Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World

Read our research on:

Home Research Topics News Habits & Media

News Habits & Media

feature

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.

Icon for promotion number 1

Sign up for The Briefing

Weekly updates on the world of news & information

Thank you for subscribing!

All

News Habits & Media

Publications

  • short reads

    Can a new morning program revitalize CNN?

    This week, CNN launched New Day, a three-hour morning program at the center of the channel’s effort to regain its footing in the world of cable news. To do that, it will have to compete not only with the major networks, but also with more popular shows on Fox News Channel and MSNBC. This is […]

  • report

    News Coverage Conveys Strong Momentum for Same-Sex Marriage

    News stories focused on support for same-sex marriage outnumbered those opposing it by roughly 5-to-1 in the two months marked by Supreme Court deliberations on the issue, according to the latest study in Pew Research’s LGBT in Changing Times series. Did statements of support vary by media sector? Did reactions on Twitter differ from the news media? How was the topic covered in LGBT outlets? The new study offers answers.

  • short reads

    Ellen DeGeneres is the most visible gay or lesbian public figure in America

    More than anyone else, Ellen DeGeneres is the face of LGBT America. Still. That’s the verdict of two new Pew Research Center surveys, one of the general U.S. population and the other of LGBT Americans specifically. Not only was the comedian and television host by far the most frequently cited example of a gay or […]

  • short reads

    Nonprofit news organizations: some want government subsidy

    News outlets often have an adversarial relationship with the government, a longstanding tension  underscored most recently by the Obama administration’s pursuit of leaks to the Associated Press and Fox News Channel and the decisions of the Washington Post and the Guardian newspapers to publish National Security Agency documents. Nevertheless, it might come as a surprise […]

  • report

    Nonprofit News Outlets

    Nonprofit news sites are cropping up around the U.S., often with the mission of filling in gaps left by cutbacks in traditional journalism. Explore the characteristics of these sites with this map and interactive database.

  • short reads

    As the Trayvon Martin case goes to trial, remembering a major media event

    Today marks the beginning of what is likely to be a closely watched courtroom battle—the murder trial of George Zimmerman for the fatal shooting of 17-year old Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida on February 26, 2012. While there has been ongoing coverage of the case and the run-up to the trial, it may be hard […]

  • report

    Nonprofit Journalism: A Growing but Fragile Part of the U.S. News System

    As the economics of commercial journalism have been upended and newsrooms have shrunk, a variety of funders have sponsored nonprofit news operations to fill perceived information gaps. A report finds that while they voice optimism about the future, many organizations worry that they don’t have sufficient business-side resources.

  • short reads

    Chart of the Week: Newspaper circulation around the world

    Journalists and print loyalists who are dejected about the state of the U.S. newspaper business may be comforted — or perhaps made a bit envious — by the knowledge that in at least some other countries, newspaper circulation continues to rise smartly. The chart below, from The Economist’s Graphic Detail blog, uses data from the World Press […]

  • short reads

    Is MSNBC the place for opinion?

    MSNBC president Phil Griffin generated plenty of media attention this week when he said, in a New York Times interview, that his channel was “not the place” for breaking news. “Our brand is not that.” Griffin was responding to a significant decline in MSNBC’s ratings, which the Times reported was down 18% in prime time […]

Signature Reports

report
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.

Features