Coverage of the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico edged out gloomy economic news and the mostly routine Elena Kagan confirmation hearings last week. But even as it regained the top spot after a one-week hiatus, there is evidence of diminishing media interest in the BP spill saga.
With the spate of primary races testing the power of the Tea Party movement, the mid-term elections topped the news, but a Katrina anniversary and the faltering economy were close behind. Meanwhile, the New York mosque controversy quieted but didn’t vanish last week.
Summary of Findings While the media focused on the emotionally-charged debate over plans to build an Islamic mosque and cultural center near the World Trade Center site in New York City last week, the public continued to track the Gulf oil leak. About a third of the public (34%) says they followed news about the […]
After several weeks of decreasing coverage, the Gulf oil saga spiked upward last week amid news of possible success in stopping the flow. Coverage of a bill to regulate the financial sector, infighting among Democrats, violence and progress in Afghanistan and the death of a baseball mogul rounded out the roster of top stories.
Despite a general consensus that women should have the same rights as men, people in many nations around the world say gender inequalities persist. Many say that men get more opportunities than equally qualified women for jobs that pay well and that life is generally better for men than it is for women in their countries.
Summary of Findings As the public continues to closely track news about the environmental disaster unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico, few Americans say news organization are giving the oil leak too much coverage. The Gulf oil leak once again topped both public interest and media coverage last week, though the percent following the story […]
Summary of Findings In the days following BP’s latest—and apparently successful—effort to seal the oil well in the Gulf of Mexico, public perceptions of news about the spill have become somewhat more positive. Only a quarter of Americans (25%) say they are hearing mostly good news about the oil spill, but that is more than […]
Opposition to allowing more offshore oil and gas drilling in U.S. waters has grown dramatically in recent months as oil continues to flow into the Gulf of Mexico. For the first time since the question was first asked nearly two years ago, a majority (52%) opposes the government allowing more offshore oil and gas drilling […]
Summary of Findings Amid reports that BP has been able to at least temporarily stem the flow of oil from its ruptured underwater well, the public and the media last week again focused on the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. And, after several months of relentlessly bad news about the spreading spill, the possibility […]