News Content Analysis

In the last several weeks, terrorism has topped the news agenda more often than the economic crisis. As last week’s dueling Cheney-Obama speeches showed, that’s what happens when a hot-button topic becomes the Beltway’s primary political fault line.

As was the case with the mainstream media, interrogation techniques and the President’s reversal on the release of prisoner photos led the blogosphere conversation last week.

Summary of Findings Americans followed reports about the U.S. economy more closely than other major stories last week as President Obama pushed for new restrictions on the credit card industry and automakers announced plans to cut ties with some 1,900 dealerships nationwide. More than four-in-ten (44%) say they followed economic news very closely, according to […]

As attention to the economy dropped, the nation’s anti-terrorism policies dominated the news agenda for the second time in the past month. Since the release of the interrogation memos, coverage of this topic has jumped dramatically.

Bloggers and social media balanced their attention last week among a wide array of subjects that differed dramatically from top stories in the mainstream media.

Summary of Findings Most Americans say they are hearing a mix of good and bad news about the U.S. economy, a stark change from the start of the year when a sizable majority said they were hearing mostly bad economic news. The latest weekly News Interest Index survey, conducted May 8-11 by the Pew Research […]

A financial report card for U.S. banks returned the economic crisis to the top of the news agenda last week while the fighting in Pakistan and Afghanistan also became a major story.

Bloggers last week debated whether the worldwide swine flu outbreak was a serious public health menace or a case of excessive media hype. And Arlen Specter’s change of parties stirred a partisan debate over the state of the GOP.

Summary of Findings Americans tracked news about the fast-moving swine flu virus more closely than any other story last week, with most turning to television for details on its spread. Still, when people were asked to name which information source was most useful, the largest share chose the internet. The latest weekly News Interest Index […]

A story that suddenly emerged from nowhere, the threat of a global influenza pandemic, sent the media into overdrive last week. The flu scare knocked a number of significant events out of the headlines and by week’s end, began to spawn a backlash.