News Content Analysis

The politics behind the 112th Congress led the online conversation last week as bloggers jousted over the mandate and implications of a GOP-led House. On Twitter, the announcement that Apple was now the second-most valuable company in the world was the No. 1 subject. And on YouTube, an excerpt from a BBC show demonstrated just how endearing polar bears can be.

Summary of Findings Though the new Congress convened in Washington last week, Americans focused most closely on news about the nation’s economy – until they heard about Saturday’s shooting rampage in Tucson, Ariz., that left six dead and a congresswoman fighting for her life. At that point, the shootings became the public’s top story. Before […]

Summary of Findings A series of major breaking stories captured the attention of both the public and the media in 2010, while news about the nation’s struggling economy consistently attracted high levels of public interest and coverage throughout the year. Each week, the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press conducts national public […]

For much of last week, the dominant topic in the news was the installation of a new Congress as well as its impact on politics, public policy and the Obama administration. But over the weekend, an attack that occurred about 2,000 miles from Washington D.C. quickly commandeered the attention of the media and the nation.

Last week the economy—or one nuanced element of it—led bloggers’ conversation. And the No. 2 topic was a famous athlete’s domestic situation. Meanwhile news (and rumors) about the iPad topped a tech-heavy news agenda on Twitter.

The first big East Coast snowstorm of the winter season beat out the economy and domestic terrorism as the top story last week, according to a special web news edition of PEJ’s weekly News Coverage Index. And defeated Delaware Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell, a magnet for media coverage during the 2010 campaign, returned to the spotlight, but not on the most flattering of terms.

Summary of Findings The 9/11 terrorist attacks drew more public interest than any other story in the past decade. In October 2001, a month after the attacks, 78% said they were following news about the story very closely, up slightly from the week after the attacks (74%). The devastating hurricanes that hit the Gulf Coast […]

For the third time this month, bloggers remained wrapped up in the WikiLeaks affair and U.S. government response. Bloggers also cheered the end the of the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. On Twitter, news media predictions for 2011 garnered the most attention. And a shocking event caught live on video drew the most views on YouTube.

Summary of Findings Two major disasters – the earthquake in Haiti and the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico – captured the public’s attention more than any other major stories in 2010, but Americans also kept a consistent eye on the nation’s struggling economy. In mid-January, 60% of the public said they were following […]

The economy topped the news for the sixth straight week, while a string of tragedies—the death of a top diplomat, the suicide of Bernie Madoff’s son, and the suicide of an unstable Florida gunman—also made headlines. And health care, after months of absence, returned to the news in a significant way.