Cable TV Public Attitudes

What People Think of Cable News

While Americans certainly rely on cable news, how do they feel about what they see there? Is it cable’s convenience that draws them? Or do they prefer its content and style, which involves more talk and live reports, over network broadcast and local TV news? Do they like the news agenda of cable, which focuses on a handful of stories each day and relies largely on wires for the rest? Or is it the hosts and personalities that motivate them to watch?

The answers will reveal something about how vulnerable cable will be to competition from new technologies such as the Internet to be the news medium of choice for major breaking news or daily headlines.

To begin with, the majority of Americans (67%) view cable news favorably, while just 18% have an unfavorable view. A Pew Research survey in June 2005 found that among those viewing it favorably, 23% held a “very favorable” view of cable news, while 44% were “mostly favorable.”1

Do Americans notice the ways in which what’s on cable news differs from what’s on broadcast news? More could be known about this, but there is some evidence to sort through.

For some people, a perceived difference may be cable’s appeal, but it’s hard to discern. What we do know is that heading into 2005, the public considered cable news about as credible as the broadcast network news divisions, though that is largely due to network news’s losing ground rather than cable’s gaining.2

Cable News Believability

1985 - 2004, by Channel

Design Your Own Chart

Source: Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, “News Audiences Increasingly Politicized,“ June 8, 2004

Fox News & MSNBC were launched in 1996

Of the three channels, Americans rate CNN as the most believable, according to the 2004 data. But CNN’s scores were falling while Fox News’s were steadier. Just over a quarter of Americans (29%) gave CNN the highest ratings for believability, according to data from the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. That was a drop of 12 points from CNN’s historic high in 1993. Fox, meanwhile, got the highest marks for believability from 21% of those polled, its highest ever. MSNBC’s believability also was dropping, to 18%.

Those numbers, however, are from June 2004. New data are expected in 2006, and the landscape may well have changed, reflecting the growth of Fox News in ratings and even Cume.

CNN’s appeal seems to be based on different elements than that of Fox News. CNN’s big spikes during major breaking news events such as Katrina, followed by the loss of that audience during less intense news periods, suggest that its appeal may lie in its bureaus and reporters around the world who can cover breaking news. Fox News’s higher ratings throughout its broadcast day suggest that it has succeeded far better in creating distinct programs and personalities that audiences want to watch. Moreover, the fact that its prime time lineup is built around talk, debate and analysis (in such programs as “The O’Reilly Factor,” “On the Record with Greta” and “Hannity & Colmes”) may imply that people are drawn to Fox News to help them put the news in order, to interpret it. By contrast, CNN’s move away from talk toward the on-scene reporting of Anderson Cooper and the rapid-fire coverage of “The Situation Room” with Wolf Blitzer may suggest a continuation of its headline-oriented or news-driven approach. CNN has historically boasted only one program that has had significant, enduring and distinct program loyalty, “The Larry King Show,” which has an interview format and not that of a hard newscast.

Some of these questions and others would require more data to flesh out. For what reasons do some people choose cable over broadcast? If given the choice, head to head, on breaking news, which one would they choose? What are the reasons people say they gravitate to Fox News versus CNN? What do they think of MSNBC? Does a Web site matter to audiences as part of a cable brand? If people could imagine getting cable TV online and have the added power of choosing what stories to watch, would they prefer that more active approach? Or would they rather the cable channel do the choosing for them? This may shape where the three cable channels head and whether we will look back on cable as a transitional medium between broadcast and online, or whether it remains its own distinct form of TV journalism.