Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World

News Media Trends

  • report

    Internet Now Major Source of Campaign News

    Summary of Findings Many more Americans are turning to the internet for campaign news this year as the web becomes a key source of election news. Television remains the dominant source, but the percent who say they get most of their campaign news from the internet has tripled since October 2004 (from 10% then to […]

  • report

    Palin Fatigue Now Rivals Obama Fatigue

    Summary of Findings Many Americans say they are hearing too much about Barack Obama in these final days of the 2008 presidential election – just as they did last summer – but a similar percentage now says the same about Sarah Palin. However, the public’s complaints notwithstanding, a relatively small amount of media coverage was […]

  • report

    Most Voters Say News Media Wants Obama to Win

    Summary of Findings Voters overwhelmingly believe that the media wants Barack Obama to win the presidential election. By a margin of 70%-9%, Americans say most journalists want to see Obama, not John McCain, win on Nov. 4. Another 8% say journalists don’t favor either candidate, and 13% say they don’t know which candidate most reporters […]

  • report

    Winning the Media Campaign

    With fewer than two weeks left before election day, how has the press covered the race for president? How has the tone of McCain’s coverage compared with Obama’s, or Palin’s. A new PEJ study from the conventions through the last debate offers answers.

  • report

    Campaign Seen As Increasingly Negative

    Summary of Findings With less than three weeks to go before the election, there is a growing sense among the public that the tone of the presidential campaign has changed. A majority of Americans (55%) now say that the campaign is too negative. This is up significantly from 43% a month ago and represents a […]

  • report

    Many Say Press Has Been Too Tough on Palin

    Summary of Findings Strong majorities of the public say the press has been fair to John McCain, Barack Obama and Joe Biden. But fewer than four-in-ten (38%) say the press has been fair to Sarah Palin. Many more believe the press has been too tough on Palin (38%) than say it has been too easy […]