Defense & National Security

What was the treatment of the eagerly awaited Iraq Study Group report across the nation's front pages? To find out, PEJ looked at nearly 200 headlines from Dec. 7, the day after its release. While there wasn’t much good news to tout, these editors seemed almost evenly divided over whether to highlight the report’s critique of the administration or its prescription for change in Iraq.

A mostly insiders-only debate about whether Iraq is in a state of civil war broke out into the open last week when two major news organizations announced that they would henceforth refer to the conflict as a civil war. According to polling in September by the Pew Research Center, much of the public had already reached that conclusion.

Three decades later, the Washington Post’s reporting on the Watergate scandal is still spoken about with a hushed reverence as a singular journalistic achievement. The legend and mythology surrounding Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein continue to grow, even as the industry itself has changed.

Summary of Findings The Democrats’ big win on Nov. 7 has gotten a highly favorable response from the public. In fact, initial reactions to the Democratic victory are as positive as they were to the GOP’s electoral sweep of Congress a dozen years ago. Six-in-ten Americans say they are happy that the Democratic Party won […]

President travels to a country with volatile views of U.S.

After the media complained about lack of access to previous conflicts, hundreds of embedded journalists lived, traveled and reported right alongside US troops at the outset of the Iraq war. Now, three years later, there are barely two dozen embeds left.

Summary of Findings Iraq has become the central issue of the midterm elections. There is more dismay about how the U.S. military effort in Iraq is going than at any point since the war began more than three years ago. And the war is the dominant concern among the majority of voters who say they […]

A survey of technology thinkers and stakeholders shows they believe the internet will continue to spread in a "flattening" and improving world. There are many, though, who think major problems will accompany technology advances by 2020. A predictions...

Summary of Findings As the congressional midterm campaign begins in earnest, the mood of the electorate is sharply drawn. Voters are disappointed with Congress and disapproving of President Bush. Anti-incumbent sentiment, while a bit lower than a few months ago, is far more extensive than in the previous two midterms and remains close to 1994 […]

When the planes struck New York and Washington 5 years ago today, they altered the course of the news people get as well. According to new numbers from ADT Research, viewers of network evening newscasts have gotten a beefed up diet of war and terror since then while seeing big decreases in coverage of domestic issues, from crime to technology.