Broadcasting Telecasting (Oct-Dec 1959)

WHO ELMO ROPER IS Elmo Roper, head of the research firm bearing his name, is one of the nation's best known marketing consultants and public opinion analysts. He got into marketing research in 1933, after 12 years as a jewelry salesman and retailer created in him a desire to find out what people wanted to buy, rather than what some designer or manufacturer thought they would want. The 59-year-old researcher works mostly for manufacturers and other commercial clients in surveys dealing with research on products and design, public relations and labor relations. He also is known for broadcasts and articles on public attitudes toward such subjects as labor and business, world peace and political the possibility of payola for the Gallup poll, followed by a quip that Mr. Gallup might ask equal time. Tv a News Leader • Television runs newspapers a close race as the medium depended upon by most people for news, Mr. Roper said on the basis of this question: "Where do you usually get most of your news about what's going on in the world today — from the newspapers or television or magazines or talking to people or where?" The results (percentages add to more than 100 because of multiple choices): Newspapers 56% Television 51% Radio 34% Magazines 8% The Roper firm looked into moral aspects of the problem by citing a number of public issues, asking the question "Here are some recent issues which have been reported in the newspapers. Which do you think are serious moral problems and which do you think are minor?" Respondents were handed a card to study, with 12 issues listed. Here are results in the order in which the public judged the issues to be serious moral problems: Increasing amount of juvenile delinquency 89% Dishonest labor leaders 88% Government officials accepting bribes 81% Policemen taking graft 74% School segregation 71% Advertisers making false claims 67% International disarmament 66% Testing of atomic bombs 65% Promoters fixing boxing matches 44% Congressman putting their relatives on government payrolls 42% Rigged quiz shows on tv 41% Disc jockeys taking money from record companies 34% In the effort "to gain perspective on issues. He is a contributing editor of The Saturday Review, author of a book, You and Your Leaders and chairman of the Fund for the Republic (see Fund story page 44). He conducted the famed Fortune magazine public opinion polls. Mr. Roper was born in 1900 in Hebron, Neb., and attended the U. of Minnesota and the U. of Edinburgh, Scotland. During World War II he was a deputy director of the Office of Strategic Services and special consultant to the War Production Board, Office of War Information, Army Air Force, Marines and Navy. His organization consists of a staff of 40 in New York headquarters and a field force of some 225 interviewers throughout the U.S. whether the rather glaring newspaper headlines did or did not represent the perspective in which the public put the whole subject of television" the interviewers asked this question: "In every community, the schools, the newspapers, the local government, the television stations, each has a different job to do. Would you say that the local schools are doing an excellent, good, fair or poor job (also newspapers, tv stations and local government)?" Here are the results An eager listener • Nobody was more interested in Elmo Roper's testimony to the FCC last week than Louis Hausman (above), director of the Television Information Office. The Roper survey was the first project commissioned by the new TIO. which were obtained: Excel Good Fair Poor Don't lent Know Schools 20% 44% 21% 5% 10% News papers 14 50 25 5 6 Tv sta tions 11 48 26 6 9 Local govt. 6 38 32 11 13 Mr. Roper observed all but local government received majority approval by a close range — 59% to 64%. Up to this point, he explained, the interviewers had given no indication that questions would be asked about any specific aspects of television or newspapers. Creditability Scores • In an effort to find if the sensational "exposures of fact" that apparently reputable people had committed a fraud in quiz rigging might have had a deleterious effect on the believability of tv as a whole, the interviewers asked this question: "If you got conflicting or different reports of the same news story from radio, television, the magazines, and the newspapers, which of the four versions would you be most inclined to believe — the one on radio or tv or magazines or newspapers?" The "most believable" results: Newspapers 32% Television 30% Radio 12% Magazines 10% No opinion 16% Asked which is "least believable" they responded: Television 9% Radio 11% Magazines 23% Newspapers 24% No opinion 33% Mr. Roper commented: "While television almost tied with newspapers as 'most believable', when it came time to pass judgment on 'least believable' only 9% named television against 24% who named newspapers and 23% who named magazines." Indispensability • Results of the next questions "indicate the public has not been too carried away by the tremendous mass of publicity with which the television industry has been blessed — or damned — during the past few months," he continued. This question read, "Suppose you could continue to have only one of the following — radio, television, newspapers, or magazines — which one of the four would you most want to keep?" The results: 42% would keep television 32% would keep newspapers 19% would keep radio 4% would keep magazines 3% didn't know These results, Mr. Roper said: "indicate both the importance and confidence the public attaches to the medium of television as a whole." A specific quiz question read: "Have 20 (LEAD STORY) BROADCASTING, December 21, 1959