Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Read our research on:
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” – the 17-year-old policy that bans gays from serving openly in the military – has become a heated issue in elections in Nevada, Missouri and Florida. The issue gained prominence in late May, when the Senate Armed Services Committee and the full House of Representatives voted to allow the Department of […]
The mainstream media offer the American public a divided view of how information technology influences society, according to a new PEJ study. Messages such as technology making life easier often vie with concerns about privacy and safety. How do the media portray technology? Which companies get the most coverage? Do social media and blogs treat the subject differently than traditional media? A year-long study of technology coverage answers these and other questions.
The argument over the Park 51 Islamic center continued in the blogosphere last week, but this time, mosque supporters dominated. Bloggers also reacted to a poll that more Americans believe Barack Obama is a Muslim. On Twitter, an article declaring "The Web is dead" was No. 1. And on YouTube, an obscene gesture drove a popular video.
Two Republican candidates in key U.S. Senate races have stirred controversy by questioning whether there ought to be separation between church and state in America. Nevada Republican candidate Sharron Angle declared in 1995, according tominutes from a meeting of the Nevada Assembly Committee on Education, that “the separation of church and state is an unconstitutional […]
The debate over the Islamic Center and mosque near Ground Zero in New York was a hotly contested issue for bloggers for the third week in a row as the focus turned to the motives of those opposing the construction. On Twitter, a new phone app feature from Google created a mostly positive buzz.
A divided Supreme Court today ruled, 5-4, that a public law school can deny recognition to a student group that excludes gays and lesbians. The Court said the school could enforce a policy requiring official student organizations to accept all students who want to join. The case, Christian Legal Society v. Martinez, arose in 2004 […]
The public sees the next 40 years as a time of violent conflict, both globally and in the United States. Fully 58% see another world war as definite or probable over the next 40 years. Nearly as many (53%) expect the United States to face a terrorist attack with nuclear weapons. Opinions about America’s future […]
Bloggers were sharply critical of Google last week, accusing the internet giant of shifting its position on a key online policy. Meanwhile, a column arguing against a mosque near the site of Ground Zero drew plaudits. On Twitter, a baseball mishap made the roster of top stories while the No. 1 YouTube video had Boy Scouts booing Barack Obama.
Newspaper coverage of the Catholic clergy sexual abuse scandal grew more intense this spring than at any time since 2002, and European newspapers devoted even more ink to the story than American papers did, according to a new study by the Pew Research Center. The heavy coverage in Europe was a reversal of the pattern […]