Emily Guskin

The new Apple operating system sent Twitter users buzzing last week while bloggers kept a close eye on a courtroom battle over the new health care law. And on YouTube, Sarah Palin’s retelling of Paul Revere’s ride was the lead video.

Many bloggers took a decidedly political view of the death of bin Laden last week while others decided to weigh in on the news of a celebrity marriage breakup. On Twitter, Microsoft’s $8.5 billion purchase of Skype created significant buzz.

Bloggers and tweeters agreed last week that Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ upcoming biography was big news while another high-tech executive generated major attention on blogs for walking out on an interview. A touching reunion between a woman and her dog was among the top YouTube videos.

From a Supreme Court decision to the discovery of ancient books, bloggers hit on a variety of topics last week——a very different list than that of the mainstream media. And YouTube viewers gave top billing to images from Japan.

The crucial events unfolding in both Japan and Libya were among the top stories on blogs last week. But the No. 1 topic was a celebration of the extraordinary life of Hollywood icon Elizabeth Taylor. On Twitter, the leading story was a high-tech business deal.

The aftermath of the devastating Japanese earthquake and tsunami, including fears about leaking radiation, commanded the attention of bloggers, Twitter users and YouTube viewers last week—eclipsing every other news event. And each of those platforms performed a different function.

For newspapers, 2010 was comparatively calm after the hair-raising revenue dips of 2008 and 2009. That was cold comfort, however, to an industry still laboring to find a sustainable business model for the future.

As the economy improved in 2010, network broadcast news quietly went through an arduous period of change. The news division of one network, ABC, instituted sharp personnel cuts designed to accomplish a “fundamental transformation” in the way network news is produced.1 Another, CBS News, worked its way from financial losses back to break-even, while management continued to strengthen a depleted bench of correspondents and news producers. NBC prepared for new owners, the third such transition since NBC was founded in 1926, and if history is a guide, the change will alter the network more than most pre-sale analyses predicted.

The African American media in 2010 mirrored the kinds of challenges and changes that mainstream news organizations also faced. Most African American media outlets either began or planned to upgrade their digital enterprises in an effort to reach new audiences. But beyond that, it was a mixed year for the sector.

The fallout from the firing of Agriculture Department official Shirley Sherrod and the one-year anniversary of the controversial arrest of African American Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., have put race back in the news. How much coverage do African Americans receive? What role did race play in coverage of the Obama Administration? A new study examining media coverage of African Americans in the first year of the Obama presidency offers answers.