News Media Trends

Overview With a Florida judge clearing the way for George Zimmerman to get out of jail on bail, developments in the case against the man charged in the killing of Trayvon Martin topped Americans’ news interest last week. About a quarter of the public (26%) says they followed developments in the case more closely than […]

As the 2012 presidential race shifts from the GOP primary battle to the general election matchup between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama, a new PEJ study reveals what the public has been told about the two candidates by the media.  It also finds that Mitt Romney emerged as the winner of the media primary weeks before Rick Santorum dropped out.

Overview The Trayvon Martin killing continued to top the public’s news interest last week as prosecutors in Florida filed a second-degree murder charge against George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch volunteer who shot the African American 17-year-old. About a third of the public (32%) says they followed news about the charges against Zimmerman more closely than […]

Amanda Lenhart spoke about the demographic differences among groups of youth in their adoption, use, and experiences with technology and social media.

Local news enthusiasts follow a diverse set of topics, but rely heavily on local newspapers to keep them informed, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism and Internet & American Life Project that examined the ways people get news and information about 16 different topics, ranging from breaking news to weather.

These local news enthusiasts follow a diverse set of topics but rely heavily on local newspapers to keep them informed

Overview Most Americans continue to say they are hearing a mix of good and bad news about the nation’s economy, though the percentage hearing mostly bad news has ticked up since last month. Nearly six-in-ten (57%) say they are hearing mixed news about the economy, 30% say they are hearing mostly bad economic news and […]

Overview The Trayvon Martin shooting is the public’s top story for the second consecutive week. But interest in the teenager’s death is deeply divided along partisan, as well as racial, lines. These differences also are apparent in reactions to news coverage of the incident: Far more Republicans (56%) than Democrats (25%) say there has been […]

Despite the growing importance of social media, just 9% of digital news consumers say they “very often” follow news recommendations from Facebook or Twitter on any of the three main types of digital devices (computers, smartphones or tablets).

The controversy over the death of Trayvon Martin has highlighted issues relating to the treatment of blacks by local police departments, the state of race relations in the U.S. and press coverage of African Americans. Pew Research Center surveys in recent years have covered the opinions of blacks and whites on these and other issues. […]