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Face of TV has changed

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TV: U.S. tuned in despite bleak news

Tuned in Americans' opinions of which TV network has done the best job covering the Sept. 11 attack?

CNN 24 percentABC 14 percentFox 12 percentNBC 11 percentCBS 7 percentMSNBC 5 percentCNBC 1 percentNon- specific 26 percent Source: The Pew Research Center for The People and The Press

By Steve Swartz

The Capital-Journal

Television showed us images we could hardly bear to watch. But watch we did --- for hours on end.

Already a major part of daily life for so many, television became our national focus the morning of Sept. 11. At home and at work we saw the twin towers erupt in deadly orange blossoms and then collapse in a sickening gray cloud of smoke and dust.

And we saw it replayed over and over and over.

The intense, round-the-clock coverage of the attacks has changed the well-established relationship many Americans have with their televisions. Some have turned their attention to television more than ever before; others have shifted the focus of what they watch. And for some, television is simply too stressful and depressing to watch anymore.

A random sampling of people doing business at the Shawnee County Courthouse last week reflected that change in how some of us relate to television in this time of national crisis.

"I used to watch the news every day," said Topekan Gilbert J. Clark . "Now, the whole TV is news."

Clark said television since Sept. 11 has become too stressful to play the same role in his life it once did.

"Every station you get has 'USA fighting back'. That makes TV stressful." he said. "I look at TV much less. You want to have a good day, not a bad day."

John David Lawyer, also of Topeka, reacted similarly.

"I find it upsetting. I'm glad the president is doing something," he said. "I watched Desert Storm and Desert Shield, so I don't want to see another war on TV."

"Keep it off the airways. It just makes me sick," he said.

Although Americans may not like what they are seeing on television, the overwhelming majority are watching. According to The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, which sponsored a public opinion survey in the week following the attack, "There is near universal public engagement in the crisis."

The survey, conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates, found that nine in 10 Americans were getting their news about the attacks from television and 81 percent said they were "constantly tuned in" to news reports. The later number is the same as the percentage of Americans who were constantly tuned in to news reports during the Persian Gulf War.

"I'm very concerned what's going on with the war and terrorists, so I watch it quite a bit," said Topekan Thomas Riley, who primarily relied on the radio for news before Sept. 11.

At work, he said, TV news is often on in the background.

Betty Burk said she primarily watched religious broadcasting before the attacks. That has changed to a degree.

"I watch quite a bit of the news now and I watched the president," she said.

Most of the TV news she gets is from CNN.

"I didn't hardly watch it (before Sept. 11)," Burk said. "I am now."

As was the case during the Gulf War, CNN received the highest marks among the major networks for the best coverage of the tragedies. According to the Pew survey, 24 percent of Americans said CNN did the best job, followed by ABC news at 14 percent.

Despite Americans' high regard for CNN's 24-hour news coverage, which also had the highest marks during the Gulf War, some people have found that less is more.

"We're tired of listening to it," Topekan Gwen Strother said of the constant coverage provided by all-news networks such as CNN.

Strother said she and her husband prefer to keep up with the crisis through the "snippets" provided by local newscasts.

"For one thing," she said, "it's just depressing to think about what we've lost."

Copyright 2001
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