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WASHINGTON, May 9, 2006 (UPI via COMTEX) -- Seventy percent of daily U.S. newspaper editors and reporters say factors beyond their control caused public confidence in news media to drop, a survey says.
At the same time, half of the 527 randomly selected journalists surveyed by Northwestern University say they have seen unethical or unprofessional behavior in their newsroom during the past five years.
"Many journalists believe that the recent sins of other newspapers and media taint their own newspapers and contribute to the public's diminished confidence in newspapers generally," said Mary Ellen Shearer, co-author and assistant dean of the Medill School of Journalism.
Journalists surveyed at 218 daily newspapers blamed eroding public trust on national media cases of plagiarism, missteps in TV and online reporting, politician criticism, poor editing of stories and sources who provided false information.
Nearly one-third of the respondents said a source had misled them during the past year.
The survey was released Tuesday at a National Press Club meeting in Washington.
URL: www.upi.com Copyright 2006 by United Press International
