News Media Trends

Last week, bloggers tackled the situation in Egypt as both reporter and commentator. More were critical of Obama’s actions but the discussion moved far beyond the current president. And two of the most-viewed videos on YouTube featured scenes of the protests in the streets of Cairo.

Summary of Findings The public’s interest in news about the massive anti-government protests in Egypt surged last week, but did not keep pace with the growth in media coverage. About a third (32%) of the public says they followed news about the protests in Egypt very closely last week. That’s nearly double the 17% that […]

A history-making blizzard, major developments in the health care debate and a new set of unemployment numbers all made news last week. But they were overwhelmed by the situation in the Mideast. The dramatic events in Egypt set a new high water mark for international coverage.

Lee Rainie speaks at a conference on citizen journalism and social media (updated with slides)

The top subjects for bloggers last week involved Washington-centric stories, but not the one that galvanized much of the mainstream media. The lead subject on Twitter was about online news judgment. And on YouTube, an eight-month-old clip featuring remarks by talk host Glenn Beck became the subject of a debate about inflammatory speech.

Summary of Findings So far, the extraordinary anti-government protests in Egypt have drawn much more attention from the news media than from the American public. Only about one-in-ten (11%) cite news about protests in Egypt and other Middle Eastern countries as the story they followed most closely last week. By contrast, more than three times […]

If President Obama expected his State of the Union address to dominate the media narrative last week, those plans went awry when turmoil in a crucial Mideast ally threatened to remake the region and challenge U.S. strategy. And while coverage of the economy picked up last week, attention to the Tucson shooting plunged.

Senator John McCain’s support for President Obama’s speech at the Arizona memorial and the dawn of a new GOP-led House of Representatives focused bloggers’ attention last week. On Twitter, stories about Apple’s financial health drew the most interest. And on YouTube, the dramatic floods in Australia revealed the impact of the tragedy to the world.

Summary of Findings The public continued to show strong interest last week in news about the shooting rampage in Tucson, Ariz., though the story did not dominate media coverage as it had one week earlier. More than four-in-ten Americans (44%) say they followed news about the aftermath of the Jan. 8 shootings more closely than […]

Summary of Findings Most Americans say they plan to watch President Obama’s State of the Union address Tuesday night. Still, a sizable majority sees the speech to Congress as no more important than in previous years. In the latest survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted Jan. 20-23 among […]