Perceptions of the importance of local newspapers The survey indicated that newspapers play a far more complex role in the civic life of communities than many Americans believe. On the surface, most people do not feel that their local newspaper is a key source that they rely on for local information. For instance, when asked, […]
Overview The threat of nuclear disaster in Japan and the killing of Osama bin Laden by Navy SEALs were two of the breaking news stories that captured the greatest amount of public attention in 2011. But Americans also kept a steady watch on the economy at home. More than half said they followed news about […]
Overview As the Republican candidates battle for the chance to challenge Barack Obama in November, many Americans are highly critical of the presidential campaign. Half (50%) say the campaign has been too negative. By comparison, four years ago, amidst primary fights in both parties, just 28% said the campaign at that point was too negative. […]
Respondents’ thoughts One major sign of the sanctification of Big Data as a topic of interest with vast potential emerged in March this year when the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health joined forces “to develop new methods to derive knowledge from data; construct new infrastructure to manage, curate and serve data to […]
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, an ongoing content analysis of […]
While blogs and Twitter are both called social media and have a similar basic function-the sharing of information and opinion-their news agendas differed markedly in 2011 (something we also saw in 2010). The data examined by PEJ reveal that Twitter users were more consumed by new digital technology and products. The blogosphere more closely followed […]
Project for Excellence in Journalism (PEJ) staff and researchers at The George Washington University’s School of Media and Public Affairs (SMPA) conducted this study and contributed to the production of this report, “How Mainstream Outlets Use Twitter.” Sample The abridged NCI sample included six newspapers-three “tier 1” national newspapers with the highest print circulation, and […]
Overview The latest allegations in the child sex abuse scandal at Penn State University rivaled news about the 2012 elections and the economy for the public’s attention last week. About two-in-ten (19%) say news about the candidates for the 2012 presidential elections was their top story, while 18% each say they followed news about the […]
In addition to the New York Times, other newspaper websites are popular as well: with USA Today, the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post rounding out the top newspaper websites visited. These three sites also tend to rank within the top 10-15 news websites overall. The big nationally known outlets are also named most […]