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More than three-fourths of U.S. consumers feel the media are exacerbating the country's woes through its coverage of the economy, and 77% of Americans overall believe the media are making the economic situation worse by projecting fear into consumers' minds, suggest the results of a survey by Opinion Research Corp., a New York-based consumer research firm. Opinion Research conducted the telephone survey of 1,000 adults Dec. 4 to 7. "The majority of those surveyed feel that the financial press, by focusing on and embellishing negative news, is damaging consumer confidence and dampening investment, making a difficult situation much worse," said the authors of the survey results. Broken down by income category, 79% of respondents with households earning $25,000 to $35,000 answered "yes" to the question: "Do you think the financial press is making the economic crisis worse by projecting fear into people's minds." The same response came from 88% of those with incomes between $35,000 and $50,000, 76% earning $50,000 to $75,000, and 78% with annual household incomes exceeding $75,000, according to Opinion Research.
