Overview The Trayvon Martin shooting is the public’s top story for the second consecutive week. But interest in the teenager’s death is deeply divided along partisan, as well as racial, lines. These differences also are apparent in reactions to news coverage of the incident: Far more Republicans (56%) than Democrats (25%) say there has been […]
Summary of Findings A series of major breaking stories captured the attention of both the public and the media in 2010, while news about the nation’s struggling economy consistently attracted high levels of public interest and coverage throughout the year. Each week, the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press conducts national public […]
Summary of Findings The 9/11 terrorist attacks drew more public interest than any other story in the past decade. In October 2001, a month after the attacks, 78% said they were following news about the story very closely, up slightly from the week after the attacks (74%). The devastating hurricanes that hit the Gulf Coast […]
Summary of Findings Two major disasters – the earthquake in Haiti and the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico – captured the public’s attention more than any other major stories in 2010, but Americans also kept a consistent eye on the nation’s struggling economy. In mid-January, 60% of the public said they were following […]
Summary of Findings The public continued to focus most closely on the outcome of the midterm elections last week as news coverage highlighted their impact on the balance of power and the agenda in Washington. A quarter of the public (25%) says they followed news about the election outcome more closely than any other major […]
Summary of Findings While the 2010 midterm congressional elections dominated media coverage last week, the public focused more on news about the nation’s struggling economy. Nearly a quarter (23%) of the public says they followed news about the economy more closely than any other major story. Just 6% say they followed news about this year’s […]
Summary of Findings The dramatic rescue of 33 Chilean miners trapped underground for more than two months dominated the public’s news interest last week, while the media focused on both the miners’ saga and the midterm Congressional elections. With the Nov. 2 elections fast approaching, the percent of the public tracking election news very closely […]
Summary of Findings The disclosure of more than 75,000 classified documents about the war in Afghanistan by the website WikiLeaks garnered significant media coverage last week, and those familiar with the story were split over the effect of the leak: about equal percentages say the release harms the public interest as say it serves the […]
Summary of Findings As the nation marked the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks last week, many in the public and the media focused more on current tensions over Islam in America – most notably plans by a Florida pastor to burn copies of the Koran. Nearly two-in-ten (17%) say they followed the […]
Summary of Findings In evaluating news coverage of different groups, pluralities of Americans say that coverage of poor people and Muslims is too negative, while somewhat smaller percentages say the same about coverage of blacks and Hispanics. Among eight groups tested, whites and middle-class people are the only groups that majorities say are treated fairly […]
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