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The Rediff Special/CMS post-poll survey

Television emerging as first choice for news: survey

Television is slowly but surely emerging as the "primary source" of information on politics and business and the media has higher credibility after the recent election, according to a Centre of Media Studies survey.

Pre-poll and exit poll surveys on the eve of recent elections are viewed as a useful and essential part of the electoral process. That pre-poll surveys do influence voters, marginally or otherwise, comes out once again in this post-poll survey.

The survey was conducted among 100 voters in Delhi and the states that had an assembly election last month. The CMS survey also assessed "media credibility" in general and then focussing on newspapers and television.

Two-thirds of the voters now depend on television as their primary source of information on politics and business or commerce.

Television has deprived newspapers of their agenda-setting role. It also brings out that television viewership, in fact, is marginally increasing over newspaper readership, not reducing, as is popularly believed.

About one-third of those who thought that there was nothing wrong in media coverage of opinion polls, felt pre-poll surveys increase voters' knowledge and information about parties and issues. They also make voters realise the value of vote and help crystallise campaign issues, they said. There are hardly any differences between the rural and urban populace in this regard.

Even when it comes to "media credibility", three-fourth of the respondents believed in television against less than 40 per cent who had faith in newspapers. Both television and newspapers were found more objective in their reporting of poll campaigns.

All India Radio and Doordarshan too have improved their credibility now -- as compared to a similar survey done by the CMS two years ago. In fact, Doordarshan is considered better in terms of credibility than any private television channel.

"From being primarily an entertainment medium hitherto, television in India is now competing with newspapers as a news source. Political uncertainties, frequent elections and economic turbulence have all been contributing to television's transformation as a news media," according to CMS chairman Dr N Bhaskara Rao.

Nearly 60 per cent of respondents have either read or heard about pre-poll surveys conducted on the eve of the November 25 election. Of them nearly 40 per cent watched discussions on the exit poll on television against nearly 35 per cent who read about them in the newspapers.

The survey also revealed that more people know of pre-poll and exit poll surveys now than during the February 1998 general election.

A majority of those who have seen these surveys found them "useful". However, respondents were divided on the "influence" of pre-poll surveys. Only 15 per cent of the voters felt pre-poll and exit poll surveys should not be covered by the media and nearly a quarter of the respondents were not sure of the objectivity of these surveys.

EARLIER SURVEYS:

Congress set to capture Delhi
TDP will win again, but with slimmer majority: survey

The Rediff Specials

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