Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Civil liberties were the hot topics across social media last week. Bloggers debated the Supreme Court decision on gun ownership and Finland’s law making Internet access a legal right. Twitter drew attention to the discovery of a privacy leak on the website Foursquare. On YouTube, a video purportedly showing oily rain in the Gulf region led to controversy.
Summary of Findings Public perceptions of economic news have turned much more negative. Currently, 42% say they are hearing mostly bad news about the economy, the highest percentage in a year. Last month, 30% of the public said they were hearing mostly bad news about the economy. The proportion saying they are hearing a mix […]
Two familiar stories—an economy slow to recover and an oil leak slow to be stopped—generated the most press attention last week. But there was plenty of politics as well including two hot button issues—same-sex marriage and illegal immigration—and the mid-term elections. And after one week of big headlines, Afghanistan coverage plunged.
Not all Americans are looking for the same things when they turn to the news. With the wide array of news sources now available, the regular audiences for various news outlets offer differing top reasons why those sources appeal to them. Regular CNN viewers, for example, overwhelmingly say they turn to CNN for the latest […]
Overview The public is divided over whether state and local governments should be able to pass laws banning the sale and possession of handguns. The Supreme Court is expected to rule in the next few months on the constitutionality of a 28-year-old Chicago law prohibiting handgun ownership in that city. Half of the public (50%) […]
The Shirley Sherrod saga started with a video posted online and ended with a flurry of finger pointing. In a special report, PEJ reconstructs a chronology of how the story reverberated around the media echo chamber before dramatically changing course. And this week’s News Coverage Index finds that the tale of the USDA employee prematurely forced out of her job was the No. 2 story in the news agenda.
News that scientists had created the first-ever living cell controlled by synthetic DNA fascinated the blogosphere last week as the discussion focused on the ethics and implications of the achievement. On Twitter, a marketing campaign gone awry received the most attention. And on YouTube, a forceful political ad drew almost a million views.
The blogosphere was focused on two major news events last week, the failed bombing attempt in Times Square and the spreading oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. And in both instances, the conversation included a lot of partisan finger pointing. The oil spill was also among two of the most viewed news videos on YouTube while Twitter remained more fixated on Apple.