Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Introduction Americans’ relationship to the news is being transformed in several directions thanks to the new tools and affordances of technology. Encounters with news are becoming more personal as users customize their experience and take charge of the flow of news into their lives. News is becoming a shared social experience as people exchange links […]
Due to inclement weather, the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism is not publishing a full Weekly News Index report for December 14 – 20. PEJ is, however, making the data available.
Summary of Findings Americans followed the health care debate more closely than any other news story last week as Senate Democrats struggled to find a compromise that would allow them to move legislation through their chamber despite strong Republican opposition. About three-in-ten (31%) say the health care debate was the story they followed most closely, […]
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.
A study of more than 34,000 news stories that appeared in major media outlets finds that most of what the public learns about Hispanics comes not through focused coverage of the life and times of this population group but through event-driven news stories in which Hispanics are one of many elements.
Anticipation and reaction to Apple’s new iPad was the hottest topic on Twitter last week. Blogs, though, were more caught up with a British program made up entirely of footage shot by chimpanzees. In both arenas, the President’s State of the Union Address drew little reflection.
Summary of Findings The troubled economy and efforts to revamp the nation’s health care system dominated the public’s news interest in 2009. From the year’s start, Americans kept a close watch on the unfolding economic crisis, as well as Barack Obama’s efforts to grapple with the crisis while trying to make good on campaign promises. […]
“I was at a T.J. Maxx with my Colombian friend, and we were talking in Spanish, and this white person said ‘You’re supposed to speak English in America.’ And I said, ‘Oh really? So you need to learn Spanish because this is a changing country. Get over it.’” —25-year-old Hispanic female “Sometimes we speak Spanish […]