Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Health care reform received its highest level of media coverage last week than at any time since the legislative battle began. That made it the 18th biggest story in any week since PEJ began its real time monitoring of the national media. And most of that coverage focused on the political impact of the law.
The controversial immigration law in Arizona sparked significant interest in the blogosphere last week, as it did in the mainstream media. But the social media also focused intently on a story that was largely absent in the MSM—the question of whether we on earth should consider E.T. a friend or foe.
Groups of bloggers amassed to decry two separate controversies last week: reported rule changes to the board game Scrabble and the declaration that April would be Confederate History Month in Virginia. On YouTube, politics were unusually popular, with three separate congressional videos leading the list. And Twitterers remained fascinated with the iPad.
Over the past year, the Tea Party movement has emerged on the political scene. A majority of the public has heard about the Tea Party protests that have taken place in the U.S. and about a quarter of Americans say they agree with the movement. Tea Party backers overwhelmingly identify with or lean to the […]
On Saturday morning, July 18, a 34-year-old Baltimore man named Shawn Sinclair shot and wounded two city police officers before being wounded and detained himself in a gunfight that culminated a wild, drug-infused morning of violence. The incident provided a window into the way breaking violent crime stories, a staple of local media, are covered […]
The recovery efforts following the tragic earthquake in Haiti continued to be the main subject of interest in parts of social media last week—particularly on Twitter and YouTube. Blogs also discussed details of the quake’s aftermath, but the blogosphere paid more attention to other topics, including warnings from European countries about security risks involved with Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.