DO VIEWERS BELIEVE

THEY RECEIVE

ACCURATE

INFORMATION FROM

CONVENTIONAL NEWS?

Christina Hebert

I used…

A survey in order to obtain a great deal of

information from a large group of people in a

timely fashion. My survey was conducted via internet, distributed through

facebook.com

I also used interviews afterwards to help point

out flaws in my research as well as get advice

of what to do differently next time. Interviews were done in person, 5 selected interviewee’s.

Survey

There are two basic types of survey’s:

The descriptive survey, describes the population being studied. Focusing on

demographic factors, such as; age, gender, marital status, occupation, race, etc. (pg. 222)

The analytical survey, looks to find out why people act the way they do. (pg. 223)

Interview

There are four basic types of interviews: Informal interviews, are generally conversations used to gain

confidence between interviewee and interviewer. There are not organized and are fairly laid back.

Unstructured interviews, are focused on obtaining information from the interviewee and are have little control from the interviewer.

Semistructured interview, the interviewer is generally organized, prepared with a written list of questions to ask the participant. These interviews remain casual but are more organized than

unstructured.

Structured interview, there is usually a set schedule involved with these interviews. Guidelines to cover, specific times, questions and

instructions (Pgs. 136-137).

Why I chose these methods…

Survey. A survey was the easiest way to obtain

the information I needed from a large group of

people. It was also the easiest method to

generate a forum for and send out via

facebook.com. I chose this social networking

site because it was easy to send to all my

‘friends’ and get quick responses back.

Interview. Interview’s were the easiest way to

receive feedback from survey takers.

Research Topic

I am interested in finding out how viewers

perceive conventional news. Focusing on if

they believe the news delivered to them is

accurate or if important factors are being

withheld.

What viewer’s think about conventional news

“Social media can be

used to get us

closer to the truth

and they can be

used to distort. They

can be used to

enlighten. They can

be used to stupefy.”

-Deverpost

“Closer to the truth”,

is the important

phrase to look at!

Right, or first to

report. What is more

important?

“I think it’s more likely

that news organizations

have always wanted to

be first and right, but

given the choice, first

wins out”.

-.Jeremy Porter,

Journalistics.

On Fanpop.com viewers were

asked what news is most

accurate…

“The BBC new is the best. “ –

mimilovefoc

“BBC news is unbiased; quality

newspapers are slightly biased

but allow you to make up your

own mind. So it really depends

on where I hear it. “ –Tweenacat

“News stations (Like BBC I

agree) tend to try hard to be

unbiased” –Cinders

BBC won hands down, Fox

news was least favorable.

Big Brands are smart enough to

stay away from social media

Here are some

examples why:

It does not fit into

current structures.

Communities and

content are global.

No guaranteed results.

Social media needs a

long term approach.

-Tom Smith,Mashable Business.

Example of big name company

getting involved with media, without

researching these factors.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B

mykFKjNpdY&feature=player_emb

edded

‘Motrin’ received backlash from

parents, disliking their objective to

portray children as fashion

symbols. If they would have done

research they would have

recognized this was a bad idea.

How do big name companies play into media and how public portrays it?

Survey Questions

1. Demographics of participant. (Age, gender)

2. What is your favorite source of news,

television, radio, newspaper?

3. Do you trust the news that is being delivered

to you?

4. Which news station do you think is most

accurate?

5. On a scale of 1-10 how accurate do you

think conventional news is?

Survey Questions Continued…

6. Have you found falsehood with information

delivered from ‘your favorite’ news source?

7. When do you believe news is most accurate

to the general public? (options: 1950’s, 1980’s,

2000, 2010, current)

8. Does media withhold certain details from

all?

9. Media is unbiased and truthful 100%

10. We as the general public trust all news

being delivered to us via television, radio,

newspaper etc.

HYPOTHESIS for results

2. I expect the results for question 2 would be

most people in favor of television.

3. I expect most people would be neutral to

the question.

4. I expect BBC would be most favorable

because of the research I did previously.

5. I expect 5 or 6.

6. I expect no.

7. I expect 1980s for the most accuracy in

media.

HYPOTHESIS continued…

8. I expect participants would think media

withholds information from all.

9. I expect participants would think It was false

that media is 100% unbiased and truthful.

10. I expect participants would think it is false

to trust all media delivered to us regardless of

its form.

Survey details

I sent my survey out to all of my facebook friends, in

hopes of receiving as many responses as possible. I

received 162 responses.

Survey results

1. Demographics.

Age

18-29=42%

30-39=31%

40-49=19%

50+=8%

Gender

Female=31%

Male=69%

Survey results

2. What is your favorite source of news,

television, radio, newspaper, internet?

Television=42%

Radio=19%

Newspaper=23%

Internet=12%

All of the above=4%

Survey results

3. Do you trust the news that is being delivered

to you?

Yes=29%

No=64%

Neutral=7%

Survey results

4. Which news station do you think is most

accurate?

BBC=12%

Fox News=39%

CNN=41%

ABC News=8%

Survey results

5. On a scale of 1-10

how accurate do you

think conventional news

is?

1=2%

2=7%

3=1%

4=29%

5=13%

6=22%

7=17%

8=3%

9=4%

10=2%

Survey results

6. Have you found falsehood with information

delivered from ‘your favorite’ news source?

Yes=25%

No=68%

N/A=7%

Survey results

7. When do you believe news is most accurate

to the general public?

1950s=37%

1980s=19%

2000=21%

2010=13%

Current=10%

Survey results

8. Does media withhold certain details from

all?

No=22%

Yes=53%

Certain people=18%

N/A=7%

Survey results

9. Media is unbiased and truthful 100%

Yes=4%

No=86%

N/A=10%

Survey results

10.We as the general public trust all news

being delivered to us via television, radio,

newspaper etc.

Yes=11%

No=87%

N/A=2%

How did my results coincide

with my HYPOTHESIS 2. I was correct saying that most

participants would be in favor of

television overall.

3. I was incorrect for my hypothesis on

question 3. People said they do not trust

news that is being delivered to them. I

expected ‘neutral’ as the top pick and it

was actually least favorable.

4. I was incorrect with my prediction for

question 4. CNN won and Fox News was

runner up.

5. I was incorrect with my prediction for

question 5. Out of 1-10, 4 was the most

popular choice. Lower than what I had

predicted.

6. I was correct for question 6. I expected

participants believed a majority of the

news from their favorable source, finding

no flaws.

7. I was incorrect for question 7. I expected

participants would believe media was

most accurate during the 1980s, however

the 1950s won.

8. I was correct for question 8. I expected

most people would think the media

withholds information from all.

9. I was correct with my prediction for

question 9. I expected people would

choose that the media is not 100%

truthful.

10. I was correct for question 10. I expected

that participants would say they do not

trust all news that is being delivered.

ERRORS IN SURVEY

Questions 3 and 10 are very similar; question

10 is a little more specific. However I wish I

would have created different questions to

gather more results.

Question 8, I listed ‘No’ as an option before

‘Yes’, because I wanted to switch up the flow

and see if this effected any results. Generally

the ‘yes’ comes before. I believe this was not

the best time to test this theory when trying to

receive accurate results.

ERRORS IN SURVEY

I also believe more questions were more

weighted towards the negative side. I do not

think the survey was 100% balanced like I had

planned.

Interviews

After receiving all of my information from the survey’s I

wanted to see what participants thought of the

questions asked, and what their thoughts were, here

are some points of view…5 people were interviewed.

Four out of five participants said that No and Yes being

placed differently in order for different questions

messed them up.

2 participants said the survey questions leaned more

towards influencing its participants to believe media is

untrustworthy. The other 3 said it was ‘about fair’.

Interviews

Interview participants that took the survey said

they liked that in question 6 I said, ““your

favorite” news source”. Because most tend to

believe the news they hear from their preferred

source and not trust rival news.

5 out of 5 did not like question 9, because they

said ‘no one believes 100% everything they

hear from the media.’ (Denissa Laflemme)

Conclusion My study tells me that viewers believe at least

half the information they receive from

conventional news. Results show most viewers are in the middle of the scale or more

towards the lower side of believing.

Also my study shows that most viewers believe

the news that is being delivered to them as long

as it’s from their preferred source. After conducting interviews and asking follow-up questions, I

learned this is because viewers develop a relationship with these

sources, and trust their insight and devotion.

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<http://blog.journalistics.com/2009/does-news-accuracy-matter/>.

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Interview with Denissa LaFlemme, 229 Broad St, Auburn, Me. 4/8/12

Interview with Hilary Boulier, 114 Vine St, Auburn, Me. 4/15/12

Interview with Albert Toth, 115 Cotton Rd, Lewiston, Me. 4/8/12

Interview with Amber Cox, 229 Broad St, Auburn, Me. 4/20/12

Interview with Ralph Berabue, 45 Maxwell Rd, Litchfield, Me. 4/20/12

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