Political Polarization & Media Habits
Liberals and conservatives turn to and trust strikingly different news sources. And across-the-board liberals and conservatives are more likely than others to interact with like-minded individuals.
State of the News Media 2014
In many ways, 2013 and early 2014 brought a level of energy to the news industry not seen for a long time. Even as challenges of the past several years continue and new ones emerge, the activities this year have created a new sense of optimism – or perhaps hope – for the future of American journalism.
Social, Search and Direct
Direct visitors to 26 top news sites—those who type in the news outlet’s URL or have the address bookmarked—are far more engaged with that news than users who arrive from Facebook or a search engine, according to a new analysis of online traffic data.
Twitter News Consumers: Young, Mobile and Educated
The eight percent of U.S. adults who consume news on Twitter tend to be younger, wealthier and more highly educated than Facebook users and the population overall, according to a new analysis of Twitter users.
The Role of News on Facebook
On Facebook, news is a common but incidental part of the experience, according to a new survey. Roughly two-thirds of U.S. adults use Facebook, and half of those users get news there.
What’s Behind The Washington Post Sale
The stunning sale of The Washington Post to Amazon.com billionaire Jeff Bezos says something important about the economics of the Post itself, the continuing struggles of the newspaper industry and the market value of some of America’s great metro dailies. A Pew Research Center report provides the numbers that help put the $250 million deal into context.
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.
Future of Mobile News
The percent of Americans with mobile access to the internet has jumped dramatically in the last year—a trend that has major implications for the news industry. A new survey of news use on mobile devices by PEJ in collaboration with The Economist Group examines how tablets and smartphones have changed news consumption habits and what that might mean for the future of news.
The State of the News Media 2012: An Annual Report on American Journalism
New research released in this report finds that mobile devices are adding to people’s news consumption, strengthening the lure of traditional news brands and providing a boost to long-form journalism. Eight in ten who get news on smartphones or tablets, for instance, get news on conventional computers as well. People are taking advantage, in other words, of having easier access to news throughout the day – in their pocket, on their desks and in their laps.
What Facebook and Twitter Mean for News
Perhaps no topic in technology attracted more attention in 2011 than the rise of social media and its potential impact on news. “If searching for news was the most important development of the last decade, sharing news may be among the most important of the next,” we wrote in a May 2011 report analyzing online news behavior called Navigating News Online.
