.Dear Dr. Anitaji: * Nearly three out of four journalists say they are not well prepared to cover the most important issues facing the country. They grade journalists' preparation a "3" on a scale of "1" to "5," with "1" being poor and "5" being excellent. Similarly, most of the surveyed journalists rate the overall quality of reporting as a "3." John E. Cox, Jr., president of the Foundation for American Communications, which commissioned the study, underlined its findings: "This survey shows that journalists themselves believe they need more education and training to do a better job of covering the news." (American Opinion Research conducted the survey, which was sponsored by the David and Lucille Packard Foundation.) * One in three journalists is dissatisfied with professional development opportunities at work, and this complaint is more common than ones about pay, benefits, promotion or even job security. Most journalists say they need training in work skills, content areas and ethics, values and legal issues �� but few news staffers say they receive training in these areas. Nine out of ten news executives agree about the desirability of better training, but they say financial and time constraints severely limit training opportunities �� on an annual average, per employee, to no more than several days and no more than $500. Most companies spend one percent or less of their news budget on training, and ten percent of the companies spend nothing on training. The greatest need for training was cited by staffers in local television newsrooms. Beverly Kees, the survey's editor at Princeton Survey Research Associates, commented: "Though news organizations are in the knowledge business, the news industry lags behind others in providing its people with new knowledge and skills through professional training." (The Council of Presidents of National Journalism Organizations commissioned the survey and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation sponsored it.) * Nearly two in three editors responsible for international news say their newspaper's coverage is fair or poor �� and they said television networks' foreign coverage was worse. These editors also said their own news organizations do a fair or poor job of satisfying readers' interest in international news. Although international news coverage increased at most of the surveyed newspapers after September 11th, the editors expect that coverage will gradually return to prior levels, with most publications allotting foreign news 10 percent or less of the space for all news. (Dwight L. Morris & Associates conducted the survey for the Pew International Journalism Program.)