New research backs up old TV favourites
Just because something doesn't last very long or is briefly watched doesn't mean that it isn't important or well-loved, with news bulletins being a prime example of this. (Analogy: Your doctor may be a highly-regarded figure in the community but it would be unfortunate if you had to visit him or her every week for medical reasons.)
This in turn may explain the observation that "Viewers claim that news is the most important programme on television, but the unsurprising truth is that they pay far more attention to drama series, soaps, sitcoms, factual and sport programmes", but that observation doesn't make the news any less important.
Sadly the truth seems that media organisations can sometimes twist the results of surveys in order to suit their own preconceptions, and it's rather disturbing to think that scheduling decisions may be partly based on anonymous statistical percentage figures (even if it's actually not the case).
