Consumers think journalists do poor job as watchdog

An interesting study by Gallup is just out showing that people still value journalism's watchdog role and reporters who explain to them things government does that are important.

It's just that they don't feel they're getting it from the news media.

The study shows that one of every four Americans surveyed thought the news media do a poor job of being good watchdogs during President Obama's first year. Only 34 percent -- one of every three Americans -- thought the media are doing a good or excellent job.

The study was funded by the non-partisan First Amendment Center. Republicans were more critical of the media than are Democrats, the study found. Thirty-nine percent thought the watchdog role was being handled poorly. That their pick isn't in the White House may reflect, in part, why the media got poor marks overall but does not tell the whole story.

For one, studies from reputable places like the Pew Charitable Trust have concluded that Obama got a bigger break during his first 100 days than the previous two presidents, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

But a bigger part of the problem with watchdog journalism, especially when you get beyond coverage of the White House, is that newsroom staffs, including the one The Gazette relies upon,  have been cut in recent years. This is a reaction to adjusting to changing times in the news and information industry.

We continue at our news operation to take the watchdog seriously and pursue news of local interest. But fewer people are doing it at our shop. Less gets covered, so we zero in on the things we think we think people want to know about the most.

Meanwhile, citizens armed with curiosity and access to mass media by way of the Internet, have opened up for consumers many more avenues for news and information than ever existed before. In this situation, the community has more control over the messages it receives, and that is a good thing.

The big issue we deal with as consumers when it comes to this news distributed by the community remains credibility. Many blogs and Web sites have established it. But whose interest really is the primary concern when you get loads of information from popular sites like NFL.com, or political sites like those run by the Republican and Democratic parties in Iowa?

Interestingly, as we talk about new media and a new way of getting information, our biological default mechanism always seems to aim back at what had been considered traditional media: newspapers and television news.

Thus, the scrutiny measured in the Gallup poll.

If you want to know what Gazette Communications is up to in order to shake up those old traditions, check out the blog by Chuck Peters, Gazette Communications' CEO. He lays out changes we are

trying to accomplish at our company.