A Gallup poll finds confidence in U.S. newspapers and television news continues to be weak, notes Grumpy Editor.
Confidence in newspapers slips to 23 percent in the survey earlier this month, not quite touching the 22 percent level, the low point reached in 2007, and is less than half the high of 51 percent in 1979.
TV news clicks up a bit to 23 percent from its low point of 21 percent last year. But that’s far below confidence at 46 percent reached in 1993.
What’s going on?
Gallup points out “newspapers and television news had been struggling for years to figure out how to adjust their strategy for a growing Internet audience.”
It adds growth of social networking sites, including Twitter and Facebook caused “news outlets and journalists to work to find their place on them.”
Gallup notes, “Social sites and the Internet in general, as well as the 24/7 television news cycle, have challenged traditional media outlets and brought new ones to the fore, creating an increasingly complex --- and sometimes messy --- news environment.
“While individual news consumers have better access to news and to journalists than ever before, the struggles of the news industry seem to be affecting Americans' confidence in it.”
Cheetos munchers get ‘thanks for participating’
Is Frito-Lay Inc., Plano, Texas, using a marketing gimmick to gather personal information on Cheetos munchers?
Frontsides of the orange corn meal snack package now on grocers shelves proclaim: “You could WIN a one-in-a-minion family adventure to Universal Orlando.” Details on the backsides.
There, a crunchy muncher sees how to “enter for a chance to WIN the ultimate VIP family trip to Universal Orlando Resort…or thousands of movie tickets to go see Despicable Me 2 in theaters.”
Munchers are instructed to go to a website, enter a nine digit code on the package and “see if you’ve won movie tickets or a family trip to Universal Orlando Resort.”
The Frito-Lay buyer enters his/her age and e-mail address.
But for a muncher there’s no word on winning the Florida trip or even movie tickets, despite capital letters on the packaging promising “SEE IF YOU’VE WON.”
In the Frito-Lay info-gathering process, all one gets is:
“YOU'RE ENTERED FOR A CHANCE TO WIN A ONE-ON-A-MINION ADVENTURE. FOR YOU AND YOUR FAMILY!
“THANKS FOR PARTICIPATING."
In case you missed these…
With President Barack Obama’s speech tomorrow focusing on climate change, and curbing coal-fired power plants, look for looming higher power bills if abundant coal is destined for abandonment as low-cost fuel --- something most media are reluctant to spell out to budget-squeezed readers/viewers…Not touched on in the scant print/broadcast coverage of last week’s Tea Party Patriots-organized “Audit the IRS” rally at the U.S. Capitol: In a vocal three-word message aimed at U.S. media, thousands chanted “do your job,” relating to covering IRS scandals targeting conservative groups along with the agency’s upcoming controversial role with ObamaCare.
Imagine the TV sports audience for this: Fox Sports dusts off seven-month old high school football footage (a replay from a Pac-5 game between Southern California’s Santa Margarita Eagles vs. El Toro Chargers) rather than a live makeup baseball game between the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers Wednesday following the previous night’s rainout of their New York City game slated for Fox Sports coverage.
Newspaper happenings: Ad Age reports Pittsburgh is the best city for a print newspaper, with 51 percent of people surveyed saying they read the paper at least once a day…The Boston Globe will print the full press run of the Boston Herald starting July 1. ..The weekly Flathead Beacon, Kalispell, Mont., won top honors among the state’s weekly and small daily newspapers in the Montana Newspaper Association’s Better Newspaper Contest…London-based Daily Mail cycled a hefty 128,599,300 unique visitors through its website last month…The Fauquier Times-Democrat, Warrenton, Va., says it is removing Democrat from its title, making it simply Fauquier Times, because "Democrat" in its name in such partisan political times "is no longer a very astute business decision."
Television doings: Glenn Beck’s Mercury Radio Arts goes from renting to purchasing the 72,000-square-foot Irving, Texas studios serving as headquarters for its TV and radio productions…New on Saturdays and Sundays starting Sept. 7 from WNET, New York City: "PBS News Hour Weekend.” Despite the title, it’ll be a half hour report…Howard Kurtz moves from CNN to Fox News starting July 1 where he will anchor a new version of Fox News Watch on Saturdays and also serve as an on-air analyst during the week and write a column for FoxNews.com…Dan Abrams, previously an anchor, legal analyst and general manager of MSNBC, is joining ABC’s Nightline as an anchor and chief legal affairs anchor.
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