News Content Analysis

  Summary of Findings The public divided its attention last week between two major stories: the aftermath of the deadly earthquake and tsunami in Japan and the budget battle in Washington that nearly led to a government shutdown. About a third say they followed news about the aftermath of the disasters in Japan (34%) or […]

The media narrative moved from overseas to the Beltway last week as budget battles trumped press interest in Libyan fighting and Japanese nuclear worries. The question is whether a long run of dominant international news will now give way to ongoing coverage of domestic concerns.

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.

Summary of Findings With the employment picture slowly improving in recent months, fewer Americans say they are hearing mostly bad news about the job situation. At the same time, perceptions of news about prices – especially gas prices – remain overwhelmingly negative. Currently, 43% say they are hearing mostly bad news about the job situation […]

In a week in which the president defended his Libya policy to the American public, the Middle East again topped the news agenda. But coverage of that subject and the aftermath of the Japanese earthquake tailed off a bit last week as both crises defied any quick resolution.

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.

Summary of Findings The public’s news interests this week are far out of sync with the news media’s coverage: While the aftermath of the Japan earthquake and tsunami was the public’s top story by a wide margin, news organizations devoted far more coverage to the military conflict in Libya. Nearly six-in-ten Americans (57%) say they […]

While the media pivoted to Libya, the public did not follow, keeping their focus on the crisis in Japan. Americans give the press high marks for their coverage of the Japan disaster and Libya conflict, but have little praise for media coverage of economics and politics.

Libya traded places with Japan as the top storyline in the news last week as the media scrambled to cover two international crises at once. The biggest domestic news story, meanwhile, was the death of a Hollywood icon.

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.