Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World

News Habits & Media

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News Media Tracker

Americans now navigate a quickly changing information environment, with a wide variety of news sources across many different platforms and channels. Explore data on how Americans use, trust and distrust 30 major news sources with our interactive tool.

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    Most Say They Already Know Enough about the Candidates

    Overview With more than three months to go before Election Day, most voters already feel that there’s little left to learn about the presidential candidates. When it comes to Barack Obama, 90% say they already pretty much know what they need to know about him; just 8% say they need to learn more. A substantial […]

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    Colorado Shootings Capture Public’s Interest

    Overview About half of the public says they very closely followed news about the deadly shooting rampage shortly after midnight Friday morning in a movie theater in Colorado, making this one of the most closely followed stories so far in 2012. Fully 48% say they followed this news very closely, according to the latest survey […]

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    Economy, Election Are Public’s Top Stories

    Overview The public continued to track news about the economy and the presidential election, while paying less attention to another important political story – Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s victory in a hard-fought recall election. The latest weekly News Interest Index, conducted June 7-10 among 1,000 adults by the Pew Research Center for the People & […]

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    Interest in Foreign News Declines

    Overview Public interest in foreign news stories has been modest so far this year, in stark contrast to 2011 when several overseas news stories, from the Japanese tsunami and nuclear disaster to the “Arab spring,” attracted substantial attention. The latest weekly News Interest Index, conducted May 31 to June 2 among 1,012 adults, is fairly […]

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    Presidential Campaign Public’s Top Story

    Overview Americans continued to follow news about the presidential campaign more closely than any other news last week, though they also closely followed news about the price of gasoline. Nearly three-in-ten (28%) say news about the candidates for president was their top story, while 17% say they followed news about gas prices most closely. One-in-ten […]

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    About the News Interest Index

    The News Interest Index is a weekly survey conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press aimed at gauging the public’s interest in and reaction to major news events. This project has been undertaken in conjunction with the Project for Excellence in Journalism’s News Coverage Index, an ongoing content analysis of […]

Signature Reports

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Pew Research Center illustration for America's News Influencers report; photos via Getty Images

America’s News Influencers

This study explores the makeup of the social media news influencer universe, including who they are, what content they create and who their audiences are.