A survey measuring audience reactions to local television news was administered to middle school/high school students, college students, and senior citizens. The majority in each population reported watching the news to learn about the world. They agreed that news is mostly about violent events and that such news causes them to worry and to feel that the world is not a safe place. Significant sex differences were found indicating that women were more likely to report turning the news off and worrying about news content, whereas college men were more likely to watch to see coverage of violent events. The possibility of modifying news content was raised.
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