Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
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The agreement on tax cuts between President Obama and GOP leaders led to a complex online conversation which revealed deep tensions within one party. The WikiLeaks controversy, a hot topic for the second week in a row, drew a more unified response. And on YouTube, a tragic stunt on live German television drew worldwide attention.
Confidence in Turkish institutions and leaders โ including the military, religious leaders, and the prime minster โ has declined over the last few years. And Turks continue to express largely negative views of major world powers.
As drug violence continues to plague their country, Mexicans largely endorse President Felipe Calderรณnโs campaign against drug cartels. Most also believe the Mexican military is making progress in the drug war, although they are less likely to hold this view now than was the case one year ago.
Thanks to polls, prognosticators and personal attacks, the congressional election cycle galvanized the news media last week. The economy finished as the No. 2 story, with the foreclosure crisis once again driving the narrative. And a noteworthy news industry firing, that of NPR’s Juan Williams, triggered an impassioned journalistic and political debate.
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardariโs popularity has dropped further over the last year. The once-popular Zardari is now viewed unfavorably by a large majority of Pakistanis. In contrast, opposition leader Nawaz Sharif remains widely popular, as do Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani. Most […]
This fall’s big story—the 2010 midterm elections—showed little sign of abating last week as some heated campaigns sparked much of the media’s interest. Faulty foreclosure procedures helped make the troubled economy the No. 2 story, while the passing of a milestone in Afghanistan drove coverage of the third-biggest story.
In a busy news week, a massive storm that landed only a glancing blow on the U.S. East Coast was the No. 1 story. Another frightening situation that ended without more disastrous consequences, the Discovery Channel hostage drama, also finished among the top stories. And a formal change in the U.S. role in Iraq generated a rare burst of coverage in that subject.
