Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World

Short Reads

Short-form data and analysis from Pew Research Center writers and social scientists. To view all our reports and publications, visit our main Publications page.

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  • short reads

    Chart of the Week: Newspaper circulation around the world

    Journalists and print loyalists who are dejected about the state of the U.S. newspaper business may be comforted — or perhaps made a bit envious — by the knowledge that in at least some other countries, newspaper circulation continues to rise smartly. The chart below, from The Economist’s Graphic Detail blog, uses data from the World Press […]

  • short reads

    Cell phone ownership hits 91% of adults

    For the first time, the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project has found that cell phone ownership among adults has exceeded 90%. Cell phones are now being used by 91% of adults, according to the survey conducted between April 17 and May 19 of 2,252 adults. While the adoption figures are stunning by […]

  • short reads

    Is MSNBC the place for opinion?

    MSNBC president Phil Griffin generated plenty of media attention this week when he said, in a New York Times interview, that his channel was “not the place” for breaking news. “Our brand is not that.” Griffin was responding to a significant decline in MSNBC’s ratings, which the Times reported was down 18% in prime time […]

  • short reads

    Polling flashback: Remembering RFK

    It was 45 years ago this week that Senator Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated by Sirhan Sirhan while celebrating after a victory in the California Democratic primary. It was another milestone event in 1968, following Martin Luther King, Jr.’s murder two months earlier. Although there is no way to tell how the election would have […]

  • short reads

    Americans and Chinese grow more wary of each other

    As U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping prepare for their first summit on Friday, tensions between the publics of these two superpowers are on the rise. American attitudes toward China have turned sharply negative over the last two years. According to new Pew Research Center poll findings not yet released in a […]