Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
As they look forward, news executives have concerns about some of the funding ideas being discussed for journalism. And these concerns are similar among newspaper and broadcast executives, thus marking fairly clear lines on what news executives deem acceptable. The idea that draws the most concern is accepting money from interest groups that engage in […]
Even as the story died down in the mainstream media last week, bloggers continued to debate the Israeli interdiction of a Turkish supply ship that left nine people dead. On Twitter, the focus on computer giant Apple continued. And on YouTube, a startling car accident drew more than three million hits.
Summary of Findings As a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico spread toward the Louisiana coastline last week, the public focused on the unfolding story of a potential environmental disaster. The spill dominated the public’s consciousness. It was the story people were most likely to say they talked about with friends. The percentage […]
With the oil still gushing, BP making new efforts to stanch the spill and the Obama Administration taking a more aggressive line toward the energy company, the crisis in the Gulf of Mexico accounted for a third of last week’s news coverage. No other story came close although a deadly encounter on a boat headed for the Gaza Strip finished as the No. 2 subject.
About the News Interest Index The News Interest Index is a weekly survey conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press aimed at gauging the public’s interest in and reaction to major news events. This project has been undertaken in conjunction with the Project for Excellence in Journalism’s News Coverage Index, […]
The oil spill that won’t stop gushing became the story that won’t stop growing as the Gulf disaster coverage, fueled by a Presidential admission and a failed effort to cap the leak, reached new heights last week. No other subject—including a political controversy, a skittish stock market, the immigration issue or tensions in the Korean peninsula—came close to matching the spill’s coverage.
Passions ran high as the blogosphere was consumed with the deadly confrontation between Israeli forces and a supply ship headed for Gaza last week. On Twitter, stories about European soccer led the week. And on YouTube, videos of the Mavi Marmara incident drew significant interest along with a toddler with an unhealthy addiction.
Americans’ relationship with news is changing in dramatic and irreversible ways due to changes in the “ecology” of how news is available. Traditional news organizations are still very important to their consumers, but technology has scrambled every aspect of the relationship between news producers and the people who consume news. That change starts with the […]