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.
  • Job Market Shows Some Improvement for Recent Communications Graduates

    There is good and bad news in a University of Georgia report on the job market for 2012 communication and journalism graduates. As the economy slowly recovers, employment and salaries ticked up modestly. But they make considerably less money than graduates of others programs and face significantly reduced workplace benefits.
  • 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.
  • Despite Some Warning Signs, Local TV Stations Are Hot Commodities

    While the economics of local television are stronger than those of the newspaper industry, a new Pew Research Center report analyzes why some trends in local television news may be worrisome.
  • Fact Tank: 5 Facts about ethnic and gender diversity in U.S. newsrooms

    A look at the American Society of News Editors’annual survey of workforce diversity, which showed that minorities and women are less represented in newspaper newsrooms than in society at large.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Newsweek By the Numbers

    After a few very difficult years, Newsweek magazine, which sold for $1 three years ago, may be up for sale again. A Pew Research Center analysis of news magazine economics in the past half dozen years finds that in a difficult period for newsweeklies in general, the turmoil and decline at Newsweek has been particularly noteworthy.
  • Fact Tank: Citizen Journalists Capture a Disaster

    Videos of the deadly tornado that ripped through Moore Oklahoma went viral in the aftermath of the May 20 disaster. A Pew Research report finds that citizen bystanders shot some of the most viewed video of the violent storm and discusses how natural disasters are big news on YouTube.
  • Fact Tank: Al Jazeera America’s Biggest Challenge -- ‘Getting People to Show up’

    It’s not on the air yet but, already, Al Jazeera America is creating a buzz in the world of journalism. Unlike so many news outlets that have been shedding staff the past few years, it’s hiring (and hiring big), bringing on about 800 employees as it prepares to launch an ambitious cable news channel later this year.
  • Gun Control and the Media

    The Twitter debate about gun control has taken many twists and turns since the Newtown killings, according to a new Pew Research Report that looks at the mainstream coverage and social media conversation on that issue. Which terms did the media most often invoke when discussing gun control? And how big a factor was President Obama in driving the narrative about it?