GALLUP POLL: PUBLIC HAS LOW REGARD FOR TV REPORTERS

When asked by Gallup pollsters how they would rate the honesty and ethical standards of people in various fields, only 20 percent of respondents gave TV reporters “very high” or “high” marks; newspaper reporters did slightly better with 21 percent. (Lowest on the list: members of Congress with 8 percent and lobbyists with 6 percent.) The low marks did not surprise Kelly McBride, who teaches ethics at the Poynter School of Journalism in Florida, who noted that the percentage has fluctuated between 20 and 33 percent since 1976 when Gallup first conducted the poll. McBride said that when she herself tells her neighbor on a plane what she does (“journalism ethicist”), the response usually is “Isn’t that an oxymoron?” She blames the entertainment media for part of the low esteem in which journalists are held, since they are often portrayed as smarmy and unethical.