O.J. nostalgia tour, coming to a cable system near you

The Project for Excellence in Journalism news coverage chart for the week of 9/16/07-9/21/07 had a familiar name on top of the list. O.J. Simpson found a way to get on top of the news cycle these many years after his trial for murder back in 1994. This time he's accused of armed robbery in a dispute over some sports memorabilia. But the coverage of this event, which led the week overall with 13% of media attention, was far from even. And if you guessed that cable news outlets drove the coverage, you'd be correct -- they gave the story a full 33% of their news hole. By contrast, on radio the sordid saga was #5/4%, and it got an even bigger yawn from newspapers, at #10/2%. On the Iraq policy front there was some ongoing discussion of the Petraeus report, fueled in part by a sideshow involving a MoveOn.org ad in the New York Times, but at 5% overall, it was way down from the previous week's 36% blanket coverage.

 

Story	Overall	Newspr	Online	NetTV	CATV	Radio
O.J. Simpson	13%	2%	8%	15%	33%	4%
Iraq events	10%	14%	18%	7%	4%	4%
2008 campaign	9%	9%	6%	9%	8%	17%
Iraq policy	5%	3%	x	5%	9%	6%
Jena 6	5%	3%	6%	5%	5%	5%
US economy	5%	7%	5%	8%	x	x
Mukasey AG nomination	4%	7%	5%	3%	x	4%
Iran	4%	5%	4%	2%	4%	4%
Health care	3%	7%	x	x	x	x
Iraq homefront	3%	x	6%	5%	x	x
Hsu fundraising scandal	x	5%	x	2%	x	x
Israel/Palestine	x	x	4%	x	x	x
Pakistan	x	x	4%	x	x	x
FL student tasered	x	x	x	x	3%	6%
Greenspan book	x	x	x	x	3%	x
Immigration	x	x	x	x	2%	3%
Domestic terrorism	x	x	x	x	2%	x
Dan Rather lawsuit	x	x	x	x	x	3%

Source: Project for Excellence in Journalism

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