<http://pewresearch.org/pubs/566/two-decades-of-american-news- preferences>
Two Decades of American News Preferences
By Michael J. Robinson, special to the Pew Research Center August 15, 2007
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Summary
Although the size and scope of the American news media have changed dramatically since the 1980s, audience news interests and preferences have remained surprisingly static. Of the two major indices of interest that are the focus of this report -- overall level of interest in news and preferences for various types of news -- neither has changed very much. This has been especially true for news preferences; Americans continue to follow -- or to ignore -- the same types of stories now as they did two decades ago. News "tastes," measured among 19 separate categories of news, have barely shifted at all: Disaster News and Money News continue to be of greatest interest to the U.S. public; Tabloid News and Foreign News remain the least interesting.
Overall News Interest:
The overall level of "interest" in news has changed somewhat during the last two decades, but that limited change has not indicated any clear pattern of greater, or lesser, interest across 20-plus years.
The Pew News Interest Index (NII), which measures how closely news audiences follow stories of all kinds, has shifted only modestly. The index -- based on the percentage of the American news audience who say they are following a story "very closely" -- ranges from 0% percent through 100%. During the last 21 years (1986-2006), the average percentage of adult Americans following all stories "very closely" is 26%. While "very close" attention is a demanding standard, this ratio of approximately one-in-four suggests that, at least with respect to most day-to-day reporting, the American news audience is only modestly interested.
The overall intensity of attention varies somewhat, decade by decade, likely reflecting to some degree the intrinsic interest and importance of events in the news. In the latter half of the 1980s, as the Soviet Union crumbled, the news index averaged 30%. In relatively halcyon 1990s, the average fell to 23%. In the first decade of this century, with the country traumatized by terror attacks, a faltering economy and engagement of U.S. troops abroad, the index rebounded but only to its 1980s level of 30%.
While news interest does appear to shift as a consequence of real- world circumstances, no such shift is observed as a consequence of "news era" or changing technologies. Across three different "news eras" -- the "network news" era; the "cable-news" era, and the early years of the "on-line news" era -- overall interest in the news has held reasonably steady.
Specific News Interests:
The index reveals that Disaster News -- reports about catastrophes, man-made or natural -- garners the greatest interest. Money News -- stories about employment, inflation, and prices, especially gasoline prices -- ranks second overall. At the other end of the topic spectrum, Foreign News -- news from abroad unlinked to the U.S. -- engenders the least interest. Tabloid News -- stories about entertainers, celebrities and personalities -- does almost as poorly. Conflict` News -- stories about war, terrorism, and social violence -- consistently elicits much more news attention than does Tabloid or even Political News.
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