Many Canadians Feel There Is Too Much Coverage Of Entertainment (42%) And Sports (38%) And Not Enough On More Substantive Matters, Like Beliefs And Business

Toronto, Ontario - In a time of ever-multiplying numbers of media choices and channels, a new Ipsos-Reid poll on behalf of the Centre for Faith and the Media indicates that many Canadians think there is too much media coverage of entertainment and sports and too little coverage of more substantive subjects such as Faith and Religion.

More than Enough Sports and Entertainment

More specifically, 42% reported Entertainment has too much coverage. Just 9% think it has less than it should and the remaining 47% say it has "about the right amount".

• Quebecers are more likely to report Entertainment has about the right amount of coverage (64%).

Sports have too much coverage, 38% of Canadians think. Only 8% think Sports have less coverage than they should. The remainder, 52%, think Sports have about the right amount of coverage.

• Men were more likely than women to feel Sports have about the right amount of coverage (57% men Vs 47% women).

Too Little Reporting on Religion & Faith and Business & Analysis

Faith and Religion have too little coverage, a significant minority (27%) of Canadians say. Half (49%) feel Faith and Religion have about the right amount of coverage. There is, however, a significant minority (22%) that believes Faith and Religion have too much coverage.

• Men were more likely than women to think Religion and Faith have too much coverage (26% men Vs 16% women).

There is also interest in more coverage of Business & Analysis among a notable minority--twenty-two percent. Most (62%) think it has about the right amount and 16% would like more coverage.

• Those 18-55 were more likely to say there should be more coverage of Business and Analysis (28% 18-34, 24% 35-54 Vs 14% 55+).

These are the findings of an Ipsos-Reid poll conducted for Centre for Faith and the Media from April 5th, 2005 to April 7th, 2005. For the survey, a representative randomly selected sample of 1000 adult Canadians was interviewed by telephone. With a sample of this size, the national results are considered accurate to within 1773.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire adult Canadian population been polled. The margin of error will be larger within sub-groupings of the survey population. These data were weighted to ensure the sample's regional and age/sex composition reflects that of the actual Canadian population according to the 2001 Census data. Please open the attached PDFs to view the factum and detailed tables.

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For more information on this news release, please contact:

Andrew Grenville
Senior Vice-President
Ipsos-Reid
(416) 324-2900