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.
About half of the press rank lack of credibility with the public as a major reason for their failing audiences. There are many indications that the press is right in this assessment. Both findings are up 11 percentage points since 1985. Slightly fewer but still significant percentages of those in the news media see inattention to stories that are meaningful to the average American as a major reason for the loss of viewers and readers. Less than a quarter of the national news media and only slightly more of the local news media blame public disinterest in or general ignorance about serious news as a reason for declining audience or readership.