• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, November 1, 2004

Newspapers and local TV news are deemed by many on Madison Avenue to be old-school media options, but for consumers, they are still considered the most credible sources of news, especially in terms of Tuesday's presidential election. The leading broadcast and cable news networks, which appear to be the dominant sources of all forms of news - especially the political kind - by contrast are seen as highly biased by both consumers and Madison Avenue alike. Those are the conclusions of a series of consumer and trade surveys conducted last week by MediaPost and InsightExpress in the days leading up to the 2004 presidential election.

Nearly a third (30 percent) of 500 consumers polled online by InsightExpress on Friday consider newspapers and local TV news outlets to be the most "credible" sources of news. Cable news networks were cited by 24 percent of the respondents, followed by online news sites, which interestingly ranked ahead of the broadcast network's news coverage.

News magazines, news radio, talk radio and blogs suffered in comparison.

Which news media do you find most credible, in general?

Newspapers
30% 
Local TV News                 30% 
Cable News Networks           24% 
Online News Sites             21% 
Broadcast TV Network News     20% 
News Magazines                16%

News Radio                    13% 
Talk Radio                    13% 
Blogs (Web Logs)               4% 
Other                          9% 

Source: InsightExpress consumer panel base = 500 respondents. Conducted online the week before the election.

Among the major sources of network TV news, CNN's election coverage ranked as the most "balanced" and "unbiased" among members of MediaPost's advisory panel of media planners and buyers. Consumers, however, ranked Fox News Channel's coverage the most balanced, even though the network clearly positions itself as having a right-wing perspective.

But even that may the result of Madison Avenue. "It may be because of its advertising and it's slogan," explains Doug Adams, director of marketing at InsightExpress, referring to Fox News Channel's "We Report. You Decide" promotional theme.< p> CBS News, which has been plagued by questions concerning its objectivity, ranked the weakest among both consumers and industry executives.

Which will provide the most balanced, unbiased election coverage?

             Trade    Consumers 
ABC
7%           8% 
CBS             1%           4% 
NBC            17%          13% 
CNN            23%          16% 
MSNBC           6%           5% 
Fox News       14%          24%

PBS            22%          15% 
Other          10%          14% 

Source: MediaPost Advisory Panel base = 202 respondents. InsightExpress consumer panel base = 500 respondents. Conducted online the week before the election.

However, when InsightExpress probed deeper, asking both consumers and media executives to characterize the political tendencies of each of the major TV news outlets, PBS, CNN and NBC were deemed most "balanced."

How would you characterize each outlet's news coverage?

--Conservative--    ----Balanced----    ----Liberal---- 
          Trade   Consumer    Trade   Consumer    Trade   Consumer 
ABC         16%        15%      33%        28%      38%        36%

CBS         18%        13%      25%        22%      47%        36% 
NBC         11%        13%      43%        31%      35%        29% 
CNN         13%        16%      43%        31%
35%        27% 
MSNBC       17%        14%      37%        28%      30%        26% 
Fox News    70%        34%      14%        29%      10%        12%         
PBS          9%        11%
44%        34%      34%        23% 

Source: MediaPost Advisory Panel base = 202 respondents. InsightExpress consumer panel base = 500 respondents. Conducted online the week before the election.