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PBS #1 IN PUBLIC TRUST, RESPECT ACCORDING TO NEW ROPER POLL
PBS Gets Top-Ranking for Trustworthiness and Is Seen As Excellent Use of Tax Dollars
ALEXANDRIA, Va., February 5, 2004 -- In a survey just completed by the non-partisan, international
research company RoperASW, the American public called PBS the most trusted institution on a list
of nationally known organizations in the country and the best use of tax dollars, second only to
military defense. The recent national opinion study, which included 1,000 randomly selected
participants across the country, also found Americans are more satisfied with programming on PBS
compared with commercial broadcasting or cable networks and consider PBS news and public affairs
series the most trustworthy. The majority of people surveyed believe that public broadcasting
receives "too little" funding from the federal government and that money given to PBS stations
from the government, corporations and individuals is "money well spent."
"We were pleased to work with PBS on this national survey," said Ed Bergstein, Senior Vice
President, Public Affairs and Media, of RoperASW. "These results show that the American public
places great trust in PBS and that they believe that they are getting their money's worth in
return for the public and private funds that are invested in the service."
"These results confirm what we have known for a long time, that Americans trust and value PBS,"
said PBS President and CEO Pat Mitchell. "We deeply respect the high standards to which we are
held, which is why we work so hard to provide unparalleled quality in PBS programs, and after
programs have aired, to make sure the value of that investment continues. We work every
day to serve the American people through the power of media, and the results of this survey tell
us that work is paying off."
Highlights of the survey:
The telephone survey of 1,000 adults between the ages of 25 to 75 years old was conducted by
RoperASW between December 22, 2003 and January 15, 2004. It was commissioned by PBS and will be
administered annually beginning with this study. For a full copy of the survey, please contact
Jan McNamara at PBS (phone: 703-739-5028 / email: jmcnamara@pbs.org).
PBS, headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, is a private, nonprofit media enterprise owned and
operated by the nation's 349 public television stations. Serving nearly 90 million people each
week, PBS enriches the lives of all Americans through quality programs and education services on
noncommercial television, the Internet and other media. More information about PBS is available
at pbs.org, the leading dot-org Web site on the Internet.
RoperASW, an NOP World company, is a leading global marketing research and consulting firm with
headquarters in New York and offices in London, Manila, and throughout the U.S. NOP World is among
the ten largest global market research companies in the U.S. and the world. Bringing together some
of the most renowned U.S. and European research firms in a unified global network, NOP World is a
wholly-owned subsidiary of UK-based United Business Media plc.
United Business Media (www.unitedbusinessmedia.com) is a leading provider of business-to-business
media solutions. Its products and services help companies around the world meet their market
information needs. In addition to NOP World, UBM's businesses include PRNewswire, the world's
leading news distribution service, and CMP, the business-to-business media and exhibition group
operating in focused market sectors such as hi-tech, healthcare, property, entertainment, jewelry
and fashion in the U.S., U.K., Asia and Europe.
# # #
CONTACT:
Lea Sloan, 703/739-5021, lsloan@pbs.org
Jan McNamara, 703/739-5028, jmcnamara@pbs.org.
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