Question: In both print and broadcast, more and more reporters and editors are appearing in the role of commentator and pundit. Overall, do you think this trend improves journalism, makes it worse, or makes little difference?

More than ever, journalists are delivering not just news but opinion as well. In print, the sacred line that traditionally has divided editorial page (and op-ed) columns from news columns is being blurred, as reporters add generous portions of analysis to their delivery of the facts. That trend is most apparent in television. Many print journalists appear on broadcast and cable channels, national and local, to engage in punditry -- some of it enormously speculative, unsourced, and, at times, emotional -- that they would never attempt in their customary roles as reporters on a beat. Some are paid for that service, either by the TV news outlets on which they appear, or by their own employers.

To discover how journalists around the country feel about this new era of free-wheeling opinionizing, the Columbia Journalism Review, in conjunction with the nonprofit, nonpartisan research group Public Agenda, polled 147 senior journalists for their views. The poll was confidential, but more than a quarter of our respondents agreed to follow-up telephone interviews to expand on their answers, and still others added brief, explanatory essays to their questionnaire. Sixty-five percent of the sample work in print journalism; 19 percent in television, and 12 percent in radio. (Other: 4 percent)

Surprises abounded in the poll results:

* Almost six out of ten in the sample feel sure that journalism is made worse when reporters and editors step out of their customary roles and assume the mantle of broadcast pundits and commentators. Only 15 percent think it improves journalism.

* Fully three-quarters believe that newspeople put their credibility at risk when they appear as commentators on television and radio talk shows.

* More than seven out of ten think that such appearances blur the line between factual reporting and expressing opinion.

* Well over half fear that journalists are trivializing their craft by trafficking in speculation and rumor when they turn up on TV and radio shows.

* 64 percent worry that newspeople thus assume the inappropriate role of newsmakers, and actually influence events and public policy instead of just reporting them.

* But almost two-thirds say that -- in spite of those negatives -- radio and TV shows are "more informative" when journalists go on the air to proclaim opinions, attitudes, judgments, assessments, appraisals, prejudices, perceptions, viewpoints, impressions, conceits, and assumptions -- rather than simply relating facts as they know them.

part 1: The Perils of Punditry
part 2: "Attract Readers, Enhance Credibility"
part 3: "You Want Commentary? Find an Expert!"
part 4: "Boosting the Collective Ego"
part 5: Talk Show Appearances: "A Bit of Sophistry"?
sidebar: Some in-house rules

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