The national press consistently sees less influence on the part of corporate executives than do those working in local news. The gap between those making executive and business decisions and those in the newsroom is even more dramatic. Members of the news staff see more than twice as much corporate influence over news content as executives do. This is true across both national and local media markets. In both markets, senior managers tend to fall halfway between the two groups.
Advertisers garner less concern from the news media.
African-American and younger journalists are much more cynical about the amount of outside influence. There is general agreement among those working in the news business that information overload is the top culprit for declining audiences. Over half of those in the national press and three-fifths of those in local news say that news organizations are losing readers, viewers and listeners because Americans feel overloaded with information. People are tuning the news out. People have more choices with the Internet and cable channels.