News Coverage

Overview The latest allegations in the child sex abuse scandal at Penn State University rivaled news about the 2012 elections and the economy for the public’s attention last week. About two-in-ten (19%) say news about the candidates for the 2012 presidential elections was their top story, while 18% each say they followed news about the […]

One GOP candidate has not only soared in the polls recently, he’s become the focal point of news coverage as well. A presidential speech drove coverage of the week’s No. 2 story, the economy.

Overview The number of Americans hearing mostly bad news about the economy has fallen 12 points over the past month and 31 points since fears of a new recession intensified in August. Currently, 56% say the news they are hearing about the economy is a mix of good and bad, while 36% say the news […]

Herman Cain was in the campaign spotlight one final time last week, as he ended his presidential run in the wake of new allegations. Some good news on both the domestic and foreign economic fronts fueled coverage of the No. 2 and No. 3 stories.

 Overview Few Americans (17%) paid very close attention to news about the congressional “super committee” last week as the panel approached its deadline to agree on a plan to cut federal spending and reduce the national deficit. Another 24% say they followed news about the super committee fairly closely. Most (58%) followed news about the […]

Tensions drove Occupy Wall Street coverage to its biggest week so far and an interview with Jerry Sandusky ushered in a second week of major coverage of Penn State’s sexual abuse scandal.

Overview The Penn State child sex abuse scandal topped the public’s news interest last week, but Americans also continued to closely track news about the nation’s economy. The public’s perceptions of economic news, which took a decided downturn in August, are much less negative today. Currently, 48% say they are hearing mostly bad news about […]

Twitter has been embraced by news organizations today, but is used in limited ways, according to a new study by the Project for Excellence in Journalism and The George Washington University.

With additional women coming forward with sexual harassment allegations against Herman Cain, the 2012 presidential race was the No. 1 story for the second week in a row.

Overview Public interest in the presidential campaign showed no increase this week, despite the news media’s increasing coverage of sexual harassment allegations against Herman Cain. About one-in-five Americans (22%) say they followed news about the 2012 candidates very closely, little changed from a week earlier (21%), according to the latest weekly News Interest Index survey, […]