(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – If people in Canada, the United States and Britain were able to design their own nightly television newscast, they would devote the largest segment to local news, according to a poll by Angus Reid Strategies. Respondents in the three countries would allocate at least 20 per cent of the time to local stories.
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – If people in Canada, the United States and Britain were able to design their own nightly television newscast, they would devote the largest segment to local news, according to a poll by Angus Reid Strategies. Respondents in the three countries would allocate at least 20 per cent of the time to local stories.
Canadians would set aside 26.3 per cent of their ideal television newscast to cover local news. International news is next in the order of importance with 20.4 per cent, followed by sports news with 10.1 per cent, and business news with 8.9 per cent.
Americans would devote 23.5 per cent of their newscast to local stories, with international news in second place with 14.5 per cent. Health is third on the list of topics at 11.7 per cent, followed by business news with 10.7 per cent, and weather with 9.5 per cent.
Britons also prefer local news and international news—at 20.6 per cent and 18.7 per cent respectively—with health in third place at 11.2 per cent. Business news, arts and entertainment and science and technology are next on the list.
Earlier this month, former CBS news anchor Walter Cronkite passed away at the age of 92. Former acting Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman Michael Copps discussed Cronkite’s legacy, saying, "Walter had been speaking out for a number of years about excessive media consolidation and the declining resources that were going into journalism—particularly investigative journalism. [The U.S. is beginning] to grapple with the crisis in journalism that he saw coming long ago. We will best honour Walter Cronkite’s memory by tackling this issue with the urgency it deserves."
Polling Data
If you could design your own one-hour nightly television newscast, how much time would you devote to each of the following topics? Please allocate a percentage to each topic, so that the total is 100%.
|
CAN |
USA |
BRI |
|
|
Local news |
26.3% |
23.5% |
20.6% |
|
International news |
20.4% |
14.5% |
18.7% |
|
Sports news |
10.1% |
8.5% |
8.6% |
|
Business news |
8.9% |
10.7% |
9.7% |
|
Health |
8.6% |
11.7% |
11.2% |
|
Arts / Entertainment |
7.9% |
7.5% |
9.6% |
|
Science / Technology |
7.6% |
9.3% |
9.6% |
|
Weather |
6.7% |
9.5% |
6.5% |
|
Celebrity news |
3.5% |
4.9% |
5.5% |
Source: Angus Reid Strategies
Methodology: Online interviews with 1,007 Canadian adults, 1,000 American adults, and 1,887 British adults, conducted from Jul. 15 to Jul. 18, 2009. Margins of error range from 2.2 per cent to 3.1 per cent.
