Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Read our research on:
Summary of Findings So far, the extraordinary anti-government protests in Egypt have drawn much more attention from the news media than from the American public. Only about one-in-ten (11%) cite news about protests in Egypt and other Middle Eastern countries as the story they followed most closely last week. By contrast, more than three times […]
While the violence in Libya was one of the top stories on Twitter, bloggers homed in on domestic policy as they debated the potential impact of proposed Republican budget cuts and the prospects of a government shutdown. On YouTube, three videos that brought home the devastation of the earthquake in New Zealand garnered millions of views.
The January 8 Arizona assault stunned the nation and became one of the biggest stories in recent years. A PEJ analysis of mainstream and social media coverage and commentary reveals which element of the story made the most news, whether President Obama’s speech changed the narrative, how Sarah Palin was covered and how much attention the issue of gun control generated.
Domestic and foreign conflicts—from Madison to Tripoli—generated plenty of attention in social media last week, with users opining and relaying breaking news. On YouTube, scenes of Mideast unrest once again made the roster of most popular videos.
65% of internet users have paid to access or download some kind of digital content. Music and software are the most common kinds of content purchased
Two very different issues led the conversation on the blogosphere last week: the record U.S. deficit and the post-Mubarak transformation in Egypt. On Twitter, the No. 1 topic was self-referential— a list of influential English people who use Twitter.
Summary of Findings The public continued to show strong interest last week in news about the shooting rampage in Tucson, Ariz., though the story did not dominate media coverage as it had one week earlier. More than four-in-ten Americans (44%) say they followed news about the aftermath of the Jan. 8 shootings more closely than […]
Interest in WikiLeaks Down
The online conversation last week focused heavily on the aftermath of the Arizona shooting spree that left six dead and 13 wounded. The most prominent element debated, according to a separate PEJ report released earlier this week, was the level of vitriol in political rhetoric today.