News Habits & Media

The country’s financial crisis last week became the biggest story in more than three months. The Treasury Secretary got unflattering media reviews, but the press narrative turned more positive for President Obama.

Lee Rainie's speech at the Integrated Media Association meeting was a hit on Twitter.

This speech pulls together Pew Internet findings and analysis about how people get news and relate to news items in the digital age.

Bloggers and the traditional media agreed on the two top news events last week, but with somewhat differing angles. New media users cared a lot more about nasty winter weather in other parts of the world.

Along with communicating extensively via untethered mobile devices, Twitter users are more likely to consume news and information on these devices as well.

Summary of Findings As the contentious debate over President Obama’s $800 billion economic stimulus plan played out in Congress over the past week, more Americans were hearing bad things than good things about the legislation. Close to half (48%) of the public says that what they were reading and hearing about the plan in the […]

It wasn’t much of a honeymoon, at least so far. And nowhere did the discussion of the economic crisis and the new Administration seem to beat up the President more roundly than in the studios of cable talk shows and, of course, on the radio.

Bloggers and the traditional media were both focused on the economy last week, but the online community was just as concerned with a Barack Obama-Rush Limbaugh feud and a practical joke involving a zombie sighting.

Summary of Findings The public focused much more on President Obama’s major policy proposals and decisions than on lighter, more personal stories about the new president and his family in the early days of his administration. Nearly seven-in-ten Americans (69%) say they heard a lot about Obama’s push for quick action on his economic stimulus […]

One week after Barack Obama’s swearing in, the battle over a stimulus plan restored the financial meltdown to a dominant role in the news agenda and triggered early questions about the President’s political skills. In the media narrative, the honeymoon chapter seemed over before it began.