ERRORS, SENSATIONALISM HURT PAPERS' CREDIBILITY

WASHINGTON - Sensationalism, garbled grammar and misquotes are chief
reasons for the decline of credibility in newspapers and a disconnect
between today's reporters and their audiences, a new report says.

``Americans say they're tired of having sensational stories crammed down
their throats,'' says a study, released today by the American Society of
Newspaper Editors.

About 80 percent of adults surveyed for the study said newspapers
overdramatize the news to sell papers, and that sensational stories get a
lot of coverage because they're exciting -- not because they're important.

The public thinks newspapers mishandle ``normal'' news stories too.
Forty-eight percent said they find misleading headlines in their paper more
than once a week.

In addition, the study says readers see too many misspellings, mislabeled
maps and grammatical mistakes -- lowering public trust of the media. It
says those who have firsthand experience with reporters and editors are
some of their biggest critics. And it says the public thinks reporters are
out of touch with their readers.

The study, part of the ASNE's three-year project to find out why the public
has lost confidence in newspapers, is based on a national telephone survey
of 3,000 U.S. adults in April and May, 16 focus groups and a 12-page
questionnaire completed by newspaper journalists. The report was conducted
and analyzed by Urban & Associates of Sharon, Mass.

``I guess the good news is that we recognize that we have problems and
we're trying to do something about them,'' says ASNE President Edward
Seaton, editor-in-chief of The Manhattan (Kan.) Mercury. ``It means that
we've got to tighten up. We've got to cut down on errors, cut down on
anonymous quotes and rein in the pundits.''

More than three-fourths of those surveyed expressed concern about the
credibility of news stories that use anonymous sources, and 45 percent said
the story shouldn't run at all if no one will go on the record.

The study's findings come in a year when the press has had to give a number
of mea culpas: CNN retracted a story presented jointly with Time magazine
that alleged the U.S. military used a nerve agent in pursuing defectors
during the Vietnam War. The Cincinnati Enquirer retracted a story because
it was based in part on information stolen from a company's telephone
message system. At The New Republic magazine and The Boston Globe, writers
made up quotes and people that appeared in stories.

The study also follows three years of high-profile stories that have hogged
the front page: The murder trial of football star O.J. Simpson, the deaths
of Princess Diana and Colorado child beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey, Paula
Jones' sexual harassment suit against President Clinton and his
relationship with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

Sensationalism aside, a newspaper's credibility often is undermined by
little mistakes. More than one-third of respondents said they see spelling
or grammatical mistakes in their paper more than once a week -- 21 percent
said they see them nearly every day. Twenty-three percent said they find
factual errors in the news stories of their daily paper at least once a week.

While 73 percent of adults have become more skeptical about news accuracy,
those who have firsthand knowledge of a news story are the most critical.
Thirty-one percent said they had been the subject of a news story or had
been interviewed by a reporter. Of that group, 24 percent said they were
misquoted and 31 percent found errors in the story.

Readers welcome corrections, though. Sixty-three percent said they ``felt
better'' about the quality of the news coverage when they see corrections.

Getting it right, however, is only part of the problem in reaching readers.
More than half of those surveyed believe the press is ``out-of-touch with
mainstream Americans,'' the study says. In many ways -- educational
attainment, income, interests, circle of friends and working hours -- many
journalists are in a different class than the average American, the study
says.

``When newspaper readers see feature stories about ways to make an elegant
presentation of artichoke hearts, many study the photograph to find out
what, exactly, an artichoke looks like,'' the study says. ``When adjectives
like `churchgoing' or `right-wing' or `suburban' or `radical' appear in
print or broadcast news stories, they sense that judgments are being made
by folks not very much like themselves.''

Some findings from the American Society of Newspaper Editors' study on why
newspaper credibility has been dropping:

- --More than one-third of 3,000 U.S. adults surveyed by telephone say they
see spelling or grammatical mistakes in their newspaper more than once a week.

- --23 percent say they find factual errors in the news stories of their
daily paper at least once a week.

- --73 percent have become more skeptical about news accuracy.

- --78 percent agree with the assessment that there is bias in the news media.

- --58 percent believe the public's dissatisfaction with the media is
justified (``that they're not just an easy target for deeper problems in
our society'').

- --50 percent believe there are particular people or groups that get a
``special break'' in news coverage.

- --78 percent believe powerful people or organizations can influence a
newspaper to kill or ``spin'' a story.

- --86 percent believe the names of suspects should not be published until
formal charges are filed.

Checked-by: derek rea