Analysis: Our Studies, Commentaries and Backgrounders

This section, Analysis, is the complete archive of all the research studies, commentaries, background reports, articles, or speeches PEJ has published. They are listed below in chronological order, but our archive is also searchable. Use the menus on the left to filter the contents and find exactly what you want.
  • YouTube & News

    News is becoming a major part of what Americans watch on YouTube. In the last 15 months, a third of the most searched terms on the video sharing site were news related. A new study by the Project for Excellence in Journalism explores the character of news on YouTube.
  • Social Media Passionate and Divided over Court’s Health Care Ruling

    Users of Twitter, Facebook and blogs weighed in heavily on the Supreme Court Health Care ruling last week. PEJ examines the sentiment on each of the three social media platforms, how that sentiment shifted in the days that followed the ruling and the degree to which users delved into implications for the presidential contenders.

  • News Corp Split, Buffett’s Bet Top Year of Big Media Ownership Changes

    Reports that News Corp is spinning off the publishing division cap a year of major changes in news industry ownership. It was the busiest time for newspaper sales since 2007 and witnessed the single largest local TV acquisition in four years. Visit PEJ’s interactive database, to explore financial statistics on more than 4,000 radio and TV stations, newspapers and news websites.
  • What Americans Learned From the Media About the Health Care Debate

    PEJ examines how the health care debate was presented in the press, which party won the messaging war and how the bill has largely disappeared from view.
  • Facebook IPO Not Selling on Social Media

    The Facebook IPO was a hot topic on blogs, Twitter and Facebook last week with doubts about the stock’s value exceeding bullishness on the investment.  And the topics of conversation—which ranged from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s wedding to co-founder Eduardo Saverin’s citizenship—varied by social media platform.
  • Gingrich Bows Out as the General Election Battle Takes Shape

    Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich ended his presidential campaign with a final week of unflattering and relatively sparse coverage and Mitt Romney's campaign narrative appeared to benefit from some high profile endorsements.

  • How the Media Covered the 2012 Primary Campaign

    As the 2012 presidential race shifts from the GOP primary battle to the general election matchup between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama, a new PEJ study reveals what the public has been told about the two candidates by the media.  It also finds that Mitt Romney emerged as the winner of the media primary weeks before Rick Santorum dropped out.
  • 72% of Americans Follow Local News Closely

    Local news enthusiasts follow a diverse set of topics, but rely heavily on local newspapers to keep them informed, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism and Internet & American Life Project that examined the ways people get news and information about 16 different topics, ranging from breaking news to weather.
  • How Blogs, Twitter and Mainstream Media Have Handled the Trayvon Martin Case: Special Report

    It took several weeks after the killing of teenager Trayvon Martin before the story exploded in the media. A new PEJ report reveals how social and mainstream media platforms focused on different elements of the controversy and how ideology influenced coverage on the cable and radio talk shows.
  • The Search for a New Business Model

    How close are America's beleaguered newspapers to solving their revenue problems? A new report from PEJ that includes detailed case studies of dozens of daily papers and interviews with newspaper company executives finds an industry struggling to reinvent itself, but also some hopeful success stories.