The Audience for World News

Although American news organizations deserve some blame for not paying more attention to world news, an argument can be made that news organizations have little incentive to cover world news because American audiences do not seem to have much of an appetite for it. In a recent survey by the Pew Research Center, slightly fewer than 40 percent of respondents said they closely follow international news most of the time. By contrast, a Pew study in 38 foreign countries found that 57 percent of people reported paying attention to international news. I can tell you Pew's results are in line with my own anecdotal evidence. I once got in a big fight with a Kenyan cab driver over who should be the next president of the World Bank. I'm guessing that at that very moment very few Americans even knew the World Bank was getting a new president.

I have scanned a couple pages of the Pew report mentioned above that I'd like you to read. The PDF is here.

You should be able to answer the following questions:

How does American attention to local news compare to that of national news and international news?
According to Pew, in what year did Americans paying attention to international news hit its peak?
Does having a college education (versus not) better explain differences in paying attention to national news or international news?
Based on the four political knowledge questions Pew ask, how knowledgeable did the American public seem to be at that time? Be able to defend your answer.
Which news audiences were more or less knowledgeable than others?
Of the four political knowledge questions, only one related to foreign affairs. What was the question and how did Americans do?