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 (vince.mcgourty@hcdi.net).