News Habits & Media

The rule requiring broadcasters to balance views aired on controversial subjects was repealed 20 years ago. Yet in recent weeks, debate about the Fairness Doctrine has re-emerged in media circles -- especially on talk radio.

Summary of Findings While the media focused intently last week on the escalating debate over U.S. policy in Iraq, the public took a typical summer hiatus from the major news stories of the week. The Iraq war, rather than the policy debate, was the news story the public focused on most closely, but even attention […]

It’s been off the books since the FCC repealed it two decades ago. But an old rule regulating content on the airwaves has suddenly become a topic on Capitol Hill and on the talk radio circuit. Is the Fairness Doctrine really headed for a comeback?

From blogs on world health care to public radio's The World, there were many interpretations of last week's report on China's internet population.

After dominating news coverage for the first three months of the year, the disagreement over U.S. strategy in Iraq took a back seat in recent weeks to such topics as the presidential campaign and the battle over immigration. But what happened last week in Washington re-ignited old passions and re-engaged the press.

The presidential hopefuls are using their web sites for unprecedented two-way communication with citizens. But what are voters learning here? Is it more than a way to bypass the media? A new PEJ study of 19 campaign sites finds Democrats are more interactive, Republicans are more likely to talk about “values,” and neither wants to talk about ideology.

Summary of Findings Short videos produced for the internet are becoming an important component of campaign news. In some cases, candidates themselves are producing videos and releasing them on their campaign websites. Candidates also are seeing their own gaffes or embarrassing moments packaged in a brief video and put up on the web for all […]

President Bush triggered a major political brouhaha when he commuted the sentence of Lewis “Scooter” Libby. And the campaign fundraising numbers brought good and bad tidings to various presidential contenders. But a surprising twist in the U.K. terror saga dominated the media agenda last week.

The demise of the immigration bill that was so vocally opposed by so many talk hosts dominated the airwaves last week. But the nation’s radio and cable talkers were also interested in Paris Hilton’s freedom, the grisly murder/suicide spree of a pro wrestler and a nasty dustup between the wife of a Democratic presidential hopeful and a controversial conservative commentator.

Summary of Findings Dramatic events in London and Scotland last week attracted a large news audience. Roughly a third of the public paid very close attention to news that British police had found and defused two car bombs in London, and another 31% followed the story fairly closely. Fully 21% said this was the single […]