? "Majority of the public" - isn't it more important to research lapsed newspaper readers' awareness? particularly NYT readers?

"Only 31 percent" is extremely high awareness for a media story that is over a year old and didn't involve a Hollywood celebrity. Furthermore, that's recalled awareness and one of the interesting aspects of new thinking in neuroscience is knowledge is stored for decision making purposes whether it can be explicitly recalled or not.

All news is entertainment, the truth about what goes on rarely becomes available in a timely fashion. That's why I'm fascinated by blogs. The best ones are written by interesting characters giving their opinions on what they are experiencing, right now, this moment. Like a letter from a good friend rather than a blinkered employee who doesn't have the freedom to tell you what they know.