Apple attracts most coverage of US tech firms: Pew study

Apple attracts more coverage from the mainstream US media than any other US technology company and most of it is positive, according to a study released on Monday.

Google is the next most-covered company followed by Twitter, Facebook and Microsoft, according to the study by the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism.

For the study, Pew examined technology stories between June 2009 and June 2010 in 52 news outlets, including 11 newspapers, three cable television and three network news channels, 12 websites and 10 radio programs.

Fifteen percent of the technology stories during the period involved Apple -- maker of the Macintosh computer, the iPod, iPhone and iPad -- while 11 percent were about Internet search giant Google.

Micro-blogging service Twitter was next with seven percent followed by social networking behemoth Facebook with five percent and software giant Microsoft with three percent, the study found.

"After being arguably the most important technology company, even as recently as five years ago... Microsoft has, at least for now, fallen off the mainstream media's radar," the study's authors said.

According to the study, more than 40 percent of the stories about Apple suggested that its products are innovative and superior in quality while 17 percent suggested its products are overhyped.

Coverage of Google was also largely positive, the study found, with 20 percent of stories portraying its products as innovative and superior and 25 percent emphasizing Google's help in navigating the Web.

Nineteen percent of stories about Google suggested the Mountain View, California-based company has too much information and too much power.

The study found that mainstream media coverage of technology was primarily upbeat, focusing on the benefits it brings to society by making life easier and more productive.

But stories about privacy fears, child predators, shrinking attention spans and the dangers of texting while driving were also prevalent.

Positive themes about technology narrowly outweighed negative ones -- 30 percent versus 27 percent during the period studied.

The biggest storyline was about texting while driving, with nearly one in 10 technology stories dealing with the subject.

Technology stories made up less than 1.6 percent of total coverage by mainstream media outlets during the period, ranking 20th out of 26 identified topics, ahead of immigration (0.9 percent) and religion (0.6 percent).

(c) 2010 AFP