Conservative Talk Show Hosts Top Lists of Both Favorite and Least Favorite News and Current Affairs Personalities

ROCHESTER, N.Y.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The days of old when there was just network news and newspapers for
people to go to for their information are long gone, and people who
deliver the news have become much more numerous. They are no longer just
newscasters, but rather news and current affairs personalities; toward
that end, America has their favorites and, of course, their least
favorites.

Leading the list of favorites, just under one-quarter (23%) of Americans
cite Fox News Channel’s Bill O’Reilly
as one of their three favorite news and current affairs personalities,
followed by the host of ABC’s World News
Tonight, Charles Gibson and CNN’s Anderson
Cooper (17% each).

Leading the list of least favorites, a plurality of Americans (42%) say
Conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh is one of their least
favorite news and current affairs personalities. The same number who
cite Bill O’Reilly as one of their favorites
also say he is one of their least favorites (23%) and 19 percent say CNN’s
Larry King is one of their least favorite news and current affairs
personalities.

These are the results of a nationwide Harris Poll of 2,302 U.S. adults
surveyed online between January 15 and 22, 2008 by Harris Interactive^®.

Rounding out the top five favorite news and current affairs
personalities is NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams (16%) and
then with 13 percent each is Meet the Press host Tim Russert, CBS
Evening News anchor Katie Couric and 60 Minutes host Mike
Wallace. On the other side, 17 percent say that CNN Headline News’
Nancy Grace is one of their least favorites and just under that (16%)
cite Katie Couric. In looking at the two lists, there are a number of
the same people who are in the top ten on both. Bill O’Reilly,
Katie Couric, ABC’s 20/20’s
Barbara Walters, Rush Limbaugh and Fox News’s
Sean Hannity all are in the top half of the favorites and
the least favorites list.

Partisan Differences

It’s not just the backing of candidates that
show partisan differences, their choices of favorite and least favorite
news and current affairs personalities are also very different. For
Republicans, their top three favorites are Bill O’Reilly
(42%), Rush Limbaugh (28%) and Sean Hannity (27%). Perhaps, not
surprisingly, Democrats have a very different list of favorites –
Anderson Cooper (22%), Brian Williams (20%) and Charles Gibson (19%).
One thing to note is that Republicans are more united behind their
favorites while the Democrats are a bit more fragmented.

Where the Democrats do show stronger support is in the list of their
least favorites as three in five Democrats (60%) say it’s
Rush Limbaugh, followed by one-third (34%) who say Bill O’Reilly
and 17 percent who say Nancy Grace. For Republicans, just over a quarter
(26%) each says Larry King and Katie Couric are their least favorites.
Rush Limbaugh definitely inspires mixed emotions for Republicans as 24
percent say he is one of their least favorites.

So What?

With the rise of online news and information sites and the 24 hour
nature of news, there are many more places for Americans to get their
news. This means that just having the anchor seated behind the table isn’t
enough to grab viewers or listeners. These news personalities are
competing for these viewers and each must try to stand out in some way.
Maybe they focus on a single issue, trying to be the dominant news
source on it. Maybe they go extremely high tech for announcing elections
or, as in Tim Russert’s case, very low tech
and just carry around a white board and marker. Whatever it may be, the
dissemination of news has changed and the Cronkites, Brinkleys and
Huntleys are no longer around.

TABLE 1

FAVORITE NEWS PERSONALITY

“Thinking now of the media in general, of the
news and current affairs personalities listed below, which three
would you say are your favorites?”

TABLE 2

LEAST FAVORITE NEWS PERSONALITY

“Of the news and current affairs
personalities below, which three
would you say are your least favorites?”

Methodology

This Harris Poll^®
was conducted online within the United States January 15 and 22, among
2,302 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity,
education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to
bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population.
Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents’
propensity to be online.

All sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use probability
sampling, are subject to multiple sources of error which are most often
not possible to quantify or estimate, including sampling error, coverage
error, error associated with nonresponse, error associated with question
wording and response options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments.
Therefore, Harris Interactive avoids the words “margin
of error” as they are misleading. All that
can be calculated are different possible sampling errors with different
probabilities for pure, unweighted, random samples with 100% response
rates. These are only theoretical because no published polls come close
to this ideal.

Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have
agreed to participate in Harris Interactive surveys. The data have been
weighted to reflect the composition of the adult population. Because the
sample is based on those who agreed to participate in the Harris
Interactive panel, no estimates of theoretical sampling error can be
calculated.

These statements conform to the principles of disclosure of the
National Council on Public Polls.

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About Harris Interactive

Harris Interactive is one of the largest and fastest-growing market
research firms in the world. The company provides innovative research,
insights and strategic advice to help its clients make more confident
decisions which lead to measurable and enduring improvements in
performance. Harris Interactive is widely known for The Harris Poll,
one of the longest running, independent opinion polls and for pioneering
online market research methods. The company has built what it believes
to be the world’s largest panel of survey
respondents, the Harris Poll Online. Harris Interactive serves clients
worldwide through its North American, European and Asian offices, and
through a global network of independent market research firms. More
information about Harris Interactive may be obtained at www.harrisinteractive.com.
Harris Interactive is an independent, non-partisan research company and
does not take part in political campaigning or primary predictions.

To become a member of the Harris Poll Online and be invited to
participate in online surveys, register at www.harrispollonline.com.

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