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Americans Disagree
With Decision to Fire Don Imus
-- Majority Believe
His Apology Was Sincere --
Flemington, NJ, April 13,
2007 – Results of a national focus group revealed
that more than half of Americans believe that Don Imus should not have been
fired for his racially derogatory remarks that he made about the Rutgers University women’s basketball
team.
The
communications research study was conducted by HCD Research, using its mediacurves.com web site, during
April 12-13, to obtain Americans’ views on the comments made by Don
Imus during an interview with Matt Lauer on the Today Show on Tuesday
While
viewing Don Imus’ description of the apology that he was going to make
to the Rutgers’ women’s basketball team, participants indicated
their levels of agreement by moving their mouse from left to right on a
continuum. The responses are recorded in quarter-second intervals and
reported in the form of curves. Participants were also asked several
questions regarding the incident.
Among
the study findings:
- Prior to viewing Don Imus’ apology on
the Today Show, 37% reported that he “should not” be
fired. After viewing the description of his apology more than half of
participants (53%) indicated that he “should not” be
fired.
- After viewing the description of his apology
63% of participants indicated that he was sincere in his apology.
- An overwhelming majority of participants
(75%) reported that if he was an African American he would not be
receiving a similar amount of criticism.
To
view the agreement curves and detailed results of the study go to: www.mediacurves.com
The Media Curves web site provides the media and general public with a
venue to view Americans’ perceptions of popular and controversial
media events and advertisements.
HCD Research specializes in conducting communications research for the
pharmaceutical, food and beverage, financial and entertainment industries,
among others.
Headquartered in Flemington,
NJ, the company's services
include traditional and web-based communications research. For
additional information on HCD Research, access the company’s web site
at www.hcdi.net
or call HCD Research at 908-788-9393.
Editors/Reporters: For more
information on the study, or to speak with Glenn Kessler, managing partner,
HCD Research, please contact Vince McGourty, HCD Research, at (908)
483-9121 or ([log in to unmask]).
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