News Consumption over the last 20 years...

Pew Research Center posted a table showing the results of its PewNews Interest Index over the last 20 years. There is some interesting information in the numbers. Two of the trends up are Washington Politics and Money. I can see money being an issue people would want to follow closely. Many Americans are having a hard time making it as the latest mortgage foreclosures show. Another area that has almost doubled in the last 20 years is people's interest in Personalities and Entertainment. The constant coverage of Britney, Lindsey, Paris, etc. I think shows this trend. The category that troubles me the most though is Science and Technology. Over the last 20 years the number of people who follow news on this has dropped by just over 50%! That is amazing to me. Talk about screwed up priorities. The drop in the number of American born students entering undergraduate and graduate programs majoring in science and technology continues to fall. People do not realize that the future of our economy depends on these fields. So what is the answer? I wish I knew...