News Habits & Media

Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton generated a huge portion of the headlines last week as Pennsylvanians finally went to the polls. The issue of race re-emerged to play a substantial role in the media’s Democratic campaign narrative. And Republican John McCain struggled to be heard through the din.

Summary of Findings Interest in what the public perceives as an excessively negative presidential campaign declined in the days leading up to the Pennsylvania primary. Just 29% of Americans say they paid very close attention to news about the presidential campaign last week, the lowest percentage recorded since December 2007. By comparison, 43% said they […]

Many people expected Rupert Murdoch to be an activist owner when he bought the Wall Street Journal last year. So what’s happened to the paper under his tenure? A PEJ study of Journal front pages finds that under the new regime, there’s a lot less business and a lot more Beltway.

A Project for Excellence in Journalism content study finds that, to date, the newly staked out battleground between the Journal and Times seems to be located mostly on the playing field of politics.

Research conducted by The Pew Internet & American Life Project examines the growing role of technology in our lives, our changing expectations about how to find and use information, and the impact younger generations will have on the arts audience...

The two Democratic contenders went at it last week, battling over Barack Obama’s “bitter” remarks at a California fundraiser and over the ABC debate that some said had too much “gotcha.” Trailing in the race for attention, John McCain saw the media examine everything from his economic policy to his temper last week.

Summary of Findings John McCain’s campaign for president has been flying under the news media’s radar since he sewed up the Republican nomination in early March. In recent weeks, he has received less news coverage – and has been consistently less visible to the public – than either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. Nonetheless, far […]

Speculation over Katie Couric’s future as anchor of the CBS Evening News has raised the broader question of how long the three nightly network news broadcasts will be able to survive.

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama attracted more attention from the press than John McCain last week. But the two Democrats were often engaged in serious damage control while the GOP’s candidate was basking in some pretty positive coverage.

Two liberal radio hosts, Randi Rhodes and Ed Schultz, generated headlines and a backlash last week for their rhetoric in attacking Hillary Clinton and John McCain. And some conservative talkers see pro-Barack Obama media bias behind the calls on Clinton to withdraw.