Overview The shootings at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn. on Friday have drawn widespread public interest. A weekend survey finds that 57% of Americans say they followed news about the tragedy there very closely. That is higher than interest in the shootings at an Aurora, Colo. movie theater in July (49% very closely), though […]
Overview President Obama’s expression of support for same-sex marriage proved to be the public’s top news story last week. About a quarter of Americans (26%) say they followed news about Obama’s statements on the divisive topic more closely than any other news, according to the latest weekly News Interest Index survey, conducted May 10-13 among […]
Overview News about the crash of a military helicopter in Afghanistan that killed 30 Americans last week refocused public attention on the long-running war there. About a quarter of the public (27%) says they followed news about the troop deaths in Afghanistan – which included members of the elite force that killed Osama bin Laden […]
Overview Americans focused most closely last week on economic news amid continued reports about the weakness of the recovery, while the media gave the most coverage to the scandal involving New York Rep. Anthony Weiner. About a quarter of the public (23%) says the economy was their top story of the week, according to the […]
Summary of Findings Majorities of Americans say news organizations focused too much last week on both the royal wedding in England and the release of the long-form version of Barack Obama’s birth certificate. Nearly two-thirds (64%) say the press gave too much coverage to the April 29 wedding in London of Prince William and Kate […]
Overview While the killing of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan by U.S. military forces attracted a near-record amount of news coverage, public interest in the story has been comparatively modest. Just more than four-in-ten (42%) say they followed news about the Al Qaeda leader’s killing more closely than any other news last week. One-in-five (20%) […]
Summary of Findings The devastating earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan late last week dominated the public’s news interest – and news media coverage – in the days following the March 11 disaster. Roughly half (52%) of the public say they very closely followed news about the massive earthquake off the northeast coast of Japan […]
Summary of Findings News about the aftermath of the deadly earthquake and tsunami in Japan dominated the public’s news interest and media coverage last week. The crisis at Japan’s nuclear plants – far more than other aspects of the story – captured the most public interest. Fully 57% say they followed news about the aftermath […]
Summary of Findings Both the public and the media focused last week on the increasing violence in Libya, but Americans also closely tracked news about a related concern – the impact the crisis in the Middle East is having on oil prices at home. About two-in-ten (21%) say they followed news about the rising price […]
Summary of Findings The public’s interest in developments in Egypt remained high last week as the media focused increasingly on domestic debates over how to deal with the fiscal troubles facing many states and how to bring down the federal deficit. About a third of the public (32%) says they followed news about the situation […]
© 2024 Pew Research Center