Midwest Flooding Rivets News Consumers p.

By: Debra Gersh

COVERAGE OF THE Midwest floods has captured the close attention of more Americans than any other news story so far this year.
Sixty-five percent of those surveyed said they very closely followed news of the flooding, with another 27% reporting they watched the story fairly closely, according to the latest Times Mirror News Interest Index.
Responses to the August 1993 poll from the Times Mirror Center for the People & the Press, Washington, D.C., place news of the flooding as the eighth most-closely watched story since the survey began in 1986.
Although 8% of respondents said there was too much coverage, most thought the press did an excellent (38%) or good (44%) job reporting the flood.
The president's decision to ease the ban on homosexuals in the military was watched by 81% of those surveyed, who said they very closely (44%) or fairly closely (37%) followed that news.
Ironically, although that was the second most closely followed story, nearly a quarter of those surveyed (24%) said it received too much coverage.
No other story discussed in the August report garnered more than an 8% response to the question of too much coverage, although 46% responded they could not say.
Respondents generally were pleased with coverage of the lifting of the military's ban on homosexuals, however, with 18% saying the press did an excellent job covering the story, and 42% rating coverage good.
Interest in reports about the U.S. economy inched up from the last survey, as 41% in August said they very closely followed this news, compared with 37% who answered similarly in May.
The press did not fare as well in assessments of coverage of the economy, however, as only 8% said coverage was excellent, 38% rated it as good, 35% said it was only fair and 18% called it poor. The remaining 1% responded "don't know."
During the survey period, July 29 to Aug. 1, less than one-third (30%) of respondents very closely followed news of the debate in Congress over the proposed budget. Nevertheless, that was more than double the 12% who very closely followed the budget debate.
While just over a quarter of those surveyed (27%) very closely followed the news of the White House task force on health care reform, interest there has shown little change from the 28% who very closely followed the story in June or the 30% who said the same in May.
Both the news of network television decisions to air warnings before violent programs and the story of Baby Jessica, the adopted child ordered by the courts to be returned to her natural parents, drew 26% of respondents who said they very closely followed those reports.
Interest in the civil war in Bosnia waned since May, when 23% said they very closely followed that story, although at that time the U.S. was considering air strikes against Bosnia. The latest figure of 19% who very closely followed news of Bosnia is closer to earlier figures showing the same response at 15% in both January and February.
The nomination of recently confirmed U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was followed very closely by only 18% of respondents. Two years ago, 33% said they very closely followed the appointment of Justice Clarence Thomas, and 41% very closely followed the later allegations of sexual harassment against Thomas by law professor Anita Hill.
Charges of embezzlement against Rep. Dan Rostenkowski (D- Ill.) drew the very close attention of 13% of respondents, as did news of the suicide of White House aide Vincent Foster Jr.
The G-7 economic summit in Tokyo was a distant last, drawing the very close attention of only 7% of respondents, while 41% said they followed it "not at all closely."
When it came to the issue of fairness, 66% said the media were fair in their coverage of President Clinton. That marked an increase from 51% in June, which was the lowest score since January 1988, when 66% said the press was fair to Ronald Reagan.
Among the 21% in the latest report who said coverage was unfair to Clinton, 31% said the press focused on the negative or was usually negative, 29% said the press was not giving the president a chance, and 22% called the press biased, not truthful or one-sided.
When asked in which businesses respondents believed competition and rivalries among people at the top is nastiest and meanest, the news media were chosen by only 9%.
Coming in first were politics in Washington, 49%; followed by big business, 20%; the news media; professional sports, 7%; and the entertainment world, 6%.