Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World

Public Knowledge


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    Religious Literacy: What Every American Should Know

    Pew Forum Faith Angle Conference Key West, Florida Some of the nation’s leading journalists gathered in Key West, Fla., in December 2007 for the Pew Forum’s biannual Faith Angle Conference on religion, politics and public life. Stephen Prothero, chair of the Department of Religion at Boston University, discussed the issue of religious illiteracy in the […]

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    Political Knowledge Update

    Overview What’s Your News IQ? Take the LatestQuiz Nearly nine-in-ten Americans know that China was the source of dangerous toys and tainted food recently in the news. And sizeable majorities can identify House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and the Sunni as the branch of Islam struggling with the Shia for control in […]

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    Public Knowledge of Current Affairs Little Changed by News and Information Revolutions

    Summary of Findings What’s Your News IQ? Take the Latest Quiz Since the late 1980s, the emergence of 24-hour cable news as a dominant news source and the explosive growth of the internet have led to major changes in the American public’s news habits. But a new nationwide survey finds that the coaxial and digital […]

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    The Public Affairs Gender Gap

    In addition to regularly tracking news interest, the Pew Research Center has periodically tested the public’s knowledge of news and current events by including “information” questions on many of its surveys. These information questions are designed to provide insight into how extensively major news stories are understood and absorbed by the public. They cover a […]

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    Ten Years of the Pew News Interest Index

    Survey Findings An analysis of public attentiveness to more than 500 news stories over the last ten years confirms that the American public pays relatively little attention to many of the serious news stories of the day. The major exceptions to this rule are stories dealing with natural and man-made disasters and U.S. military actions. […]

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    Public Tunes Out Recent News

    Report Summary The American public has not absorbed the basic facts of many major news stories of recent months. While most Americans know that Nelson Mandela was elected in South Africa, and that Richard Nixon was the President forced to resign over Watergate, a new nationwide survey by the Times Mirror Center found the public […]

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    Mixed Message About Press Freedom on Both Sides of Atlantic

    Report Summary In a comparative media survey across eight countries, the publics of North America and Western Europe credit the news media for its positive overall impact on their countries. Large majorities said the press helps their democracies and has a good influence on their societies — usually better than the influence of other institutions, […]