Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World

News Media Trends

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    Polls in Close Agreement on Public Views of War

    Public attitudes toward the war in Iraq have been remarkably consistent through the first two weeks of the conflict. There is broad support for the war, and Americans are upbeat – though not overwhelmingly so – about progress to date. Most expect it will take months, not weeks, to defeat the Iraqi military. What is […]

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    TV Combat Fatigue on the Rise

    Summary of Findings Wall-to-wall media reports on the war in Iraq have not resulted in significant improvement in the public’s view of the media’s coverage of this war compared with the first Persian Gulf conflict. However, there are signs that 24-7 televised images of war are taking an increasing psychological toll. In recent days, more […]

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    Public Confidence In War Effort Falters

    Introduction and Summary Over the past two days the American public has become much less confident that the war in Iraq is going well, but large majorities continue to support President Bush and the decision to go to war. Polling on March 23-24 finds significantly fewer Americans thinking the war is going very well compared […]

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    Powell Reversed the Trend but not the Tenor of Public Opinion

    The American public reacted very favorably to Secretary of State Colin Powell’s presentation to the U.N. Security Council. The flurry of polling conducted over the past week indicates that he made convincing points to the American public about the dangers posed by Saddam’s Hussein’s regime. Powell and President Bush, in his State of the Union […]

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    Political Sites Gain, But Major News Sites Still Dominant

    Introduction and Summary More Americans used the Internet to get campaign information in 2002 than during the last midterm election four years ago. While much of this increase has come from the overall growth in the online population, a higher proportion of Internet users sought election news than did so four years ago (22% now, […]

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    Sniper Attacks Draw Most Public Interest in 2002

    Introduction and Summary A series of horrifying sniper attacks in the Washington, D.C. area attracted the most public interest of any news story in 2002. But the growing prospects of war with Iraq, as well as the continuing threat of terrorism and the aftermath of 9/11, also drew high levels of attention throughout the year. […]

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