News Media Trends

Through the 2008 primary election season, two candidates—Democratic Senator Barack Obama and Republican former governor Mitt Romney—received more media attention about their faith than any of the other candidates combined.

For both, the attention raised concerns about their relig ...

Summary of Findings The public’s top story last week was the rising price of gasoline. Fully 62% of Americans followed news about gas prices very closely, and four-in-ten said it was the story they followed more closely than any other. Gas prices overshadowed the presidential campaign as the public’s most closely followed story by a […]

There wasn’t much good news in the media campaign narrative for either John McCain or Barack Obama last week. The big McCain story was a staff shakeup that exposed internal problems in the campaign. Meanwhile Obama was trying to prove his patriotism, avoid charges of flip-flopping, and minimize the damage from a surrogate controversy.

Summary of Findings News organizations continued to focus a great deal of attention on the presidential campaign last week, but the public was more interested in news about the rising price of oil and the overall economy. As the price of oil reached a new record, a solid majority (57%) followed news about rising oil […]

Barack Obama’s efforts to heal the wounds of the primary battle and to reconcile with the Clintons were the major story lines in last week’s coverage of the Presidential campaign. And they’re a big reason why the Democratic nominee generated about twice as much coverage as did John McCain.

The public is largely satisfied with the amount of media coverage the Midwest floods have received, but there is much less satisfaction with the federal government's response to the disaster.

Summary of Findings As the floods in the Midwest continued to devastate parts of that region, public interest in the story increased moderately last week, but still remained significantly lower than interest in the massive floods that struck the region in 1993. Roughly four-in-ten (39%) followed the floods in the Midwest very closely, up from […]

Barack Obama and John McCain sparred over offshore drilling and campaign financing, and former Presidential contender Al Gore generated headlines with an endorsement of Obama. But the coverage last week also focused on two people—Michelle Obama and George Bush—who may have a major impact on the outcome of the election.

Summary of Findings The public continues to express strong interest in news about the economy. More than four-in-ten (42%) tracked economic news very closely last week, only slightly below the 45% who tracked news about the economy very closely in mid-March, which was a 15-year high. And while several specific economic and financial news stories […]