News Coverage

PEJ examines how the Lynch saga grew and changed in the media over time.

Summary of Findings Most Americans believe President Bush will win reelection next fall, but Democrats are holding out hope for their party’s chances for success in 2004. Overall, two-thirds of registered voters (66%) think Bush will be reelected, compared with 22% who expect the Democratic candidate to prevail. In the fall of 1991, more than […]

Summary of Findings With the war in Iraq over, Americans are feeling more optimistic about a turnaround in the national economy, and a greater number than at the beginning of the year think that President Bush is doing as much as he can to improve economic conditions. But the president’s tax cut proposal continues to […]

The study examines the tendencies of different local television news ownership structures.

Summary of Findings The public is paying close attention to the war and continues to give news organizations high marks for their coverage. But a sizable minority of Americans (39%) feel the news media is focusing too heavily on the war, and significant numbers believe the media is undercovering other major stories like the tax […]

The American public reacted very favorably to Secretary of State Colin Powell’s presentation to the U.N. Security Council. The flurry of polling conducted over the past week indicates that he made convincing points to the American public about the dangers posed by Saddam’s Hussein’s regime. Powell and President Bush, in his State of the Union […]

Introduction and Summary A series of horrifying sniper attacks in the Washington, D.C. area attracted the most public interest of any news story in 2002. But the growing prospects of war with Iraq, as well as the continuing threat of terrorism and the aftermath of 9/11, also drew high levels of attention throughout the year. […]

In a year when the nation was changed by the war on terrorism, a recession and financial scandals, the Project for Excellence in Journalism's fifth annual study found that local television news remained largely unchanged. The study was published in the November/December 2002 issue of the Columbia Journalism Review.

Typical questions used by TV consultants are poorly designed. Asking questions differently reveals an overwhelming interest in learning about politics.

Introduction and Summary The public’s news habits have been largely unaffected by the Sept. 11 attacks and subsequent war on terrorism. Reported levels of reading, watching and listening to the news are not markedly different than in the spring of 2000. At best, a slightly larger percentage of the public is expressing general interest in […]