News Content Analysis

In a week dominated by two mega-stories—the continuing travails of Obamacare and the devastating typhoon in the Philippines—America’s hypercompetitive cable news outlets exercised very different news judgments.

Data as of Oct. 30, 2013. Read Media take sides on ‘Redskins’ name (Fact Tank, Oct. 30, 2013) Media Outlets Boycotting/No Longer Using Name The Richmond Free Press Slate The New Republic Mother Jones Monday Morning Quarterback Washington City Paper DCist The Oregonian The Seattle Times Kansas City Star San Francisco Chronicle Sportsgrid Journalists Boycotting/No Longer […]

CNN's "Crossfire" is back, injecting more opinion-driven programming into an evening cable news landscape that is already chock full of ideology and commentary.

Overview The final days of the trial of George Zimmerman, which concluded July 13 with a verdict of not guilty, attracted relatively modest public interest overall. In a weekend survey, 26% say they were following news about the trial very closely. This is lower than interest in the initial controversy over Trayvon Martin’s shooting when […]

Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge – formerly known as Kate Middleton – are expecting the birth of their first child any day now, an event that will once again bring the royal family into the spotlight, whether the public welcomes the news coverage or not. In December 2012, a quarter of Americans said […]

Three politicians who were forced from office by scandal are currently attempting comebacks. They are trying to overcome misdeeds that put them in the top five political scandals of recent years as measured by the amount of news coverage.

News stories focused on support for same-sex marriage outnumbered those opposing it by roughly 5-to-1 in the two months marked by Supreme Court deliberations on the issue, according to the latest study in Pew Research's LGBT in Changing Times series. Did statements of support vary by media sector? Did reactions on Twitter differ from the news media? How was the topic covered in LGBT outlets? The new study offers answers.

Today marks the beginning of what is likely to be a closely watched courtroom battle—the murder trial of George Zimmerman for the fatal shooting of 17-year old Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida on February 26, 2012. While there has been ongoing coverage of the case and the run-up to the trial, it may be hard […]

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 […]

Overview As Oklahoma recovers from severe damage caused by last week’s tornado, a majority of Americans (59%) say federal spending in response to natural disasters is emergency aid that does not need to be offset by cuts to other programs, while 29% say such spending must be offset by cuts to other programs. While there […]