Pew: Americans show some interest in IRS lost emails; not much in World Cup

ESPN has been hyping the World Cup for weeks, showing video from venues across the country where large crowds have gathered to watch the US play.

But it's a mirage. Only about 17% of Americans are showing interest in the World Cup soccer matches as opposed to 12% who are following the IRS lost emails story and 26% following events in Iraq.

Pew Research:

So far, the growing crisis in Iraq has not drawn strong interest from the American public. As Sunni militants extend their control of large swaths of Iraq, 25% say they are paying very close attention to the growing violence and political instability in Iraq. By comparison, 28% of Americans surveyed June 26-29 say they followed news about problems with care at veterans’ hospitals very closely and 21% paid very close attention to news about the IRS losing employee emails.

The new national survey by the Pew Research Center conducted among 1,002 adults finds that fewer Americans tracked news about the World Cup soccer tournament in Brazil (17%), the 2014 midterms (16%) and recent Supreme Court rulings (15%). (The survey was conducted before the court’s Hobby Lobby decision.)

Young people typically express lower levels of interest in news stories than older Americans, and the age differences are striking when it comes to Washington news and violence in Iraq. Just 13% of those younger than 30, and 19% of those 30-49, say they tracked news about Iraq very closely. That compares with 36% of those 65 and older and 34% of those 50 to 64.

However, the World Cup is a different story. About a quarter (24%) of those under 30 say they are closely following the World Cup

I've had three friends from different states tell me that whatever teams had recently won (I know one was Colombia), that cars drive past stop signs, people wave their nation's flags in support, honk cars horns incessantly, etc. which are all violations of road rules. But little is done. Imagine if the average American decided to blast a car horn and ignore stop signs because of a domestic celebration. I wonder how many of these people celebrate the 4th of July or Veteran's Day with such passion.

ESPN has been hyping the World Cup for weeks...

It's not just ESPN hyping the world cup - most of television media has as well. The media giants smell money and just what we need is another distraction in the form of more time spent in front of the screens... wouldn't want the American public to have time to see what's going on around them.

This is bad news. I know the soccer haters are going “yay”, but 5% more people are watching the World Cup than care about the IRS targeting Americans. This also says something bad about our media, that compose of many more outlets than ESPN or sports media; if only 12% of Americans care about the IRS scandal, then the media are clearly ignoring this and not reporting to American. Sigh

the media pick and choose what to report on, what to emphasize, and what to ignore.

I have to believe that, under a Republican president, that this IRS scandal would be getting saturation coverage.

The media continue to distort their coverage, to show the Obama administration in the best possible light.

The media have a vested interest in this administration being perceived as a success, and their policies being successful.

In some ways, the media created and spawned Barack Obama. He’s a liberal dream in some ways. He’s a liberal president, a non-white historic president, etc. He’s the media dream president. And the media lose all perspective or objectivity when reporting on this president.

Of course, this is real life, not “The West Wing” with its similar liberal dream president.

USA matches are drawing audiences equal to the NBA Finals.

I'm not a soccer fan at all, considering it about the same tv viewing desirability as PGA tour golf.

However, that kind of viewership is pretty good. What I find really interesting is the soccer hate (as opposed to soccer ignoring that folks like myself would do) on FR.

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