May 4th, 2006

Message From Michael
May 3, 2006

• SWEEPS – WEEK ONE


• MEDIA VERSUS THE GOVERNMENT


• SPORTS AND WEATHER VERSUS NEWS BIAS


• COCKTAIL CHATTER

• SWEEPS – WEEK ONE: One down, three to go. A reminder to diary markets, your friends at Nielsen often over-sample in the final two weeks in order to make up for under-sampling and low response rates in the first two weeks.


• MEDIA VERSUS THE GOVERNMENT: One out of every four people (28%) taking part in a worldwide survey say they have stopped using a media source because “it lost my trust.” In the United States it’s even higher – one out of three (32%). The survey of ten countries by polling company GlobeScan was released as part of the We Media Global Forum in London this week. The switch was particularly pronounced among young urban males who are switching more and more to the Internet for news. The survey sponsored by the BBC, Reuters and the Media Center also found that three out of four people (77%) prefer to check several news sources instead of relying on just one. This was especially true for Internet users. And, again, the United States was even higher with nearly nine out of ten (87%) saying they prefer to check several sources for news. Despite all this, most people (77%) describe themselves, as the British news release put it, as “keen news followers.” The figure was only slightly lower at 72% in the United States. Also, despite all this, the survey indicates that the media is trusted the same or more, when comparing the results from the last such survey in 2002 in the countries for which there is tracking data. But, and it’s a big BUT, more people trust the media than they do their own government… except in the United States… and Britain… and Germany. That may sound worse than it is because trust in the media was especially high, and trust in government especially low. in developing nations. The other countries in the survey were Nigeria, Egypt, Indonesia, India, Russia, South Korea and Brazil. Again, the U.S. had the highest disparity with 67% saying they trust the government and 59% saying they trust the media. Interestingly, Americans at 59% and Russians at58% express similar levels of trust in the media to “operate in the best interest of society.” In Russia, the percent expressing trust in the government was 54%.Some specific points about the U.S. in the report – Americans most important source of news is television (50%), newspapers (21%), Internet (14%) and radio (10%). When asked how much they trust different news sources, Americans give the highest ratings to local newspapers (81%, a lot or some trust), friends and family (76%), national television (75%), national/ regional newspapers (74%) and national public radio (73%). Additionally Americans stand out from citizens of other countries in several dimensions. Americans are the most critical of the news media’s reporting of all sides of a story with 69% disagreeing that the media do this. More people in the worldwide survey (65%) believe the news is reported accurately, but Americans are significantly more inclined to disagree that the media reports news accurately (46%) and more likely (68%) to believe the media covers too many ‘bad stories.’ On a related note, a different survey released in Britain shows that people are more likely to believe broadcast journalists than print journalists. The survey by opinion pollster Mori and reported by Reuters says though that journalists in general are not trusted. Only 16% of the adults surveyed expect journalists to tell the truth – 4 points behind politicians in the U.K. But 63% say “television news readers” can be trusted to tell the truth, behind scientists (70%), priests (73%), judges (76%), professors (77%), teachers (88%) and doctors (91%).On a related, related note, today (May 3rd) is World Press Freedom Day. The United Nations will presents its annual award to a Lebanese journalist maimed in a terrorist attack. Journalists in the U.S. will read aloud the 1,600 people who died on assignment over the past two centuries and will honor the 59 journalists killed in 2005.


• SPORTS AND WEATHER VERSUS NEWS BIAS: Your sports and weather reporting is more likely to be better balanced than your news reporting, according to an analysis by two University of Chicago professors. That wasn’t the main point of the report which examines media bias, but it’s one of the points. Matthew Gentzkow and Jesse M. Shapiro argue that news consumers are more likely to believe a news organization’s reporting if it confirms what they already think. That would explain the differences between Fox News, The New York Times and Al Jazeera’s reporting of the same event. Underlying the argument is the fact that people want accurate information and that media firms want to build a reputation for providing accurate information. But in a lot of news situations it’s hard to determine what is true and what is not. So the consumer will “infer that the source is of higher quality when its reports conform to the consumer’s prior expectations.” The controversial part of the report is the argument that media firms begin to slant their reporting to meet those expectations. The authors say though that the more competition the less likely the media bias, because there are other sources of information which will eventually indicate what the true situation is. Now, what does this have to do with weather and sports? The authors make the point that in both cases, the feedback is immediate. So the consumer knows whether it is true or not pretty quickly. They say sports reporters don’t favor the local team in predicting the outcome of a game because the consumer will soon know the result. For the same reason, there is little slanting found in stock reporting.


• COCKTAIL CHATTER: As a possible portent of things to come, Ford Motor Company is creating and producing its own reality show, called Concept in which contestants will work with designers to come up with a hot new concept car. Rum-maker Bacardi meanwhile is launching its own global radio station which will feature lifestyles associated with its brand of drink.From your friends at JibJab comes a new social networking site a la myspace and facebook. This one is called jokebox and as its name implies is based on jokes that people share. Two young British entrepreneurs have started a global tribe online (tribewanted.com) that will eventually transfer to an actual island in Fiji. For a set fee, you can either be a nomad, a hunter or a warrior, entitled to a stay on the island. Once they have 5,000 people signed up, the tribe will vote on a name, infrastructure and how to build an environmentally friendly village on the island of Vorovoro which the two re-named Adventure Island. And trend watching newsletter, Springwise, reports that a California man has developed a mobile drive-in theater. Dubbed MobMov, it is a movie system built into a car which projects movies on building walls at different locations. Students at Carnegie Mellon University have developed a video game called Peace Maker based on the Middle East conflict with a suicide bomber blowing up a bus in an Israeli city. The Associated Press reports that other ‘serious games’ being developed include Incident Commander in which users react to terrorist attacks, school hostage situations and natural disasters.


• FOOTNOTE: The weekly Message from Michael was on a brief hiatus for personal reasons, for those of you wondering. And I know that numbers in the thousands. Okay, maybe dozens. We will return to our regular schedule.


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