News Media Trends

Spanish-language media is an important tool for a U.S. Hispanic population that is increasingly bilingual and American-born. Is the Hispanic newspaper market experiencing the same issues as English-language papers? Why are networks like Univision growing so rapidly? Is radio still a dominant force in Spanish-language media? PEJ answers these and other questions in a new examination of the Hispanic Media landscape.

There were no late summer news doldrums last week as the apparent conclusion of a civil war and a pair of natural disasters topped the news. The rebel takeover of Libya generated the biggest week of attention to that conflict in five months while an earthquake and a hurricane brought the media focus back to the Northeast United States.

Overview Americans focused most closely last week on news about the nation’s troubled economy amid concerns about the stalled recovery and fears of a possible new recession. About four-in-ten (42%) say they followed reports about the condition of the U.S. economy more closely than any other news. That is three times the number saying their […]

The economy remained the No. 1 story for the ninth consecutive week while the 2012 presidential race continued its recent spike in coverage last week. And dramatic developments regarding Syria and Libya drove Mideast coverage to its highest level in nearly three months.

Overview News about the crash of a military helicopter in Afghanistan that killed 30 Americans last week refocused public attention on the long-running war there. About a quarter of the public (27%) says they followed news about the troop deaths in Afghanistan – which included members of the elite force that killed Osama bin Laden […]

Economic coverage once again dominated the news last week, and this time the focus was on the volatility of the stock market. And with Iowa in the spotlight, the 2012 presidential election re-emerged in the media narrative after several weeks of being buried by bad economic news.

The deal to raise the debt ceiling in Washington drew harsh criticism from both the left and the right last week as the subject received significant attention on blogs, Twitter and YouTube. The other subject to generate substantial interest on both blogs and Twitter was news about a teen pop star.

Overview Negative views of economic news have risen sharply since last month and now stand at their highest level in well more than two years. Fully 67% say they are hearing “mostly bad” news about the economy, up 18 points in the last month alone and more than 40 points since the start of 2011. […]

The annual survey of recent journalism and communication graduates by the University of Georgia shows only small changes in a difficult employment environment. But there are some silver linings, including a jump in job satisfaction among those who have found work in the field.

The long-awaited debt ceiling deal in Washington triggered a torrent of overwhelmingly negative economic coverage that easily proved to be the dominant story of the week. And two major newsmakers earlier in the year, al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and Congresswoman Gabrielle Gifffords, re-emerged in the headlines last week.