News Interest Index: Press Gets Good Marks For Covering Toyota Troubles

Americans continue to closely track news about the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti and the U.S. economy, paying less close attention to the fast-evolving story about serious safety problems with Toyota automobiles. Still, the public is quite laudatory of press coverage of the automaker's problems.

More than four-in-ten say they followed news last week about the U.S. economy (43%) or the earthquake (42%) very closely. Just fewer than four-in-ten (38%) say they followed news about the earthquake aftermath more closely than any other major news story, while 26% say they followed news about the condition of the economy most closely.

By contrast, just about two-in-ten (21%) say they followed news about problems with sudden acceleration and braking in Toyota cars and trucks very closely. One-in-ten say this was the story they followed most closely last week, according to the latest News Interest Index survey, conducted Feb. 5-8 among 1,015 adults by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.

Read the full report Press Gets Good Marks For Covering Toyota Troubles on the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press' Web site.