The Project for Excellence in Journalism found a lot of stories in the news mix for the week of 2/15-21/10 – with no one narrative dominant. With a wide variety of topics being covered, the economic crisis rose to the top of the news lead sheet, and was the only topic to break into double digits.
It achieved that feat while leading only two of five individual media top ten lists. Newspaper and radio went with economics as #1, but online sources had Afghanistan, the IRS plane crash and the Winter Olympics all at 11% of available space; network TV picked the Olympics and cable focused on the 2010 elections.
If there was a category called Middle East, it would have led the overall list. As it was, Afghanistan drew 8% of total coverage, Pakistan 4% and Iran 3%.
| Story | Overall | Newspaper | Online | NetTV | CATV | Radio |
| Economic crisis | 12% | 18% | 10% | 11% | 5% | 18% |
| Winter Olympics | 8% | x | 11% | 24% | 3% | 6% |
| Afghanistan | 8% | 8% | 11% | 8% | 6% | 4% |
| 2010 elections | 7% | 5% | 4% | 4% | 13% | 10% |
| IRS plane crash | 7% | x | 11% | 5% | 10% | x |
| Tiger Woods | 5% | x | 4% | 9% | 9% | 8% |
| Health care debate | 4% | 6% | x | x | 7% | 4% |
| Pakistan | 4% | 6% | 4% | x | x | 6% |
| Iran | 3% | x | 8% | x | 3% | x |
| Domestic terror | 3% | x | x | 6% | 5% | 4% |
| Tea Party movement | x | 4% | x | x | x | 2% |
| Haiti earthquake | x | 4% | x | x | x | x |
| U of AL shooting | x | 3% | 6% | x | x | x |
| Energy debate | x | 3% | x | x | x | x |
| Pollution/emissions | x | 2% | x | x | x | x |
| Israeli-Palestinian conflict | x | x | 3% | 3% | x | x |
| Toyota recall | x | x | x | 3% | x | x |
| China | x | x | x | 3% | x | x |
| CPAC convention | x | x | x | x | 7% | x |
| Obama administration | x | x | x | x | x | 7% |
Source: Project for Excellence in Journalism
