News about the U.S. economy was the story news consumers were most interested in last week, according to Pew's latest News Interest Index.
According to that survey, conducted Sept. 22 with 1,000 adults, 31% of respondents said that was the story they followed most closely. Actually, the economy was the second biggest story as well, with 16% most closely following the related story of the debate over jobs and the deficit.
The execution of Troy Davis in Georgia was the third-most-closely followed story (10%), but there was a major difference according to race. "African Americans tracked the story much more closely than whites," noted Pew. Davis was African American. More than a fifth (22%) of African Americans followed the story most closely, compared with 9% of whites."
Rounding out the top five in news interest were the 2012 elections (9%) and the release of the hikers who had been held in Iran (7%).
While the news that Neflix was dividing its businesses into separate DVD rental and streaming operations was big news in the media world, the study found that almost half (47%) said they heard nothing about it.
