THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Monday, May 22, 1995                   TAG: 9505220050
SECTION: FRONT                    PAGE: A2   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: THE NEW YORK TIMES 
                                             LENGTH: Short :   47 lines

SURVEY: PUBLIC CYNICISM ABOUT LEADERS GREATER THAN JOURNALISTS'

The public thinks the press dwells excessively on negative news. But there is new evidence that members of the public are far more cynical than journalists are about the nation's leaders.

That surprising conclusion is the main finding of a detailed study of attitudes about the news media being released this morning by the Times Mirror Center for the People and the Press in Washington.

The study included a national telephone survey as well as interviews and focus groups with journalists, business executives and community and political leaders.

In a telephone poll, 66 percent of the public said the press is too focused on misdeeds and failures.

But among the groups questioned, only radio talk-show hosts expressed a degree of distrust of the country's political, business and civic leaders that nearly equaled the extreme distrust expressed by members of the public.

The study, which was conducted before the Oklahoma City bombing, found that 77 percent of the general public and 65 percent of radio talk-show hosts gave public officials in Washington a low rating for honesty and ethics. Only 40 percent of the members of the national press gave Washington officials a low rating for honesty and ethics.

Public distrust of leaders was also greater than that displayed by the other groups questioned, including members of Congress and business and community leaders.

The finding that news professionals are substantially less cynical than their audience is likely to accelerate a broad discussion that has begun in journalism recently.

Some journalists and media critics have been saying that the press may be responsible for increasing public distrust of the country's institutions. And some journalists have been advocating new approaches to news coverage that try to alter the traditional focus on conflict and discord. Instead, some journalists say, news organizations should aim to improve public dialogue and explore methods of solving community problems.

KEYWORDS: JOURNALISM STUDY by CNB