News Coverage

In a week in which the president defended his Libya policy to the American public, the Middle East again topped the news agenda. But coverage of that subject and the aftermath of the Japanese earthquake tailed off a bit last week as both crises defied any quick resolution.

The crucial events unfolding in both Japan and Libya were among the top stories on blogs last week. But the No. 1 topic was a celebration of the extraordinary life of Hollywood icon Elizabeth Taylor. On Twitter, the leading story was a high-tech business deal.

Summary of Findings The public’s news interests this week are far out of sync with the news media’s coverage: While the aftermath of the Japan earthquake and tsunami was the public’s top story by a wide margin, news organizations devoted far more coverage to the military conflict in Libya. Nearly six-in-ten Americans (57%) say they […]

While the media pivoted to Libya, the public did not follow, keeping their focus on the crisis in Japan. Americans give the press high marks for their coverage of the Japan disaster and Libya conflict, but have little praise for media coverage of economics and politics.

Libya traded places with Japan as the top storyline in the news last week as the media scrambled to cover two international crises at once. The biggest domestic news story, meanwhile, was the death of a Hollywood icon.

The aftermath of the devastating Japanese earthquake and tsunami, including fears about leaking radiation, commanded the attention of bloggers, Twitter users and YouTube viewers last week—eclipsing every other news event. And each of those platforms performed a different function.

Summary of Findings News about the aftermath of the deadly earthquake and tsunami in Japan dominated the public’s news interest and media coverage last week. The crisis at Japan’s nuclear plants – far more than other aspects of the story – captured the most public interest. Fully 57% say they followed news about the aftermath […]

Fire and fallout at a Japanese nuclear plant made the aftermath of the disastrous earthquake one of the biggest stories recorded by PEJ in the past four years. But by the end of the week, U.S. military action in Libya surpassed every other event, including Japan, in the news agenda.

For many people in Japan and around the world, Twitter was a vital communication tool in the hours following the devastating March 11 earthquake, the seventh most powerful in recorded history. And bloggers got an early jump on the presidential campaign.

Summary of Findings The devastating earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan late last week dominated the public’s news interest – and news media coverage – in the days following the March 11 disaster. Roughly half (52%) of the public say they very closely followed news about the massive earthquake off the northeast coast of Japan […]