Due largely to the President’s prime time address to Congress, coverage of the health care reform issue exploded last week. And an Obama speech to school children that wasn’t so controversial after all also made the top story list.
Summary of Findings The public sharpened its focus on health care reform last week, following news about the debate in Washington more closely than any other story. Interest in health care reform has steadily increased in recent weeks as coverage โ including a prime-time presidential news conference โ has intensified. Nearly a third (31%) name […]
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.
The polarizing debate over health care policy was the No. 1 story for the second week in a row—with much of the coverage focused on the implications for Barack Obama. Meanwhile, economic news took a turn for the optimistic and the “birthers” got 15 minutes (and maybe more) in the media spotlight.
Amid the growing popularity of social networking web sites, the public expresses mixed opinions about people sharing personal information online. About as many say it is a bad thing (44%) that the internet enables people to share pictures and other personal things about themselves with others as see this as a good thing (43%). As […]
While the mainstream press focused on the health care battle last week, the online conversation centered on sobering survey results for President Obama. Bloggers also jumped into the racially charged “Skip” Gates case. Iran was again the hot Twitter topic and a confrontation between David Beckham and angry soccer fans led on YouTube.
Summary of Findings The death of pop star Michael Jackson continued to grab public attention last week, with Americans saying it was the story they followed most closely for the third straight week. Moreover, Jacksonโs death was by far the weekโs most talked about news story. About three-in-ten (29%) say they followed Jacksonโs memorial service […]
