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News Habits & Media

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News Media Tracker

Americans now navigate a quickly changing information environment, with a wide variety of news sources across many different platforms and channels. Explore data on how Americans use, trust and distrust 30 major news sources with our interactive tool.

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News Habits & Media

Publications

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    The Verdict on Couric

    Now that the hype and the waiting is finally over, how did Katie Couric do on her historic opening night at the CBS anchor desk? Not so great, according to dozens of TV critics and commentators who offered up mostly mixed or negative reviews of her inaugural broadcast and snide remarks about her wardrobe.

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    Alternative Weeklies in Transistion

    In the eighth of our roundtable discussions on the future of the news media, representatives of the alternative newsweekly industry survey the changes facing these once comfortably niched papers.

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    Katie Couric: Perky and Cute, But Smart, Informed and Liberal, Too

    Summary of Findings Though Katie Couric has yet to take her seat as the new CBS Evening News anchor, the former Today show co-host is already a more familiar personality than her NBC and ABC counterparts. Asked to give their general impressions of each of the three TV journalists in a single word, 66% could […]

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    Al Jazeera’s Global Gamble

    Officials of Al Jazeera International discuss their plans for launching the English-language version of the controversial Arab news channel. Why the long delays? Is the network anti-American? That, plus, a chronology of the rocky relationship between Al Jazeera and the US government.

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    What’s Next for the Ethnic Media?

    While much of US news media endured shrinking audiences recently, ethnic media have seen growth. In our seventh roundtable discussion, industry analysts assess the growing clout of ethnic news outlets in the US as well as the formidable business challenges they face, including slowing industry growth.

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    American Attitudes Hold Steady in Face of Foreign Crises

    Summary of Findings The public is paying a great deal of attention to major overseas events – the reported terrorist plot against U.S. trans-Atlantic jet liners, the war in Lebanon, as well as the ongoing violence in Iraq. However, there is little indication that these dramatic stories have materially changed public attitudes. Worries about another […]

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    Cable News: A Maturing Platform with an Uncertain Future

    A Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism roundtable brings together a panel of cable news industry leaders. Some predict the medium will adapt to the changing news consumer while others believe dramatic innovations are necessary.

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    Cable TV at a Crossroads

    In the sixth of our roundtable discussions on the future of the news media, our expert panelists say that cable TV news has rapidly become a mature platform that faces serious challenges from fresher technologies and information-saturated viewers.

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    News Magazine Roundtable

    In this Project for Excellence in Journalism roundtable discussion, magazine industry experts see change as not only inevitable, but essential if the publications are to continue to survive. But they disagree about just what those changes should entail.

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    Public Holds Conflicting Views of Press Reports about Government Monitoring Bank Records

    Summary of Findings The public is of two minds about news reports that the government has been secretly examining the bank records of American citizens who may have ties to terrorist groups. By a margin of 50%-34%, Americans think that news organizations have hurt rather than helped the interests of the American people with these […]

Signature Reports

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Pew Research Center illustration for America's News Influencers report; photos via Getty Images

America’s News Influencers

This study explores the makeup of the social media news influencer universe, including who they are, what content they create and who their audiences are.

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