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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: FOR FURTHER INFORMATION Thursday Aug. 24, 2006 Michael Dimock, Associate Director

All Three Commercial Evening News Anchors Viewed Positively KATIE COURIC: PERKY AND CUTE, BUT SMART, INFORMED AND LIBERAL, TOO

Though Katie Couric has yet to take her seat as the new CBS Evening News anchor, the former Today show co-host is already a more familiar personality than her NBC and ABC counterparts. Asked to give their general impressions of each of the three TV journalists in a single word, Words Most Associated with News Anchors* 66% could offer up an opinion of Katie Couric Brian Williams Charles Gibson Couric, compared with fewer than 57 Good 65 Good 71 Good half who could offer a response for 16 Liberal 21 OK 20 OK 14 Alright 20 Like him 17 Like him Brian Williams or for Charles 13 OK 19 Fair 16 Trustworthy Gibson. 13 Perky 10 Alright 14 Informed 10 Cute 10 Informative 12 Alright 10 Informed 9 Knowledgeable 9 Professional By wide margins, most 10 Like her 8 Excellent 8 Competent Americans who know them have 9 Knowledgeable 8 Professional 8 Fair 9 Nice 7 Competent 8 Knowledgeable positive things to say about each of 8 Dislike 7 Thorough 7 Experienced the new evening news anchors – 8 Energetic 6 Informed 7 Thorough 8 Fair 6 Intelligent 6 Informative good is by far the most mentioned 8 Interesting 5 Confident 5 Great word for all three. However, the more 8Smart 5Honest 5Integrity 7 Honest 5 Liberal 5 Intelligent specific words used to describe Katie 6 Biased 5 Unknown 5 Old Couric have a decidedly different 6 Bubbly 6 Excellent tone. Perky, cute, nice, energetic, 6 Fluffy bubbly, and fluffy were among the 6 Intelligent most frequently offered impressions Percent able to offer an impression of Couric, but they were offered Katie Couric Brian Williams Charles Gibson along with knowledgeable, informed, 66% 47% 49% smart and fair. * NOTE: The top part of this table shows the actual number of respondents who offered each word, out of 775 who were asked the question. These numbers are NOT percentages. Specific accolades for the other two commercial broadcast news anchors were less about personality and style and more focused on their job performance. NBC’s Brian Williams was often summed up in a word as fair, and also as informative, knowledgeable and professional. Trustworthy was frequently offered as positive descriptor of ABC’s Charles Gibson along with informed, professional and competent.

While Katie Couric is more widely known, she also Women Know and Like receives more negatively-toned responses than do Williams Couric Best or Gibson. These include some who describe Couric as liberal or biased, and others who say she is bad, annoying, Total Women Men Katie Couric %%% overrated or that they just don’t like her. Positive 40 47 31 Negative 14 13 16 Neutral 12 10 14 Women, who are more avid viewers of the morning No answer 34 30 39 news, offer a one-word impression of Katie Couric more 100 100 100 Brian Williams often than men, and when they do it is overwhelmingly Positive 34 35 33 positive. Nearly half of female respondents (47%) offered Negative 5 3 7 Neutral 8 8 8 words that had a favorable tone to them, compared with No answer 53 54 52 just 31% of men. There are not significant gender gaps in 100 100 100 either familiarity with or the balance of impressions when Charles Gibson Positive 36 38 33 it comes to Williams and Gibson. Negative 4 3 4 Neutral 9 8 11 No answer 51 51 52 Conservative Republicans were significantly more 100 100 100 likely to offer a negative assessment of the former Today Show host. In fact, just as many conservative Republicans offered a negative description of Couric as a positive one. They often describe her as liberal and biased. Democrats and independents, by comparison, had far more positive than negative Many Conservatives Skeptical of Couric things to say about her, and moderate and liberal Republicans were particularly favorable, with a Pos- Neg- Neu- No itive ative tral answer 55% majority offering positive impressions. There %%%% are no overall differences along partisan or Cons Republicans 30 30 7 33=100 Mod/Lib Reps 55 11 10 24=100 ideological lines when it comes to the words used to Independents 36 11 18 35=100 describe Brian Williams and Charles Gibson. Cons/Mod Dems 45 9 10 36=100 Liberal Democrats 46 16 14 24=100 ABOUT THIS SURVEY

Results for this survey are based on telephone interviews conducted under the direction of Princeton Survey Research Associates International among a nationwide sample of 1,506 adults, 18 years of age or older, from August 9-13, 2006. The results here are based on a random half of survey respondents on Form 2 of the survey (N=775) the sampling error for percentages is plus or minus 4 percentage points.

In addition to sampling error, one should bear in mind that question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of opinion polls.

ABOUT THE CENTER

The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press is an independent opinion research group that studies attitudes toward the press, politics and public policy issues. We are sponsored by The Pew Charitable Trusts and are one of six projects that make up the Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan "fact tank" that provides information on the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world.

The Center's purpose is to serve as a forum for ideas on the media and public policy through public opinion research. In this role it serves as an important information resource for political leaders, journalists, scholars, and public interest organizations. All of our current survey results are made available free of charge.

All of the Center’s research and reports are collaborative products based on the input and analysis of the entire Center staff consisting of:

Andrew Kohut, Director Jodie Allen and Rich Morin, Senior Editors Scott Keeter, Director of Survey Research Carroll Doherty and Michael Dimock, Associate Directors Carolyn Funk and Richard Wike, Senior Project Directors Nilanthi Samaranayake, Survey and Data Manager Peyton Craighill, April Rapp and Juliana Horowitz Research Associates Rob Suls, Research Analyst James Albrittain, Executive Assistant PEW RESEARCH CENTER FOR THE PEOPLE & THE PRESS AUGUST 2006 NEWS INTEREST INDEX FINAL TOPLINE August 9-13, 2006 N=1506 ASK FORM 2 ONLY [N=775]: Q.18F2 I’d like to get your general impression of some news figures. Even if it is not someone you watch regularly, we just want to get your overall impression. First… [INSERT ITEM; RANDOMIZE] What ONE WORD best describes your impression of [REPEAT NAME ONLY]? Just the one best word that describes [him/her]. (OPEN-END. PROBE ONCE IF RESPONDENT ANSWERS “DON’T KNOW”) How about [NEXT ITEM]? What ONE WORD best describes your impression of [REPEAT NAME ONLY]?

a.F2 Katie Couric, who will become the anchor of the CBS Evening News later this summer b.F2 Brian Williams, the anchor of the NBC Nightly News c.F2 Charles Gibson, who recently became the anchor of the ABC World News

Katie Couric Brian Williams Charles Gibson 57 Good 65 Good 71 Good 16 Liberal 21 Okay 20 Okay 14 Alright 20 Like him 17 Like him 13 Perky 19 Fair 16 Trustworthy 13 Okay 10 Alright 14 Informed 10 Cute 10 Informative 12 Alright 10 Informed 9 Knowledgeable 9 Professional 10 Like her 8 Excellent 8 Competent 9 Knowledgeable 8 Professional 8 Fair 9 Nice 7 Competent 8 Knowledgeable 8 Dislike 7 Thorough 7 Experienced 8 Energetic 6 Informed 7 Thorough 8 Fair 6 Intelligent 6 Informative 8 Interesting 5 Confident 5 Great 8 Smart 5 Honest 5 Integrity 7 Honest 5 Liberal 5 Intelligent 6 Biased 5 Unknown 5 Old 6 Bubbly 4 Accurate 4 Adequate 6 Excellent 4 Capable 4 Confident 6 Fluffy 4 Moderate 4 Honest 6 Intelligent 4 Trustworthy 4 Personable 5 Bad 4 Unknown 5 Competent 5 Informative 390 Don’t know/No Answer 388 Don’t know/No Answer 5 Professional 5 Trustworthy 4 Annoying 4 Capable 4 Caring 4Fine 4 Friendly 4 Great 4 Lightweight 4 Love her 4 Overrated

246 Don’t know/No Answer

* The numbers listed represent the number of respondents who offered each response; the numbers are not percentages. Only words offered by four or more respondents are shown.