Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
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In a week in which economic news nearly hit a three-month high, cable talk shows were dominated by the resignation of a federal employee whose comments on race were taken out of context by a conservative website. Meanwhile, in the Gulf of Mexico, the debate was about the merits of plugging the BP oil well with a “topkill” or a “bottom kill.”
The blogosphere resembled one of those old CNN Crossfire shows last week as liberals and conservatives frequently faced off on such issues as federal assistance programs, charges of bigotry and opposition to President Obama.
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.
An overwhelming majority of voters (88%) report having seen or heard commercials for candidates running for office so far this year. This is comparable to the 89% of voters who said they had seen or heard campaign commercials at roughly the same point in the 2006 midterm cycle. Today, more than half of voters (56%) […]
The country’s ongoing mortgage crisis sparked outrage from many bloggers last week while others discussed the compatibility—or lack thereof—between faith and science. On Twitter, images of the rescued Chilean miners drew cheers. And on YouTube, a movie star’s surprise visit to a school received millions of views.
In addition to looking at how the mainstream media covered African Americans, this study also examined how issues of race were treated in the African American press. To do so, we looked at coverage of the biggest race story of the year, the Henry Louis Gates arrest and its aftermath. For this separate analysis, […]
Summary of Findings No one story dominated the public’s news interest last week, as several story lines – including the debate over a mosque near Ground Zero in New York and the recall of hundreds of millions of eggs – vied for Americans’ attention. About two-in-ten (19%) say they followed the debate over plans for […]
Coverage of the conflict in Afghanistan got a big boost last week after the WikiLeaks organization unearthed classified reports casting doubts on the prospects for U.S. success there. But in a balanced news week, a key ruling in the Arizona immigration battle, the departure of an embattled BP CEO and a sluggish economy shared the media’s attention.