News Content Analysis

Bloggers, even more so than the mainstream press, dedicated the week to the passing of Senator Ted Kennedy. Twitter users linked to Kennedy as well, but were more caught up in new legislation that could affect their online activities. And according to YouTube clicks, health care town halls still make for good viewing.

The passing of the last of the fabled Kennedy brothers easily led last week’s news agenda and generated a host of storylines. And for the first time in more than a month, the fractious health care debate was relegated to the sidelines.

Troop increases may face considerable opposition in many NATO countries, which were opposed to Obama?s original call for more forces

Health care or zombies and cocaine? In the debate over which is better fodder for discussion, social media last week chose the latter pair—a simulation of a worldwide zombie attack and traces of cocaine on much of the U.S. currency. On YouTube, though, confrontations from the health care town hall meetings captured the most eyeballs.

Summary of Findings Despite the emergence of several major international stories – including an election in war-ravaged Afghanistan and the release of the so-called Lockerbie bomber – the public continued to be focused on domestic news, particularly the ongoing debate over health care reform. Fully 45% say they followed health care developments more closely than […]

The fight over health care legislation continued to dominate the news, but with a narrative twist that was tough on Barack Obama. And a crucial election kept the spotlight on Afghanistan, a conflict increasingly showing up in the headlines.

Summary of Findings Public interest in health care reform shows no signs of slackening, with news about the debate continuing to top the public’s news agenda. Fully 46% name health care as the story they followed more closely than any other last week – double the percentage who named the week’s second most closely followed […]

For the first week all year, health care was the leading topic of conversation among bloggers. And it was an often contentious conversation as liberals and conservatives accused each other of spreading untruths—and sometimes worse. On Twitter, technology-focused stories led the agenda as Iran dropped out of the top story list for the first time since the disputed June 12 elections.

Coverage of the debate over health care policy increased dramatically, dominating the news agenda last week. But with contentious shouting matches and overheated rhetoric driving the narrative, America’s news consumers may have gotten more heat than light.

Last week, for the first time in two months, the most discussed news story on Twitter was something other than unrest in Iran. Instead, it was Twitter itself and the outage the site faced on August 6. In the blogosphere, attention was focused on an unusual lawsuit. And on YouTube, the top videos involved rising political temperatures in the dog days of summer.