Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
This report is a joint project conducted by the Project for Excellence in Journalism (PEJ) funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts and the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. PEJ and Shorenstein designed the study, analyzed the findings and wrote the report […]
Summary of Findings While Barack Obama has been the dominant figure in the presidential campaign, both in press coverage and public visibility, most Americans say they do not know very much about his policy positions. Only 40% say they know a lot or a fair amount about his positions on foreign policy; 59% say they […]
Summary of Findings As the floods in the Midwest continued to devastate parts of that region, public interest in the story increased moderately last week, but still remained significantly lower than interest in the massive floods that struck the region in 1993. Roughly four-in-ten (39%) followed the floods in the Midwest very closely, up from […]
After accusations of pro-Obama bias and a run of media soul searching, and helped by a heavy dose of controversial attack advertising from his campaign team, Republican nominee John McCain finally forced Barack Obama to share the headlines last week.
Barack Obama and John McCain sparred over offshore drilling and campaign financing, and former Presidential contender Al Gore generated headlines with an endorsement of Obama. But the coverage last week also focused on two people—Michelle Obama and George Bush—who may have a major impact on the outcome of the election.
Summary of Findings A solid majority of Americans say it as at least somewhat important to the country that an African American has won the presidential nomination of a major political party. But there are wide political and racial divisions over the significance of Barack Obama’s history-making achievement. Overall, 36% of the public says it […]
Were their any notable differences in the way different media portrayed the major personal narratives about the candidates? In some specific cases, stark differences emerged, though overall, the press was in many ways more similar than different. Among the differences, on network television, the morning news programs stood out for an exceptionally positive portrayal of […]