BROOKE GLADSTONE: Last weekend TV Guide magazine conducted a survey of TV viewers to find out who was watching what for news of the war. TV Guide's Max Robbins is on the line with the results. Max, welcome back to the show.

MAX ROBBINS: Brooke, great to be here.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: So who is the most trusted anchor on the air?

MAX ROBBINS: Well according to our poll it was NBC's Tom Brokaw. He had 22 percent. He was followed by Peter Jennings, with 17 percent. Then Dan Rather with 16 percent and also Fox's Shepard Smith with 16 percent.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: And how did CNN's Aaron Brown do?

MAX ROBBINS: Aaron Brown kind of trailed the pack with 11 percent.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: It's a little surprising that Fox's Shepard Smith scored so high.

MAX ROBBINS:Well what's even more surprising, Brooke, is when you break out the 18 to 24 year old demographic Shepard Smith topped our list! I think it has a lot to do with the fact that -the way people watch TV, a lot of times their biases go with people who look the most like them, and certainly Shepard Smith is a lot younger than the other people who were in the poll.

BROOKE GLADSTONE:I think it's fair to say it's been a good war for Fox. I think a lot of us expected CNN to wipe the floor with its arch-rival, but I guess that really hasn't happened or not altogether.

MAX ROBBINS: What we found in our poll is that when people hear that there's big news breaking, they turn to CNN first. They go there first, but they don't stay. They'll surf on to Fox or elsewhere.

BROOKE GLADSTONE:What is specifically the appeal of Fox? I know that any casual viewer will see that it is very, very pro-war, pro-administration in its coverage. Is that the big draw do you think?

MAX ROBBINS: I think that has a lot to do with it. Fox went into this war very strong as the number one cable news network. They've been very pro-war, pro-Bush administration, and the vast majority of Americans right now are supporting the War in Iraq and I think that that's paid off in terms of ratings.

BROOKE GLADSTONE:I guess it's reassuring to people. I notice that in your study though most people said that the TV coverage hadn't affected their support or lack of support for the war, still a surprising percent - about a quarter - said that the TV coverage did increase their support for the war.

MAX ROBBINS: Yeah, 25 percent said that after watching the coverage of the war they were more supportive of the war effort. And it is a striking number, especially when you look at the time frame when our poll was taken. It was taken when things weren't going particularly well last weekend.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: And all around I guess a majority of viewers found the TV coverage to be satisfactory or more than satisfactory?

MAX ROBBINS:Yeah, we found three quarters of the audience thought that the coverage ranged from good to very good to excellent. I mean that's a real thumbs up for the job that television news overall is doing.

BROOKE GLADSTONE:And as you say that was after a week of rather bleak war news. I wonder whether people have become more dissatisfied with the coverage as the war continues.

MAX ROBBINS: You have to ask yourself Brooke if things get a lot rougher than they've been so far if the viewing public won't start blaming the messenger.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: Well, Max, thanks a lot!

MAX ROBBINS: Brooke, always a pleasure. Thank you.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: Max Robbins writes The Robbins Report for TV Guide. [MUSIC]