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Bloggers last week returned to two issues that generated interest in recent weeks. For the second time in a month, Afghanistan led the news in the blogosphere. And musician Dave Matthews sparked a second round of heated online debate with some comments about racism. On Twitter, for this week at least, the focus moved beyond Twitter itself.
The arrest of Roman Polanski dominated the blogosphere last week, with online commentators overwhelmingly condemning the filmmaker for the crime he committed three decades ago. And a CNN sparring match between anchor Wolf Blitzer and filmmaker Michael Moore was among the week’s most viewed YouTube news videos.
The debate over health care took a new turn last week, as politicians and the media reacted to a new Senate proposal. And one outgrowth of the polarizing battle was that race played its biggest role in the media narrative since Obama became president.
Last week, the health care debate remained the lead story as talk hosts argued about whether the confrontations between protestors and politicians were genuine or choreographed. And thanks to a dramatic prisoner release in North Korea, a former president made almost as much news as the current one.
Summary of Findings As the fight in Washington over health care reform continues to dominate public attention and media coverage, most Americans are critical of the way news organizations are explaining key elements of the debate. News about proposed health care legislation was the most closely followed story of last week, just as it had […]
A dovish article by a conservative columnist triggered a heated blogger’s debate over Afghanistan last week while the major topics on Twitter were all related to technology. On YouTube, health care protests continue to make for popular viewing, though not quite as popular as a dancing school teacher.
A discussion that revolved around the critics of Barack Obama and his policies dominated the blogosphere last week—with the Tea Party protests and Jimmy Carter’s remarks about race as the main catalyst. On YouTube, an exhibition of public rudeness was the most viewed video.
Summary of Findings News about the economy and the debate over health care reform continue to dominate public attention. A growing proportion of Americans say they are hearing mostly good news about the economy, while the percentage saying the news is mostly bad has fallen since July. On health care, protests at contentious town hall […]
For the first week all year, health care was the leading topic of conversation among bloggers. And it was an often contentious conversation as liberals and conservatives accused each other of spreading untruths—and sometimes worse. On Twitter, technology-focused stories led the agenda as Iran dropped out of the top story list for the first time since the disputed June 12 elections.