News Content Analysis

Free versus pay? When it comes to music, bloggers last week strongly championed free. On Twitter, strong views over privacy issues surfaced when Google released its new social networking feature, Google Buzz. And a conversation between Jon Stewart and Bill O’Reilly attracted over a million views on YouTube.

Summary of Findings Americans say they tracked the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti more closely than any other major news story last week, but they also kept a close watch on news about the U.S. economy and the powerful snow storms that hit the nation’s East Coast and South. Three-in-ten (30%) say they followed […]

With its wintry TV tableaus, last week’s massive snowstorms topped a news agenda tilted toward the nation’s Capitol. Not only did Washington D.C. bear the brunt of the snow’s wallop, but Beltway-based battles over the jobs and health care came next in the roster of leading stories.

An anti-abortion ad run during the Super Bowl and opposition to gay rights were the most popular subjects on social media last week. On YouTube, Apple’s iPad dominated all five of the most-viewed news videos.

Summary of Findings Americans continue to closely track news about the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti and the U.S. economy, paying less close attention to the fast-evolving story about serious safety problems with Toyota automobiles. Still, the public is quite laudatory of press coverage of the automaker’s problems. More than four-in-ten say they followed […]

For the second week in a row, the actions of President Obama fueled substantial coverage of the state of the U.S. economy. Toyota’s mounting problems and a controversial kidnapping case in Haiti also helped propel those subjects onto the roster of top stories.

Anticipation and reaction to Apple’s new iPad was the hottest topic on Twitter last week. Blogs, though, were more caught up with a British program made up entirely of footage shot by chimpanzees. In both arenas, the President’s State of the Union Address drew little reflection.

Summary of Findings In a week when the media focused heavily on Barack Obama’s first State of the Union address and the state of the economy, Americans continued to track news about the earthquake in Haiti more closely than any other major news story. Four-in-ten say they followed news about the aftermath of the earthquake […]

Coverage of the President’s prime-time speech and assessments of his stewardship in office dominated the news agenda last week. Meanwhile, news about the economy, events in Haiti and trouble for Toyota filled out the roster of top stories. And attention to one of the week’s top newsmakers varied dramatically on cable news.

The recovery efforts following the tragic earthquake in Haiti continued to be the main subject of interest in parts of social media last week—particularly on Twitter and YouTube. Blogs also discussed details of the quake’s aftermath, but the blogosphere paid more attention to other topics, including warnings from European countries about security risks involved with Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.