Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Charges against U.S. servicemen who captured one of the most wanted men in Iraq drew major attention from the blogosphere last week. A controversial singer was the hottest topic on Twitter. And a YouTube video intended to paint an unflattering portrait of Sarah Palin supporters was viewed more than 1 million times.
Free versus pay? When it comes to music, bloggers last week strongly championed free. On Twitter, strong views over privacy issues surfaced when Google released its new social networking feature, Google Buzz. And a conversation between Jon Stewart and Bill O’Reilly attracted over a million views on YouTube.
An anti-abortion ad run during the Super Bowl and opposition to gay rights were the most popular subjects on social media last week. On YouTube, Apple’s iPad dominated all five of the most-viewed news videos.
European campaigns to ban burqas, the Swiss vote to bar new construction of minarets and attempted terrorist acts in the United States have renewed questions and concerns about the compatibility of Islam with Western society. Swiss-born scholar and philosopher of Islam Tariq Ramadan has written and spoken on the subject, generating widespread debate and reaction. […]
The religious beliefs and practices of Americans do not fit neatly into conventional categories. A new poll by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life finds that large numbers of Americans engage in multiple religious practices, mixing elements of diverse traditions. Many say they attend worship services of more than one faith […]
Summary of Findings The Fox News Channel is viewed by Americans in more ideological terms than other television news networks. And while the public is evenly divided in its view of hosts of cable news programs having strong political opinions, more Fox News viewers see this as a good thing than as a bad thing. […]
Overview More Americans continue to view the Republican Party as friendly toward religion (48%) than rate the Democratic Party that way (29%). President Barack Obama’s administration, however, is seen as friendly toward religion by more people (37%) than the Democratic Party as a whole. And all three get higher ratings for friendliness toward religion than […]
Coverage of the President’s prime-time speech and assessments of his stewardship in office dominated the news agenda last week. Meanwhile, news about the economy, events in Haiti and trouble for Toyota filled out the roster of top stories. And attention to one of the week’s top newsmakers varied dramatically on cable news.
The passing of the last of the fabled Kennedy brothers easily led last week’s news agenda and generated a host of storylines. And for the first time in more than a month, the fractious health care debate was relegated to the sidelines.