News Habits & Media

As the campaign for control of Congress entered its final month, election news once again dominated the headlines—overshadowing almost everything else. Some housing news drove coverage of the economy while President Obama’s suggestion to lengthen the school year helped make education one of the week’s top stories. 

Conservative bloggers last week expressed outrage over a passage from Bob Woodward’s new book. Tweeters were galvanized by a security flaw on Twitter. And YouTube viewers were interested in some provocative statements a GOP Senate candidate made on television more than a decade ago. 

Summary of Findings While the 2010 midterm congressional elections dominated media coverage last week, the public focused more on news about the nation’s struggling economy. Nearly a quarter (23%) of the public says they followed news about the economy more closely than any other major story. Just 6% say they followed news about this year’s […]

The mainstream media offer the American public a divided view of how information technology influences society, according to a new PEJ study. Messages such as technology making life easier often vie with concerns about privacy and safety. How do the media portray technology? Which companies get the most coverage? Do social media and blogs treat the subject differently than traditional media? A year-long study of technology coverage answers these and other questions.

With balloting little more than a month away, the 2010 congressional elections again topped the media agenda as a good chunk of that narrative focused on the power and potential of the tea party. And one factor that will clearly influence the outcome on election night, the state of the U.S. economy, was the No. 2 topic.

Technology topped the agenda on Twitter last week as the powerful tech troika of Twitter, Google and Facebook all generated attention. On blogs, the focus was divided between events relating to the Afghanistan war and the death of a veteran actor. And a YouTube-based host who creates his own brand of news was popular once again.

Summary of Findings About two-thirds of the public sees coverage of this year’s elections as focused primarily on strategy and conflict rather than candidate positions, while a comparable percentage says the 2010 congressional elections are more important than most. Nearly six-in-ten (58%) say news coverage of politics makes them angry. Still, few (36%) say election […]

In a year of attention-grabbing election surprises, nothing generated as much media interest as Delaware’s GOP Senate race last week. The troubled economy attracted significant coverage as well, but this time the focus was on tax cuts rather than employment figures. And education issues made a rare appearance on the list of PEJ’s top-five stories last week.

Anti-war and anti-Obama bloggers weighed in last week over the costs of the Iraq conflict and a quotation on a new rug in the Oval Office. On Twitter, the New York Times publisher's prediction about the future of print from drew attention. And a YouTube-based talk show proved very popular.

Summary of Findings As the nation marked the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks last week, many in the public and the media focused more on current tensions over Islam in America – most notably plans by a Florida pastor to burn copies of the Koran. Nearly two-in-ten (17%) say they followed the […]