According to Rasmussen Reports, 81% of adults in America were following coverage of Hurricane Irene, and the majority – 63% — said that the news media provided the right amount of coverage. Rasmussen noted that most get their weather news from local television.
Across America, 62% of Americans were regularly going to news sources for fresh information on Irene.
That number rose to 74% among the 31% of respondents who said they were potentially in the path of the storm.
According to Rasmussen, 63% thought the level of coverage was appropriate; 28% said there was too much; and 7% said there wasn’t enough coverage. (Since in our neck of the woods there were generally competing sources of information available 24/7 we wonder how that last result is even possible.)
Rasmussen’s broadcast statement was simple. It said, “Most Americans still get their weather news from local television despite the variety of news sources available these days.”
As a general rule, women pay closer attention to severe weather broadcast than do men. The middle aged were the most likely to accuse the media of coverage overkill, but even within that group the majority felt the level of coverage was correct.
