Survey: The New York Times Was Wrong to Publish McCain Story

Pew Research Center's News Interest Index Finds Majority of Democrats, Republicans and Independents Disagreed with Newspaper’s Decision

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 2/27/2008 3:23:00 PM

A majority of Americans polled for the Pew Research Center's News Interest Index said The New York Times did the wrong thing by publishing the story about the alleged personal relationship between Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and a female lobbyist for communications companies.

According to the Pew poll, of 1,000 adults 18-plus, 57% of those familiar with the story said the Times was wrong to publish it, only 33% said it was right to do so, while the other 10% didn't know.

Pew did not ask why it would have been wrong to publish. It simply framed the question this way: "As you may know, The New York Times was the first major newspaper to report on the connection between John McCain and a female lobbyist. Do you think that it was the right thing or wrong thing for them to publish this story?"

There was a huge difference by political affiliation. But even so, a majority of all three categories -- Democrats, Republicans and independents -- said the Times was wrong to publish it.

Among Republicans, 75% said the Times was wrong, with only 16% supporting the decision; for Democrats the split was almost even, but 47% said it was wrong while 45% said it was right; and among independents, the split was 55% right, 33% wrong.