News Media Trends

Report Summary The President’s approval ratings have slipped below 40% for the first time ever, a significant gender gap is re-emerging, and two traditionally strong constituencies — the affluent and younger voters — are starting to edge away from the President. While the now famous unnamed Democrat beats the President, the public still believes Bush […]

Report Summary In a period when Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as President of the USSR, when the Soviet Union fragmented and dissolved, and when the Commonwealth of Independent States took its place, stories about the U.S. economy are being followed much more closely by the American people.

Report Summary The nomination of Clarence Thomas to the U.S. Supreme Court and stories relating to the condition of the economy were the most closely followed news events of the past four weeks. Thirty-five percent of the public said they were following news about the economy very closely and 33% said they were following news […]

Report Summary According to the latest Times Mirror monthly News Interest Index, most Americans (55%) think that the press is unfair in the way it covers the Vice President. Only one in three Americans (33%) regard coverage of him as fair. Republicans and Independents were more likely than Democrats to be critical of the way […]

Report Summary In the afterglow of victory in the Gulf the public offers little criticism of the press for the way it covered the war and shows almost no reservations about the military restrictions placed on war news. Over eight in ten Americans rated news coverage of the war as excellent or good, with fully […]

Report Summary The American public gives high marks to media coverage of the war in the Gulf at the same time as it calls for increased military control of how the news is covered. A fifty-seven percent majority believes that the military should increase its control over reporting of the war while 34% believe that […]

Report Summary As the crisis in the Persian Gulf approaches its climax, the public remains riveted to the story, with 59 percent of survey respondents saying they are following developments very closely and 66 percent saying they have given a great deal of thought to the question of using military force against Iraq.

Report Summary In a year that began and ended with American troops in the field, international news dominated the consciousness of Americans in 1990. In nine months of the last year, international news stories were the most closely followed news stories of the month, and throughout the entire period the public regarded international events as […]

Report Summary American voters gave the press a C+ grade for its coverage of the 1990 campaign, but that is a substantial improvement over the D+ grade the press received for its coverage of the 1988 presidential campaign. The press received better ratings than the parties and the campaign professionals for Election ’90. In 1988, […]

Report Summary Interest in news about the economy and the election campaigns increased markedly in the past month, but the crisis in the Gulf continued to be the story most closely followed by the American public. For the fourth consecutive month, approximately two-thirds of Times Mirror’s nationwide sample (62%) reported that it was following the […]